Earthwatch teams excavating at the site of Halmyris, an ancient Roman fort in what is now Romania, have made many significant finds over the last three years, rewriting the ancient history of the lower Danube River. But the highest hopes of historian Dr. Mihail Zahariade (Romanian Institute of Thracology) were fulfilled last summer when volunteers discovered the tomb and physical remains of two legendary Christian martyrs.
Epictet and Astion were said to have been martyrs killed for their Christian faith under the edicts issued by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the end of the third century A.D., but the references to them in historical documents were often contradictory. The unearthing of their tomb dispels centuries of debate over the whereabouts, even the very existence, of the two martyrs, and elevates the importance of Halmyris in Christian history.
"The discovery confirms the key literary source, Passio Epicteti et Astionis, which records their torture and killing for their Christian faith on July 8, 290," said Zahariade, principal investigator of Roman Fort on the Danube. "The date of their martyrdom coincides with an important moment in the history of Halmyris, when the early Roman fort was rebuilt and became one of the principal towns of the Roman province of Scythia Minor."
The tomb, with a flight of eight heavy stone steps leading down to it, was discovered when teams were excavating a trench near the alter of the basilica. The structure has two chambers made from large slabs of stone, with the inner chamber holding the remains of the martyrs and a fresco with Christian symbols and the name of Astion.
"Once the first structures appeared there was a strong feeling that something extraordinary was about to happen," said Zahariade. "All of a sudden we realized we were now dealing with a unique monument of early Christian times. This realization was overwhelming to all involved."
The human remains in the tomb were those of two men, one in his sixties and one in his thirties, conforming nicely to the martyr's description in Passio Epicteti et Astionis. Damage to the second vertebrate of one skeleton shows traces of the severance of the head, and other bones appeared broken at the time of death, consistent with the torture and decapitation of the two Christians.
The unearthing of the tomb builds on a series of other significant discoveries at Halmyris, including a well-preserved private bathhouse of the fort commander and a large basilica, which confirms that the fort was a bishopric. The fort's position, once on the bank of the Danube near its mouth, was an important center of Roman hegemony for 600 years. Twenty years of excavations, three with Earthwatch volunteers, have allowed Zahariade to show that Halmyris was continuously occupied for more than 1,100 years, providing a rich tapestry of cultural change in the region.
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