Aquae Helveticae

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Aquae Helveticae was a Roman settlement ( vicus ) in what is now the city of Baden in Switzerland . It was created shortly after the turn of the century , when legionaries from the Vindonissa camp (today Windisch ), five kilometers away , began to use the thermal springs on the Limmat River and built thermal baths . A settlement of traders and craftsmen was built around the thermal baths, which existed until the beginning of the 5th century.

history

After the Augustan Alpine campaigns of Drusus and Tiberius , the Romans occupied in 15 BC The Swiss plateau and built smaller bases. One of them was about five kilometers west of Baden in the area of ​​today's municipality of Windisch. From AD 14, the 13th Legion ( Legio XIII Gemina ) began to expand the base into a legionary camp called Vindonissa . The Roman soldiers valued the 46.6 ° Celsius warm Baden thermal water, as they ascribed a healing effect to it. They built thermal baths at the bend in the Limmat , around an hour's walk from the camp . Immediately to the west of it, a vicus was built on the flat «Haselfeld» (north of today's train station ) , which was named Aquae Helveticae («Helvetic Baths»).

Aquae Helvicae suffered a setback in the four-emperor year 69. The 21st Legion ( Legio XXI Rapax ), which supported the counter-emperor Vitellius , carried out a punitive action against the Helvetii , allied with Galba , after they had attacked a courier department. Under the command of Aulus Caecina Alienus , the legionaries ravaged and plundered manors and settlements in a wide area around Vindonissa. They burned Aquae Helveticae and wiped out the Helvetian militia. The thermal baths do not seem to have been affected. Tacitus does not mention Aquae Helveticae by name in the histories , but writes that legionaries destroyed a nearby, "built like a small town, its healing waters because of the popular bathing resort". In fact, extensive traces of fire can be found on the Haselfeld and in Ennetbaden during this time . After Vespasian's takeover and the end of the crisis, the 11th Legion ( Legio XI Claudia ) was stationed in Vindonissa instead of the 21st , which was involved in the reconstruction. In Aquae Helveticae, where previously there were only wooden buildings, the houses were replaced by new buildings made of masonry bricks .

The military withdrew from Vindonissa in 101, but this does not seem to have had any impact on the prosperity of the settlement. A heyday began around the middle of the 2nd century. Tourism formed the economic basis of the place, in addition, the location on the bridge over the Limmat promoted local industry and trade. Between 259 and 270 the Alemanni carried out numerous raids and raids. The number of inhabitants and the size of the settlement fell sharply, as the population was expelled and the Roman military could not offer any protection due to the temporary retreat over the Alps. A Leugenstein erected in 275 , remains of fortifications and numerous coins from the 4th century suggest that the place was also inhabited in late antiquity, but was significantly smaller than before. In the first decade of the 5th century, the Romans finally withdrew.

Place name

Inscription from the Isis temple, today walled in in the Sebastian Church in Wettingen
Bronze fitting from Gemellianus

In Baden itself, the place name has not yet been directly documented by inscriptions. Aegidius Tschudi , who served as governor of the county of Baden from 1533 to 1535 , reported on the discovery of a stone tablet that was walled into the tower facade of St. Sebastian's Church in neighboring Wettingen . On the plaque from the 2nd century there is a reference to the foundation of an Isis temple in Aquae Helveticae. The inscription reads:

"DEAE ISIDI TEMPLVM A SOLO / L [VCIVS] ANNVSIVS MAGIANVS / DE SVO POSVIT VIK [ANIS] AQVENSIB [VS] / AD CVIVS ​​TEMPLI ORNAMENTA / ALPINIA ALPINVLA CONNIVNX ET PEREGRINA FIL [LA] XC DEDVE [LA] XC DEDVE [ ] D [ATVS] D [ECRETO] VICANORVM "(The goddess Isis, Lucius Annusius Magianus used his fortune to build a temple from scratch for the villagers of Aquae. His wife, Alpinia Alpinula, and his daughter, Peregrina, have furnished this temple , 100 denarii. The place was made available by resolution of the villagers.)

The spelling mistake vikani (instead of vicani) suggests that the author was possibly a Greek. The place name can also be proven on bronze knife sheath fittings , which were made by the craftsman Gemellianus , who lives in Aquae Helveticae, and which were brought as souvenirs to numerous places in the Roman Empire by visitors to the thermal baths.

settlement

The place inhabited by Romans and Helvetians was at the intersection of important transport links in the area of ​​today's spa gardens . The Roman road led through the village from Augusta Raurica ( Augst ) via Vindonissa (Windisch) and Vitudurum ( Oberwinterthur ) to Brigantium ( Bregenz ). Before the wooden bridge over the Limmat (located roughly at the location of today's Leaning Bridge to Ennetbaden ) a road turned off, which followed the left bank of the river to Turicum ( Zurich ) and then led to the Alpine passes in Graubünden .

Aquae Helveticae was a wealthy traders and craftsmen settlement. The 5 to 6 meter wide streets in the urban area had a very high standard of construction for the time. Houses with arcades ( porticos ) lined the streets. Shops and workshops were connected to the arcades, and further back living rooms and courtyards. The buildings at the junction (in the area of ​​today's spa gardens) were particularly representative and had villa-like floor plans.

The large number of weapons and armaments found indicates that the place was under military administration. The location of the public buildings is still unknown today, only the existence of the Isis temple could be proven on the basis of the inscription in Wettingen. When the "Staadhof" was rebuilt in 1967, part of the previously undiscovered thermal baths came to light: two marble-clad bathing pools measuring 5 × 11 meters and 7 × 15 meters, respectively, with four small tubs in between. The water entered an apse from one of the springs via a 50-meter pipe . From 2009 to 2012, Aargau Canton Archeology carried out extensive excavations, which yielded numerous new findings.

Until recently, little was known about the Roman settlement on the right bank of the Limmat. This changed when the canton archeology carried out excavations in Ennetbaden in 2006 and from 2008 to 2010 . In the early 2nd century, after the fire of a craftsmen's quarter, a representative terrace building was built there, which was unusually luxurious with fresco paintings, mosaics, marble-clad walls and underfloor heating; Parts of the furniture were also preserved.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Max Him : Aqua, Aquae 46) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 301.
  2. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. Pp. 13, 21.
  3. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 21.
  4. ^ Tacitus , Historien I, 67.
  5. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 17.
  6. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 26.
  7. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. P. 15.
  8. ^ Schaer: City history of Baden. Pp. 34-35.
  9. ^ Römische Strasse at Badener Kurtheater ( Memento from September 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Department of Education, Culture and Sport of the Canton of Aargau, October 3, 2007
  10. ^ Bathing in Roman times - the ancient Aquae Helveticae and its thermal baths ( Memento from January 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 837 kB), Cantonal Archeology Aargau , 2011
  11. ↑ Luxurious bathroom from Roman times exposed , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , December 8, 2008

Web links

Commons : Aquae Helveticae  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 47 ° 28 '44.4 "  N , 8 ° 18' 34.9"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and sixty-five thousand six hundred and fifty-eight  /  two hundred and fifty-nine thousand and fifty-six