The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-01-18

ARCH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DISCOVERIES
IN GERMAN AND GREECE-ANCIENT
DEAlNAGE.-Counsellor Paulus, Of Wur-
tcmbcrg, whose labors concerning the Ro-
man antiquities of his country are we'll
known, has succeeded in rctracing the
whole line Of what was called the times
TRIMS RhenG1.us. It consisted in an earth
work with deep moat on the German side !:
in these places, where it still exists, the
rampant measures thirteen feet in altitude,
with an upper base Of from four to six
feet, and lower one of forty. The ditch
is not more than from FIVE to six feet deep,
about FIVE in breadth at the bottom, and
about twenty at top but it is highly pro-
bable that at the time of the Romans the
earthwork was sixteen feet high and the
dyke twelve feet in depth. Small square
turrets, about nine feet in elevation, are to
be found ut intervals of 800 PAGES from
each other. The walls are two feet IN thick
ness, with stone copings at the corners. Some
OF these, situated at important strateSlcal
points, were probably much stronger and
larger. Along this uninterrupted rampant
the Romans had established colonies, but at
distances Of from three to four leagues from
it, on the Gallo side, and connected by
roads. Now, what could be the object of
this gigantic work, all in q straight line! 1t
was what we might call "vocal tele-
graph" Whenever anything alarming was
observed the sentinel placed in one of the
turrets gave a signal, which was heard at
500 PAGES by his ncighbor, and thus in o
few minutes the news was propagated to
headquarters, whence succor might then be
dispatched to the menaced point. This line
is joined at Phalbronn and at right angles
by the lanes trans DG7subianus, the other
extreme border of the empire. Behind this
there were two lines of defence-thc Da-
nubc and the Alps; behind the other three,
the Neckar, along which the Romans had
constructed numerous works of protection i;
then the Black Forest and, lastly, the
Rhine. The lines trans RhenG'US ex-
tends from the Hohenstaufen, which was
fortified, to the main, near Frendenberg,
by Wcltzheiln, Mainhardt, and Ochringen,
which was the ancient ViChS AurclidRus.
An important town, once the capital of
one Of the Roman provinces of Thrace (Tra-
ianopolis), the site of which was unknown,
has just been discovered by NJ. Albert Du-
mont, a member of the French school at
Athens. At,about three miles from Dymes,
near Enos, at the mouth of the Hebron,
may be perceived II vast extent Of ruins in
The midst Of pestilential marshes, which
have rendered the country SO uninhabita-
bic that this circumstance sufficiently eX-
plains why all recollection Of these vestigcs
had been lost. There still exists an in
scription on the spot, showing that this city
was once Trajanopolis; moreover, its dis
lance from Adrianople comedies with that
given by the ancient itineraries as for its
importance, what remains of it is ample
evidence in its favor. A fortified city
wall, five kilometres in circuit, has been
brought to light, together with the remnants
of vast suburbs extending over two square
leagues. The acropolis contains ruins of
edifccs of the third century-architraves,
broken columns, pedestals with some in
scriptions. During the middle ages the
antique city was gradually replaced by q
byzantine one, and very probably part OF
the ruins served as q quarry for the stones
with which the two fine fortresses of Dymes
and Enos were built. AS it is highly i'm
probable the Romans should have pitched
upon such IN unhealthy spot for large
town, the ground has been explored to see
whether any drainage has been attempted !;
and these researches have led to the dis
covcry OF a magnificent system of dykes
and sewers. 1t seems this city did not dis
appear completely until the fifteenth cen
tmy, when the byzantine empire was at
its last gasp.