Aquae in the De Aedificiis : Territorial and administrative issues in Dacia Ripensis during the 6th century

Abstract

This article explores the debate raised around the soundness of hypothetical structural changes occurred in the administrative organization of the provinces along the Lower Danube during the 6th century. The hypothesis of a gradual shift from a centralized provincial administration towards a city-based governance has been advanced on the basis of the information provided by the fourth book of Procopius' De Aedificiis. The manuscript shows indeed an interesting incoherence in the categorization of the forts and fortified settlements in the region, insofar as when describing the situation of Dacia Ripensis and Dacia Mediterranea it abandons a province-based listing in favor of a city-based organization. This has led different scholars to surmise a progressive increment in autonomy and power of major settlements at the expense of the provincial central authority. This hypothesis, however, presents several issues, which emerge evidently through the comparison of Procopius' work with another relevant source of the time: the Novellae Iustiniani. The ambiguities around the use of the lists in the De Aedificiis as evidence for administrative changes along the Lower Danube will be analyzed within the historical frame provided by the development of the city of Aquae, in Dacia Ripensis.