Celemantia (or Kelemantia; the modern name of the site is Leányvár) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

castellum A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually: * a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of (' military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It should be distinguished from ...

and settlement on the territory of the present-day municipality

Iža Iža ( hu, Izsa, Hungarian pronunciation:) is a village in south-western Slovakia. Geography The village lies at an altitude of and covers an area of . It is situated in the Komárno District of Slovakia's Nitra Region, very close to the tow ...

(Hun: ''Izsa''), some 4 km to the east of

Komárno Komárno, ( hu, Komárom, german: Komorn, sr, Коморан, translit=Komoran), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom, Öregkomárom, Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian; is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

. It is the biggest known Roman castellum in present-day Slovakia. It was a part of the Roman

limes Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a ...

, the frontier-zone of the Empire. A Germanic settlement "Celemantia" in this area is mentioned by

Claudius Ptolemaios Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

in the 2nd century AD. It could be identical with the remnants of a civil settlement found next to the castellum or with another unknown settlement or, as some historians assume, it is the name of both the castellum and the remnants of the civil settlement. The construction of the castellum started in the 2nd half of the 1st century. It was conquered during the

Marcomannic Wars The Marcomannic Wars (Latin: ''bellum Germanicum et Sarmaticum'', "German and Sarmatian War") were a series of wars lasting from about 166 until 180 AD. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against, principally, the Germanic Marcomanni and Quad ...

(166–180) and burned down by Germanic tribes, and was rebuilt later. It ceased to exist around 400 (beginning of the

Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roma ...

). The ruins were very well visible up to the late 18th century, but afterwards people used stones from the constructions to build the fortress and other buildings in

. According to a local legend, a Roman soldier, Valentin, kept his mistresses in the fortress. The fictitious story explains the origin of the name Leányvár, meaning Girl Castle in Hungarian. However, the name probably refers to the fact that the ruins of the castle were donated by King

Béla IV Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (disambiguation) * Belá (disambiguation) * Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''wh ...

of Hungary to the Dominican nuns of Margitsziget who later built a small fortress among them. In July 2021, Celemantia was added to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

's World Heritage List as part of the Western segment of the

Danubian Limes The Danubian Limes (german: Donaulimes), or Danube Limes, refers to the Roman military frontier or ''limes'' which lies along the River Danube in the present-day German state of Bavaria, in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria a ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

. File:Kelemantia3.jpg File:Kelemantia1.jpg File:Iža-Leányvár - map of the Roman fort.jpg File:Kalamantia.jpg

References

Archaeological sites in Slovakia Roman sites in Slovakia Roman frontiers Former populated places in Slovakia {{Europe-archaeology-stub