Aquae Granni

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Aachen, court
Copy of a row of Roman arcades

Aquae Granni is the name that has been handed down for Roman Aachen since the Middle Ages . With a number of other variations of this name - for example Aquisgranum - this spelling was able to establish itself in the specialist literature .

etymology

The Latin name Aquis Granni has only been known since the early Middle Ages . In the year 765, under the Frankish King Pippin the Younger , the name Aquis ("near the waters") was first mentioned for today's Aachen. His son Charlemagne celebrated Christmas here in 768 in the Villa Aquis . The name has its origin in the numerous Aachen thermal springs in this place. As a bathing resort and because of the hot springs that were contained in thermal baths , the area was already very popular with the Roman legionaries . The name addition Granni goes back to the Celtic water and bath god Grannus ; There are no sources from ancient times on the use of the term during Roman times.

According to Albrecht Mann , who bases his interpretation on the name Aquisgrani , granum could mean "grain" and consequently point to Aachen as the granary of the empire ruled by Karl.

colonization

The settlement to be addressed as vicus lay between the Johannis and Paunellbach . Due to its geomorphology with height differences of up to 100 meters, this area is not to be rated as a favorable settlement area. Regardless of this, it was inhabited early on. The first traces point to the end of the 1st century BC. The reason can be seen in the hot thermal springs that emerge from the ridge on the eastern edge of the vicus . The up to 75 degrees hot, slightly sulphurous water carries dissolved minerals from the Devonian limestone and other adjacent rocks with it. An early August overland road from Bavai via Tongeren , Heerlen , Jülich to Cologne opened up the area 15 km away .

Archaeological excavations made it possible to discover Augustan settlement finds at an early stage. In 1927, the Aachen museum curator Otto Eugen Mayer found early Roman ceramics on the east side of the market square. Further excavations showed that today's market area had been drained in Roman times by means of wood-reinforced canals. Above this, the Romans erected swell-beam houses ( strip houses ) on pile gratings . The sill beams, floorboards and rising walls could be dendrochronologically with a felling date of 2nd century BC. To be dated.

Settlement continuity has been proven up to the 4th century. Similar to other Roman settlements in the Rhineland, the settlement area was then reduced in size and surrounded by a defensive wall 2.50 m wide. Their round towers with a diameter of 6.50 m had to be verified in the area of ​​the town hall / Marienturm. Between 350 and 360 the bath at the Kaiserquelle was destroyed and abandoned. An apse was built into the thermal bath under the minster and the complex was converted into a Christian church.

Thermal baths

In the course of the 1st century the settlement was partially expanded into a health resort for the Lower Germanic troops. For example, the Münster thermal baths have the typical room layout of a valetudinarium , a Roman hospital. In the spring area, the forest was cleared and two baths sealed with clay were created in which the thermal water could collect. The half-timbered buildings of the courtyard belonging to the complex were built on the Büchel with wood that was felled in 38 AD. In this time frame, pottery and glass-blowing shops were also built on the edge of the settlement in the area of ​​today's Minoritenstrasse and Großkölnstrasse, which indicates a developed infrastructure and lively settlement activity. In a second expansion phase, the Büchelthermen were expanded in stone by Legio VI Victrix from Neuss , which was stationed in Xanten around 100 AD . There was also a water pipe that led to Burtscheid . The line was covered with bricks, the brick stamps VI VIC PF on the VI. Notify legion. At the latest after the Batavian uprising in 69/70, guarding the thermal baths will also have been part of the Legion's duties.

Cult district

Towards the end of the 2nd / beginning of the 3rd century, the thermal baths at the court were demolished and a cult site was created. In the course of this, the Bücheltherme was enlarged and adapted to the 3000 m² cult area. The entrance to the cult area was adorned by a 7.10 m high porticus , which stood on a two-tier stylobate . The stylobate was partially excavated archaeologically and reconstructed on site. The decor included Corinthian leaf capitals with a profiled archivolt , as well as plant and shield reliefs in the style of Asia Minor architecture. In contrast, the capitals with cradle-shaped cladding goblets speak for local production. Due to its stylistic features, the porticus is dated to the end of the 2nd / beginning of the 3rd century. Shops opened up to the foyer between the 3.50 m wide pillars . In these pubs the traders, pilgrims and bathers could buy devotional items and the like. Acquire the like. Archaeobotanically , a richly varied vegetation pattern could be determined for the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Including luxurious food imports such as olives, figs and wine to entertain the pilgrims and bathers.

Furthermore, the foundations of two Gallo-Roman temple temples were discovered in the cult area during excavations in 1967/68 . The smaller temple A measured 12 × 10.43 m, its cella 3.53 × 4.73 and, like the 15 × 13 m larger temple B, was classically oriented towards the east. The entrances were flanked by pillars, which suggests a structured order. A staircase led directly to the brick and plastered spring basin in front of it, which was vaulted by a barrel ceiling. To which deity the temples were assigned is unclear, as no dedicatory inscriptions have been found. The discovery of a statue base with a fragmentary tree trunk around which a snake winds and the naming of the place suggest that the central sanctuary of the god of healing stood here.

Monument protection

The area of ​​the vicus is a ground monument according to the law for the protection and maintenance of monuments in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia .

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Aquisgranum  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Günther Grimme : The cathedral to Aachen. Einhard-Verlag, Aachen 2000, ISBN 3-930701-75-8 . Pp. 11-49.
  2. ↑ Albrecht Mann: Vicus Aquensis. Aachen 1984, p. 8. (PDF; 1.2 MB)

Coordinates: 50 ° 47 '  N , 6 ° 5'  E