Augusta Vindelicum

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Founder of the city Gaius Octavius ​​called Emperor Augustus
The Roman provinces in the Alpine region and the Roman road network around 150 AD

Augusta Vindelicum (also Augusta Vindelicorum ) is the Roman-ancient and neo-Latin name of the city of Augsburg . In ancient times the name Aelium Augustum (with the short form Aelia Augusta ) was also used.

Probably under Emperor Trajan (98–117 AD) it was raised to the capital of the Roman province of Raetia . This Roman province extended from Lake Constance (Lacus Brigantinus) to the Inn (Aenus) and was divided into Raetia prima (southern part) with the capital Chur and Raetia secunda (northern part) with the capital Augsburg since the 4th century . Before that, Cambodunum ( Kempten ) was the capital of the province. Raetien originally comprised today's area of Swabia with the Allgäu , Upper Bavaria west of the Inn and Lower Bavaria south of the Danube, Upper Swabia and East Württemberg , parts of Tyrol , Vorarlberg and Switzerland. After the imperial reform under Emperor Diocletian , the Raetia Secunda only included today's Bavarian administrative districts of Swabia and Upper Bavaria as well as parts of Tyrol.

Origin of name

The first name Augusta represents the feminine form of Augustus , in honor of the emperor Augustus , under whose reign in 15 BC. The campaign of conquest to Raetia took place and a military camp was built as the nucleus of the later city. The feminization of the name is based on the fact that the language gender (gender) of cities in the Latin language is often feminine (cf. Roma , Moguntia , Colonia Agrippina ). Several foundings from this time bear the first name Augusta, which was given a second name for a closer description, in the German-speaking area Augusta Raurica and Augusta Treverorum . The epithet Vindelicorum represents the genitive plural of Vindelicus (nominative plural: Vindelici) or Vindelicum that of Vindelix (nominative plural: Vindelices) (both Latin for Vindeliker). It refers to the Celtic tribe of the Vindeliker , who in this part of Rhaetia , i.e. between Wertach (Latin Virda ) and Lech (Latin Licus ), was located.

The name form "Augusta Vindelicorum" was not derived until the 16th century from the Latin language rules and an inscription ( gentes Vindelicorum quattuor ) on the Tropaeum Alpium ( La Turbie near Monaco ). From the late 2nd century onwards, only the form “Augusta Vindelicum” can be historically documented. As a rule, the provincial capital was officially referred to as "municipium Aelium Augustum". The short form “Aelia Augusta” has been handed down on many contemporary stone monuments, but from 150 AD it was increasingly replaced by the name “Augusta Vindelicum”. The Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus used the Greek spelling "Augusta Vindelikon" in two places in his description of the world. This form of name can be found u. a. also on the famous Tabula Peutingeriana , the medieval copy of a late antique road map.

Settlement

The oldest settlement remains in the urban area of ​​today's Augsburg-Oberhausen district date to around 8/5 BC. BC to 6/9 AD It is perhaps a military camp. This camp was possibly destroyed in a flood. Around 5/15 AD a new warehouse was built on the Augsburg high terrace . To the north-east of today's cathedral , a wood-earth fort was built with over 10 hectares of interior space for a mixed unit of approx. 3000 men. A civil settlement ( fort vicus ) also developed here. For such a place typical strip houses could be proven. The fort and the civil settlement were destroyed in a fire around 70 AD. The camp was not rebuilt, but the civil settlement continued to exist, which soon acquired an urban character. In the center the buildings became more concentrated and new residential areas were created in the northwest. Even then, the place had a regular city map. Only in the north and west was the road layout rather irregular.

During the reign of Emperor Hadrian , the city was elevated to a municipality , whose official name was then municipium Aelium Augustum (or in short: Aelia Augusta ). From this time on, more and more buildings were built in stone. The city received a city wall that covered an area of ​​approx. 80 hectares. Inscriptions confirm a heyday in the second and early third centuries. In late antiquity, unlike many other places, the city was still fully populated. Even at the transition to the fifth century, representative buildings were still erected here.

Augusta Vindelicum was the crossing point of important Roman roads .

Excavations

Various excavations provide a relatively good picture of the ancient city. It was surrounded by a wall that formed roughly a semicircle with a diameter of 600 m. In the south, the city seems to have expanded beyond the city wall. The streets in the center were laid out in a checkerboard pattern. However, this has not been proven for the urban areas in the north and west. There were numerous stone buildings, but there were also many in half-timbered construction. A forum and a thermal bath could be excavated from the development .

Numerous finds from Roman Augsburg are presented today in the Roman Museum in the former Dominican Church. Only a few remains of the former provincial capital can be seen in the urban area. Copies of some stone monuments were set up along the “Roman wall” at the cathedral , the originals of which were mostly taken to the “Roman Museum”. Some original inscription plates and tombs from the collection of the humanist Konrad Peutinger (1465–1547) are freely accessible in the inner courtyard and through the gateway of the Peutingerhaus .

Literature (selection)

  • Stefan Schmidt: Valuable miniatures. Antique bronze statuettes from Augsburg excavations and collections . Likias Verlag, Friedberg 2015 ISBN 978-3-9817006-3-3
  • Gertrud Platz-Horster: Small pictures - big myths. Antique gems from Augsburg . Likias, Friedberg 2012 ISBN 978-3-9812181-7-6
  • Bernd Roeck: History of Augsburg . CH Beck, Munich 2005 ISBN 3-406-53197-0
  • Nina Willburger : The Roman wall painting in Augsburg (= Augsburg contributions to archeology, 4). Wißner, Augsburg 2004 ISBN 3-89639-441-X
  • Salvatore Ortisi : The city wall of the Raetian provincial capital Aelia Augusta - Augsburg. The excavations at Lange Gasse 11, Auf dem Kreuz 58, Heilig-Kreuz-Str. 26 and 4 (= Augsburg contributions to archeology, 2). Wißner, Augsburg 2001 ISBN 3-89639-288-3
  • Wolfgang Zorn: Augsburg. History of a European City. From the beginning to the present . 4. revised and additional edition Wißner, Augsburg 2001 ISBN 3-89639-319-7

Web links

  • Stadtlexikon Augsburg : Settlement history and archeology in Augusta vindelicum, by Lothar Bakker, 2019 (with numerous photos), accessed December 23, 2019

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Susanne F. Kohl: History of the city drainage Augsburg . 1st edition. City of Augsburg, Augsburg 2010.

Coordinates: 48 ° 22  '26.4 " N , 10 ° 53' 29.4"  E