Marcis is a place-name attested in the Antonine Itinerary and the Notitia Dignitatum (where it appears as the seat of a Praefectus equitum Dalmatarum under the Dux Belgicae Secundae), located on the Channel coast of Gallia Belgica rather than Britain. The coordinates point to the area around Marquise (Pas-de-Calais), inland from the Boulonnais coast, with the site likely active from the early imperial period through the 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Marcis lay within the orbit of Gesoriacum/Bononia (Boulogne), the principal cross-Channel port and base of the Classis Britannica, and in the Late Empire it formed part of the Litus Saxonicum defensive command facing Britain. Its inclusion in the Notitia indicates it had become a garrisoned post in the late Roman coastal defence system linking Gaul and Britain.
The precise location of Marcis is not securely fixed, and no major excavated site has been confidently identified with the toponym; the Marquise area is, however, known for Roman-period quarrying of the distinctive "marbre de Marquise" and scattered rural settlement evidence. Beyond the place-name traditions and surface finds typical of the Boulonnais hinterland, little site-specific archaeological data can be cited.
Marcis is a place-name attested in the Antonine Itinerary and the Notitia Dignitatum (where it appears as the seat of a Praefectus equitum Dalmatarum under the Dux Belgicae Secundae), located on the Channel coast of Gallia Belgica rather than Britain. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Marcis? is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Gesoriacum/Bononia (11.5 km), Ardres (19.5 km), Etaples (33.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Marcis?