Bingium

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Bingium is the Latin name of today's city of Bingen am Rhein , which it carried when it belonged to the Roman Empire . Strategically at the national significance Roman road between Trier and Mainz at the confluence of the Nahe in the Rhine area, developed by one of Drusus -scale castle a civil settlement with the rank of vicus . Almost no surface remains of the military camp and civil settlement have survived. However, numerous finds attest to the Roman presence, including the well-known “doctor's grave” and references to a Roman Mercury temple at the site of today's basilica .

Foundation and location

It is possible that there was already a Celtic predecessor settlement at the confluence of the Nahe with the Rhine . As part of the Roman expansion to the Rhine, Drusus founded 13/12 BC In the later Mogontiacum (Mainz) a legion camp and on the road connecting it to the probably somewhat older Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in the first decade before Christ a fort on the right bank of the Nahe and immediately before its confluence with the Rhine. The location of Bingium was strategically important for the Roman military: In addition to the military protection of the Nahe estuary, the beginning of the Middle Rhine Valley as well as the expiring plains of the Ingelheim Rhine Plain and the lower Nahe Valley were secured here.

Tacitus mentions bingium in his historiae . This was probably the name of the fort founded by Drusus, which goes back to Celtic roots and which was then carried over to the civil settlement.

Military site

No structural traces of the Roman fort are detectable. Possibly it was a wood and earth fort. However, it can be assumed that there was at least one Roman fortification that protected a guide and then the proven Roman Nahe bridge of the important overland roads. Earlier assumptions that there were two fortifications in Bingen and the Bingerbrück on the other bank of the Nahe are now considered outdated.

The presence of the Roman military is also documented by literary mentions, for example in the Notitia dignitatum , as well as by numerous epigraphic evidence in the form of tombstones of Roman military personnel. The following are documented as auxiliary groups for the first half of the 1st century : cohors IV Delmatarum , cohors I Pannoniorum and cohors I Sagittariorum . The auxiliary troops were withdrawn in Flavian times. Instead, vexillations of the Legio XIIII Gemina and the Legio XXII Primigenia, which were later permanently stationed in Mogontiacum, were assigned to Bingium. Corresponding brick stamps on building material were found in Bingerbrück. In addition, the presence of a command of the Legio IV Macedonica is attested by another tombstone find. There is evidence of milites bingensis from the end of the 4th century who assumed military duties as urban militia. For the beginning of the 5th century, the Notitia dignitatum (list of troops of the Dux Mogontiacensis ) names a praefectus militum Bingensium as the military commander for the bingio mentioned there .

Civil settlement

After the fort was built, an up-and-coming civil settlement with the status of vicus quickly emerged . The connection of Bingium to the emerging Roman Rhine Valley Road from Mogontiacum to Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ensured good trading opportunities and brisk civil and military traffic. The civil settlement was of regional importance in the middle of the 4th century. In 370 his Mosella, Ausonius reports that the place was walled up. This was preceded by major German invasions in 359, which caused Emperor Julian to protect the civil settlement with a fortress wall.

Nahe Bridge

Between the present-day towns of Bingen and Bingerbrück, a Roman pile grid bridge connected the two banks of the Nahe. The strategically important Ausoniusstrasse to Trier and the Rheintalstrasse to Cologne crossed the Nahe on this bridge .

In 1983 iron post shoes, oak posts and a large number of spolia were found while working near the bed . Dendrochronological and archaeological studies identified the finds as foundation piles from the year 77. This means that the bridge construction belongs to the reign of the Flavian emperor Vespasian and dates at the same time as other bridge construction projects in the Roman cities of Cologne and Mainz .

Gravestone of Annaius Daverzus in the Museum Römerhalle in Bad Kreuznach

Necropolis

The Roman bingium can primarily be accessed through several necropolises and their rich finds. A larger necropolis with numerous tombstones of Roman military members of the auxiliary troops and civilians was discovered in Bingerbrück during the construction of the train station around 1860. The tombstone of Annaius, a member of the Cohors IV Delmatarum , shows a detailed view of Roman weapons and clothing from the first half of the 1st century. There are other grave finds along today's Mainzer Straße and in Bingerbrück along the road to Cologne. In Bingen itself there are two further cemeteries in the area of Klopp Castle . The famous doctor's grave was also discovered here, in which numerous medical devices such as bronze cupping heads were found.

See also

List of forts in the Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes

literature

References and comments

  1. ↑ Tacitus, historiae , 4.70 .
  2. ↑ H. Bullinger, RGA p. 5
  3. ↑ Mosella 1. Ausonius uses the form of the name Vinco, a Gallic derivation of the word Bingen, Latin bingium.
  4. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus 18.2.1.
  5. ↑ CIL 13, 7507 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 58 '  N , 7 ° 54'  E