Temple district in the Altbachtal

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The temple district in the Altbachtal was an ancient holy district within the Roman city ​​of Trier ( Augusta Treverorum ) .

Map of the Roman Trier , temple district in the Altbachtal No. 13 (green) in the east of the city.
Allotment gardens on the area of ​​the temple district 2011.

Discovery and excavation

In the valley basin of the Altbach below the Trier amphitheater , images of gods and terracottas have often been found since the 19th century . The emergency community of German science had excavations carried out here by Siegfried Loeschcke from 1926 to 1934 , which produced astonishing results under alluvial layers up to 5 m thick. Over 70 temples, chapels, holy districts and priests' houses as well as a cult theater were uncovered on an area of ​​5  hectares . The finds now in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier represent the largest collection of cult monuments from a closed district in the Roman world. Among them are particularly an Epona relief and a representation of the rock birth of Mithras as well as a bronze statuette of the god Mercury .

investment

The earliest findings from the Altbachtal still belong to pre-Roman times. During the Augustan period, several wooden buildings were built, which were replaced by stone buildings from the second half of the 1st century AD. Also in the late 1st century, the monumental temple at Herrenbrünnchen was built , which was in an exposed position above the Altbach valley.

Mainly native, Treverian deities were worshiped, whose iconography was closely based on the Roman world of gods ( Interpretatio Romana ). Larger temples were built in the form of Gallo-Roman temple temples , with numerous smaller shrines and altars as well as a small cult theater in between. The latter was also found in a much larger and more splendid version in the Irminenwingert temple district on the western bank of the Moselle. In the 4th century the Mithras cult was added, apparently there were no Christian churches here.

Findings suggest that the district was destroyed in 337 under Bishop Maximinus . In the 4th century residential buildings were built here, including some larger villas on the mountainside. After the Second World War , the Altbachtal was filled with rubble and the area was leveled. Today there is an allotment garden.

literature

  • Wolfgang Binsfeld : Trier, Altbachtal. In: Wolfgang Binsfeld / Karin Goethert-Polaschek / Lothar Schwinden: Catalog of the Roman stone monuments of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier. Corpus signorum Imperii Romani vol. 4.3. Trier and Trier Land. Zabern, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-8053-0286-X , p. XV and catalog ( Trier excavations and research 12).
  • Heinz Cüppers : Temple district in the Altbachtal. In: H. Cüppers (Ed.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , pp. 588-591.
  • Sabine Faust: Pagan temple districts and cult buildings. In: Alexander Demandt , Josef Engemann (ed.): Konstantin der Große. Emperor Caesar Flavius ​​Constantinus . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2007, ISBN 978-3-8053-3688-8 , pp. 329–331.
  • Marcello Ghetta: Late Antique Paganism. Trier and the Treverland. Kliomedia, Trier 2008, ISBN 978-3-89890-119-2 .
  • Karl-Josef Gilles : Temple districts in the Trier region. In: Religio Romana. Paths to the gods in ancient Trier. Exhibition catalog Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier 1996, ISBN 3-923319-34-7 , p. 72 u. Catalog ( publications of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier 12).
  • Erich Gose: The Gallo-Roman temple district in the Altbachtal in Trier. Zabern, Mainz 1972 ( Trier excavations and research 7 ).
  • Hans-Peter Kuhnen : Trier: Archeology and history of a Roman metropolis. In: H.-P. Kuhnen (ed.): The Roman Trier. Theiss, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1517-0 ( Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany 40) pp. 33–35.
  • Siegfried Loeschcke : The exploration of the temple area in the Altbachtale in Trier. Berlin 1928.
  • Markus Trunk : Roman temples in the Rhine and western Danube provinces: a contribution to the architectural-historical classification of Roman sacred buildings in Augst. Augst 1991, ISBN 3-7151-0014-1 , pp. 229f. ( Research in Augst 14).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Siegfried Loeschcke: The exploration of the temple district in the Altbachtale in Trier. Berlin 1928.
  2. ↑ Heinz Cüppers in: H. Cüppers (Ed.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. P. 588.
  3. ^ Lothar Schwinden in: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier (ed.): Findings: from prehistory to modern times. Theiss, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8062-2324-8 , pp. 80f. ( Series of publications by the Rheinisches Landesmuseum 36).
  4. ^ Lothar Schwinden in: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier (ed.): Findings: from prehistory to modern times. Theiss, Stuttgart 2009, p. 96f. ( Series of publications by the Rheinisches Landesmuseum 36).
  5. ↑ Sabine Faust in: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier (ed.): Finds: from prehistory to modern times. Theiss, Stuttgart 2009, pp. 74f. ( Series of publications by the Rheinisches Landesmuseum 36).
  6. ↑ On the Mithraeum in Altbachtal see Sabine Faust: Pagane temple districts and cult buildings. In: Alexander Demandt, Josef Engemann (ed.): Konstantin der Große. Emperor Caesar Flavius ​​Constantinus . Mainz 2007, p. 331.

Coordinates: 49 ° 44 ′ 50.1 ″  N , 6 ° 38 ′ 30.7 ″  E