Moridunum (Carmarthen)
Moridunum | |
---|---|
Location in Carmarthenshire | |
Alternative name(s) | Moridunum Demetarum |
Known also as | Carmarthen |
Founded | c. 75 AD |
Place in the Roman world | |
Province | Britannia |
Structure | |
— Stone structure — | |
Location | |
Coordinates | 51°52′N 4°19′W / 51.86°N 4.31°W |
Town | Carmarthen |
County | Carmarthenshire |
Country | Wales |
Reference | |
UK-OSNG reference | SN4020 |
Moridunum was a
Roman fort and town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Carmarthen, located in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire (formerly in the county of Dyfed
).
Fort
Moridunum (lit. "sea fort") was the
vicus took over and the place became a town.[1]
Town
A
Romano-Celtic style temple
has also been excavated. A turf bank and ditch was erected around the town in the mid-2nd century and a stone wall added some time later.
Amphitheatre
East of the old town is one of only seven surviving Roman amphitheatres in the United Kingdom (51°51′44″N 4°17′47″W / 51.8621°N 4.2964°W). It has the only above-ground Roman remains in the town, and was excavated in 1968. The arena itself is 46 by 27 meters. The circumference of the cavea seating area is 92 by 67 meters [2] It had stone walls and wooden seating and was much larger than would be expected for the size of the town.[3]
Post-Roman times
The addition of '
Myrddin" (Merlin), though Celticist A. O. H. Jarman suggests that instead the name Myrddin was derived from Carmarthen's name.[4] Veprauskas has argued for the Post-Roman settlement's identification as the 'Cair Guorthigirn'[5] ("Fort Vortigern") listed by Nennius among the 28 cities of Britain in his History of the Britains.[6]
See also
- Wales in the Roman era
- Scheduled Monuments in Carmarthenshire
References
- ^ www.roman-britain.co.uk/places/moridunum/ Accessed 24 September 2013
- ^ icarus.umkc.edu (subscription site).
- ^ discover carmarthenshire Archived 2013-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 1-85109-440-7. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
- ^ Nennius (attrib.). Theodor Mommsen (ed.). Historia Brittonum, VI. Composed after AD 830. (in Latin) Hosted at Latin Wikisource.
- ^ Veprauskas, Michael. [www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artgue/mikecaer.htm "The Problem of Caer Guorthigirn" at Vortigern Studies]. 1998.
External links
- Media related to Moridunum (Carmarthen) at Wikimedia Commons