Tolna-Mozs Danube Watchtower
About
Excavators located this Danube-bank watchtower near the hamlet of Mozs, one node in the Hungarian survey of the ripa Pannonica's burgus chain. The broader program of stone watchtower construction along this stretch of river is attested by Commodus's building inscriptions of the 180s CE. In 117 CE, decades before that program began, this bend of the Danube was watched only by boat patrols and the nearest auxiliary garrisons.
What happened here
A small stone tower with a timber top, sited so that it can see the next one along the line. Half a dozen men live in it. They watch the ground in front, and they watch the tower on either side. A signal — fire and smoke at night, something visible by day — passes a warning down the chain far faster than a rider can, though it can only carry a message that was agreed in advance. The rest of the time it is a lookout post on a road, a river crossing or a frontier line, and the work is boredom punctuated by inspections. Supplies come up from the fort behind. Towers on a frontier stand within sight of each other for hundreds of miles.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →