Some remarks on the Romanisation of the Roman Dobroudja

Abstract

The article analyzes the process of Romanization in Roman Dobruja (Scythia Minor) and its specificity against the background of other provinces of the empire, which is important for understanding the mechanisms of cultural change in the Roman world. The aim of the study is to determine the nature and course of Romanization in this region and to assess its distinctiveness in comparison with other areas of the empire. The author applies historiographical analysis and interpretation of archaeological, epigraphic, and onomastic data, referring to various theoretical concepts of Romanization. The most important results indicate that Dobruja was not a depopulated area before the Roman conquest — the Geto-Thracian population functioned there continuously from the 6th century BC, while Roman administration and the army coexisted with local settlement structures. Villages (vici) played a key role in the process of Romanization, as it was there that the gradual integration of Roman and local elements took place, and many of them were of indigenous origin. Romanization was long-term, diversified, and based on the coexistence and interpenetration of traditions rather than on their replacement. Dobruja thus constitutes an example of deep but specific Romanization, based primarily on social and cultural transformations taking place in the rural environment rather than on a uniform process imposed by Roman administration.