Cambodunum

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Hypocausted room in the protective structure of the small thermal baths

Cambodunum was the name of the imperial Roman city ​​in the area of ​​today's city of Kempten in the Allgäu . In the early and high imperial period Cambodunum was one of the most important Roman cities in the province of Raetia and probably the first capital of the province before Augsburg ( Augusta Vindelicorum ) . Because of the earliest written mention of a city in Germany, Kempten can be counted among the oldest cities in Germany, alongside Trier ( Augusta Treverorum ) and Cologne ( Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ) . The excavated and restored remains of the Roman city are presented on site as the Cambodunum Archaeological Park (APC) . Some finds from the urban area were also exhibited in the Roman Museum Kempten in the Zumsteinhaus, but after the closure in 2015 they were moved to the depots of the Kempten City Archeology. The late Roman fort settlement in the river valley west of the imperial city was named Cambidanum .

location

Site plan of the Roman settlement in today's cityscape of Kempten

The core of the early and mid-imperial settlement was on the Lindenberg , an ice age gravel terrace on the eastern high bank of the Iller (Hilara) . It is unclear whether the current edge of the terrain corresponds to the ancient western city limits. This could have come off due to erosion . The verifiable extent of the settlement is around 500 by 700 m.

In late antiquity , the remaining settlement was relocated to the more easily defended Burghalde under the protection of a military camp.

Various indications point to a course of the Iller west of the Burghalde up to the beginning of the 14th century AD. Finds of twelve oak trunks from the area of ​​the town hall square, which probably come from a bridge, speak for this. Using dendrochronology , they could be dated to the reign of Emperor Tiberius . A C14 -dated birch trunk and various small Roman finds in alluvial and gravel layers below today's old town can also be counted on.

Location of Cambodunum in the province of Raetia
APC - reconstructed foundation walls of the basilica
Representation in the Notitia dignitatum . The illumination does not show any real buildings, in the middle row on the right Cambidano .

Surname

Cambodunum is probably also the former name of Champéon ( Cambdonno , Cambidonno , 9th century) and Chambezon ( Chambedon , 11th century) in France and a place in England near Leeds . The name is of Celtic origin and consists of the elements cambo- "curve", "loop, meander" (like old Irish camb , camm "curve, crooked", Breton comb "bent, crooked") and -dunon ( * dūnon ) "fortress , Burg, Berg ”(like old Irish dún “ fortress, fortification ”, Welsh dinas “ city ”, Breton din ). The Celtic -dunon is possibly related to the Germanic * tūna (English -ton , town , German fence). The name of today's city of Kempten is derived directly from the Latin name.

history

swell

The city was first mentioned in written sources by Strabo as Kandobounon . The name is also secured by mentions by Claudius Ptolemy as Cambodounon ( Καμβοδουνον ), in the Tabula Peutingeriana (Camboduno) , the Itinerarium Antonini (Campoduno) and the Notitia dignitatum (Cambidano) . Inscribed evidence is the discovery of a milestone from the former Isny monastery and a tombstone from Budapest . The name was received up to the 18th century in the form of Campidonia on thalers belonging to the Prince of Kempten .

Early and Middle Imperial Era

Following the mention of the geographer Strabo, it concerned with the Celtic settlement Cambodunum to the Civitas -Hauptort the Estiones , a vindelikischen strain 15 v. BC came under Roman rule through the subjugation of the foothills of the Alps by Drusus and Tiberius as part of the Augustan Alpine campaigns . Contrary to this written source, no pre-Roman settlement of this time in the area of ​​the later Roman city can be proven. Although there are finds from the much earlier Urnfield period (1200 to 750 BC), traces of settlement from the late Latène period , which immediately preceded the Roman occupation, are missing.

The upswing of the city in the 1st century was favored by its location on highways, especially by the connection via Chur and the Alpine passes there to Italy as well as to Lake Constance and the Roman Brigantium ( Bregenz ); see Allgäustraße . Along the Iller via Caelius Mons , today's Kellmünz , you reached the Danube in the north at Günzburg (Guntia) ; see Roman road Kempten - Kellmünz - Günzburg . A Roman road ran to the east to the Lech , which it reached at Epfach ( Abodiacum ) (connection to the Via Claudia Augusta ).

The first wooden buildings can be traced in Cambodunum since the reign of Tiberius, stone buildings from the Claudian period at the earliest . After the reign of Antoninus Pius there are hardly any new buildings or conversions to be found, and building activity gradually came to a standstill.

Since 1885 the walls of a forum complex with a basilica and a holy area have been uncovered on the Lindenberg . The complex testifies to a high degree of municipal self-government, if it was not even the seat of the provincial council, which was previously not safely located in Raetia. This thesis is supported by the discovery of a Gallo-Roman temple district in the western part of the plateau, which could have served as the central sanctuary. Furthermore, two thermal bath complexes were excavated in the northeast, but a large part of the civil settlement is unexplored. The outskirts of the city, its suburban areas and the grave fields of the 2nd and 3rd centuries are mainly unknown. Therefore, it is difficult to consider the size and population of Cambodunum.

Late antiquity

The urban settlement on the Lindenberg was abandoned by the end of the 3rd century at the latest under the sustained pressure of invading Teutons. The population sought protection on a flood-free terrace east of the Iller below the so-called Burghalde , a ridge of terrain rising about 25 m from the Illertal. The greatly reduced settlement was now better protected on the terrace. In addition, an approximately 1.8 m wide wall was built, the course of which is only secured in the west due to medieval and modern overbuilding.

Finds from the areas mentioned are rare. The most important late antique sites of Kempten are the body grave fields north of the late antique settlement and on the western bank of the Iller ("on the Keckwiese"). Of these, the latter is more likely to be considered civil due to the overwhelming majority of female burials.

With the loss of the Dekumatland , Kempten had become a border town. The imperial border ran along the river from Kempten to the mouth of the Iller. Most likely, the Legio III Italica section mentioned in the Notitia dignitatum was stationed in the higher area of ​​the Burghalde (0.7 ha) . The fortification was integrated into the late Roman border defense on the so-called Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes . In contrast to the Limes of the middle imperial period, the border fortresses were much smaller, but fortified were adapted to the surroundings. Illustrative examples of such fortifications could be archaeologically examined in the two neighboring forts of Isny ( Vemania ) and Kellmünz ( Caelius Mons ) .

The beginning of the stationing on the Kemptener Burghalde should be around 300 during the time of the reforms of Diocletian . A militaria find from a small house proves the presence of soldiers at the beginning of the 5th century. The military garrison should have been abandoned by the middle of the century at the latest.

Relief fragment from the "forum debris" of the older forum.

Research history

The first targeted archaeological excavations in Kempten took place in 1885 by the merchant August Ullrich . Further excavations were carried out until 1911 by the Allgäuer Alterthumsverein , founded in 1884 . They were continued from 1912 to 1935 by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation under Paul Reinecke . Against the protest of the international preservation of monuments, a large part of the ground monuments of the Roman town on the Lindenberg fell victim to the construction work under Mayor Otto Merkt . The excavations made it possible for the first time to get a picture of the structure of the settlement on the Lindenberg.

The cemetery "Auf der Keckwiese" was excavated from 1952 to 1967. The Roman Age finds have been presented in the Roman Museum Kempten in the Zumsteinhaus since 1961 . The city of Kempten has been promoting research into the Roman city since 1982 by setting up an office for city ​​archeology . This office has since been canceled due to money savings and the activities are transferred to the areas of the cultural office. Several follow-up examinations, including at the Gallo-Roman temple district in 1983/86, served to set up the Cambodunum Archaeological Park (APC). This was opened in October 1987 with a first section (Gallo-Roman temple district).

Model of the forum, view from the city side.

Roman buildings

The city's street system was laid out along a central decumanus that emanated from the altar in the sacred area of ​​the forum. A cardo at right angles to the decumanus has been identified with the so-called Thermenstraße . Several of the more recent stone construction phases of the city's residential buildings can be identified, especially in the center. Nine complexes can be addressed as insulae that were 20–45 m wide and up to 80 m long. To the west of the forum there was a small suburb of so-called strip houses . In the outskirts of the city, handicraft businesses, especially pottery, settled.

Forum and Basilica

The forum that dominates the cityscape was not created in one go. The "older forum" as the first stone construction phase was preceded by one or two wooden construction phases, which were determined by subsequent excavations in 1985 in the area of ​​the basilica . The older forum was essentially excavated in 1885/86. The complex included the free-standing basilica (initially 49.5 × 25 m) and a building with a larger suite of rooms, presumably to be regarded as an administration and assembly room. A holy district joined to the southeast. It was surrounded by a wall that encompassed an area of ​​600 × 800 Roman feet . In the center of it is an altar building measuring 8.4 × 12 m. The buildings had ornamented marble panels and paintings. Parts of it were discovered as "forum debris" in other city districts.

Construction of the younger forum is likely to begin in the Flavian period. These modifications to the forum were probably completed by the middle of the 2nd century. The old forum building was replaced by a façade that was representative of Forum Street with access in the form of a propylon . The forum square was now built on on all sides, the large square with the altar and the basilica remained. Striking is a building on the south side with an apse , which may have served as a meeting room (curia) of the city council (ordo decurionum) , as well as the forum temple on the north-western narrow side.

Since the early 2nd century, a larger building has been attached to the northeast, which is interpreted as an accommodation house ( praetorium ) . It initially had a few larger room suites of up to 140 m², which were divided into numerous smaller chambers between 12 and 20 m² after a renovation in the early 2nd century.

APC Temple District. View of the u-shaped double hall.

Gallo-Roman temple district

In the north-west of the city near the steep slope on the Iller, a temple area was exposed since 1937/38. It was located in the vicinity of the so-called Thermenhaus. At the same time as the conversion of this building into a tavern around the middle of the 2nd century, stone buildings were built on the temple area in place of the earlier wooden structures. A U-shaped double hall closed off the area open to the north to the steep slope facing the city. There were twelve buildings in it, but not all of them must have existed at the same time. Building 4, a Gallo-Roman temple and a larger building with an apse added later, is important for understanding the complex . The numerous smaller buildings, including five prostyloi or Ante temple , might as treasuries for addition to the function as a temple votive offerings have served. The central location of the temple district at the intersection of all national roads is remarkable. Very similar cult districts are known from Trier ( temple district in the Altbachtal ) and Augst ("on the Schönbühl"). Finds, layout and architecture all point to Gallo-Roman interpretations of the Roman world of gods.

Today's protective structure over the small thermal baths.
The exposed area of ​​the small thermal baths in the protective structure.

Thermal baths

In addition to the since the reign of Caligula acting as small baths heating house the city greater thermal facilities owned northeast of the forum. The bathing facilities are among the earliest structures of their kind north of the Alps. The thermal bath house is the earliest stone building in Kempten and was uncovered by Paul Reinecke in 1913. The proximity of such a building to a cultic complex is not a contradiction in terms, as numerous examples of side by side in other Roman settlements show.

The “small thermal baths” connect with the palaestra to the accommodation house at the Forum. Three wooden construction phases are known of the construction, which is scheduled to begin in the late Claudian or early Neronian times. It was originally a "row type" bathroom, the rooms for the three levels caldarium , tepidarium and frigidarium were arranged linearly one behind the other. Later, more stoking rooms, a sweat bath and a latrine were added to the bathroom . Access was initially only possible via the praetorium , which suggests that it belongs to the governor's seat.

The “large thermal baths” were built towards the end of the 1st century at the northeast end of the “Thermenstrasse”. With an area of ​​4200 m², they are among the largest thermal baths north of the Alps. The size was only surpassed with the large thermal baths of the 2nd century and late antiquity, including the thermal baths of Colonia Ulpia Traiana ( Xanten ), the Barbarathermen or the Kaiserthermen in Trier. At that time, the large thermal baths in Kempten were already being converted or dismantled, which reduced the covered area by about a fifth.

Burial grounds

Of the grave fields of the early and middle Imperial Era, the one north of the city "on the Keckwiese" has been particularly well researched through excavations in the 1960s. It was located near the Keck chapel on the road to Augsburg ( Augusta Vindelicorum ) and was found to be 250 m along the road. Most of the more than 400 burials date from the 1st century, with some more dating back to the end of the 2nd century. Above-ground grave structures and grave enclosures are partially detectable.

Around the middle of the 4th century, the area was used again for burials. In the northern part there were 38 largely unbranded body burials, which overlaid some older cremation burials, as well as debris from early and mid-imperial graves in their backfilling. Both the lack of military equipment in the finds and the number ratio of the sexes to each other (male: female = 5: 12) suggest that the burial site is civil.

Further burial grounds are suspected to be east and south of the city. A few probably Roman graves were discovered in 1862 during the construction of the Neu-Ulm – Kempten railway line on the site of the later Kempten Ostbahnhof . Such finds are so far unknown south of the city.

The late antique settlement on the Burghalde includes a smaller burial ground under today's town hall square . It consists of a little more than a dozen body graves, mostly without additions. The prone burial of an adult man from the 2nd half of the 4th century is remarkable. The skull was damaged by a blow from which the man appears to have recovered. The few additions, a bronze sleeve with three probes, could have been used in the medical field.

View of the Burghalde from the northeast.

Late antique buildings

Late Roman fortifications (Burghalde)

At the foot to the west and north of the Burghalde , a 1.8 m thick wall could be found just next to the late medieval wall of the now Protestant cemetery over a length of 200 m. About three meters south of the funeral hall was a 4.5 m wide, semicircular tower. Another, 1.2 m wide wall near the southwest bastion of the Burghalde is to be regarded as late Roman due to structural features. The exact course of the wall in the north, south and east of the Burghalde is unclear.

The only residential building that could be reliably verified was a building measuring 5.5 × 9.5 m. A larger building with two apses (exposed interior 11.4 × 18.4 m, according to other information 13.2 × 20.6 m) could only be excavated in its southern part. The interpretation varies between a bathing building and a reception building similar to the auditorium in the Kellmünz fort . In the absence of evidence and due to deviations in the construction, an older assumption that it should be a late Roman (episcopal) church was rejected.

The plateau of the Burghalde with a length of 130 m and a width between 20 and 95 m (0.75 hectares) accommodated a division of the legio III Italica , and there may also have been space for parts of the civilian population on the plateau or leaning against it .

Late antique settlement on the Lindenberg

Whether there was still a settlement on the Lindenberg east of the Iller in late Roman times is not certain due to a lack of clear settlement finds. Late antique glass and coin finds and little ceramics only indicate a low level of further settlement. The late antique use of the burial ground “on the Keckwiese” would also speak for this.

See also

literature

  • City of Kempten (ed.): APC. Cambodunum Archaeological Park. 1st section. The Gallo-Roman Temple District. 3rd edition, Kempten 1993.
  • Karlheinz Dietz : Cambodunum [I]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 2, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01472-X , Sp. 953-953.
  • Andrea Faber: The Roman burial ground on the Keckwiese in Kempten. Kallmünz 1998 (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 75).
  • Ulrich Fischer : Cambodunumforschungen 1952-II. Lassleben, Kallmünz 1957 (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 10).
  • Wolfram Kleiss: The public buildings of Cambodunum. Lassleben, Kallmünz 1962 (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 18).
  • Werner Krämer : Cambodunumforschungen 1953-I. Lassleben, Kallmünz 1957, (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 9).
  • Günther Krahe: Excavations in the early Roman burial ground of Cambodunum . In: Annual Report of the Bavarian Land Monument Care 3, 1962, pp. 78–91.
  • Günther Krahe: excavations in the early Roman cemetery of Cambodunum 20/21. In: Report of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation 1961/62 (1963), pp. 192–205.
  • Michael Mackensen : The Roman burial ground on the Keckwiese in Kempten. Kallmünz 1984 (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 34).
  • Wilhelm Schleiermacher : Cambodunum, Kempten: a Roman town in the Allgäu. Habelt, Bonn 1972 ISBN 3-7749-0906-7
  • Gerhard Weber in: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany, Bd. 30. Kempten and the Allgäu. Theiss, Stuttgart 1995 ISBN 3-8062-1150-7 pp. 108-125.
  • Gerhard Weber: Kempten - Cambidano in late Roman times. In: Karl-Josef Gilles / Clive Bridger (Hrsg.): Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces. Archaeopress, Oxford 1998 ISBN 0-86054-887-2 (= British Archaeological Reports Intern. Ser. 704), pp. 137-141.
  • Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum - Kempten. First capital of the Roman province of Raetia? Special volume Antike Welt, von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2691-2 (= Zabern's illustrated books on archeology ).
  • Gerhard Weber: Kempten (Allgäu), Sr. Roman City Cambodunum. In: Wolfgang Czysz among others: The Romans in Bavaria. License edition of the 1995 edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-11-6 , pp. 463–468.
  • Claudia Theune : Teutons and Romans in the Alamannia. Structural changes due to the archaeological sources from the 3rd to the 7th century (= supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Volume 45). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2004, ISBN 3-11-017866-4 , pp. 410-422.

Web links

Commons : Cambodunum  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Weber in: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten . Mainz 2000, p. 43f .; Wolfgang Czysz in: The Romans in Bavaria. 1995, p. 200; Tilmann Bechert et al. (Ed.): Orbis Provinciarum. The provinces of the Roman Empire. Introduction and overview. Mainz 1999, p. 152.
  2. ^ Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental , Collection des Hespérides, Errance 2003, ISBN 2-87772-237-6 , pp. 100, 154-156 f.
  3. Strabon 4, 206, probably a typo in the Florentine manuscript, see Gerhard Weber 1995, p. 109.
  4. ^ Claudius Ptolemy, Geographike Hyphegesis 2,12,3
  5. ^ Itinerarium Antonini 237.
  6. a b c Notitia dignitatum occidentis XXXV 8.19.
  7. a Camb (oduno) CIL 03, 05987 (p 1863, 2328.50) , 201 AD.
  8. Camboduno CIL 03, 15162 , first half of the second century AD.
  9. ^ Strabo 4, 206.
  10. ^ Gerhard Weber: The polis Kambodounon. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten . Mainz 2000, p. 19.
  11. On Kempten / Cambidanum in late antiquity see Gerhard Weber: Kempten - Cambidano in late Roman times. In: Karl-Josef Gilles / Clive Bridger (eds.): Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces. Archaeopress, Oxford 1998 ISBN 0-86054-887-2 (British Archaeological Reports Intern. Ser. 704), pp. 137-141; Jochen Garbsch : The late Roman Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes (Small writings on the knowledge of the Roman occupation history of Southwest Germany 6), Stuttgart 1970, esp. P. 14f .; Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - a late Roman garrison town on the northwest border of the Raetia secunda province. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, pp. 134-146; the same: Raetia Secunda - new fortifications and the late Roman army in northern Raetia. In: C. Sebastian Sommer (Ed.): Archeology in Bavaria, window to the past. Pustet, Regensburg 2006, ISBN 3-7917-2002-3 , pp. 218-222.
  12. Michael Mackensen: The Roman burial ground on the Keckwiese in Kempten. Kallmünz 1984 (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 34 ), p. 196 and 200.
  13. Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - A late Roman garrison town on the north-western border of the province of Raetia secunda. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 146.
  14. Wolfgang Czysz and Werner Endres: Archeology and history of ceramics in Swabia. Published by the Neusäß e. V., Neusäß 1988, ISBN 3-8242-9960-7 (= Neusäßer Schriften 6 ), pp. 64-66; Wolfgang Czysz and Michael Mackensen: Roman pottery waste from the Keckwiese in Kempten. To the Roman pottery of Kempten-Cambodunum. In: Bavarian History Leaflets 48, 1983, pp. 129-164.
  15. on the temple district see Gerhard Weber in: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten . Mainz 2000, pp. 72-79.
  16. ^ Gerhard Weber, in: Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 67.
  17. ^ Gerhard Weber, in: Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 70.
  18. Michael Mackensen : The Roman burial ground on the Keckwiese in Kempten. Kallmünz 1984 (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 34 ); Andrea Faber: The Roman burial ground on the Keckwiese in Kempten. Kallmünz 1998 (= material booklets for Bavarian prehistory 75 ).
  19. On the necropolis of Roman Kempten as a whole, see Andrea Faber: Die Stadt, der Tod und der Müll - die Nekropolen. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, pp. 127-133.
  20. Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - a late Roman garrison town on the north-western border of the Raetia secunda province. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 143.
  21. ^ Information according to Gerhard Weber: Kempten - Cambidano in late Roman times. In: Karl-Josef Gilles / Clive Bridger (eds.): Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces. Archaeopress, Oxford 1998 ISBN 0-86054-887-2 (= British Archaeological Reports Intern. Ser. 704 ), p. 137; Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - a late Roman garrison town on the northwest border of the Raetia secunda province. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 139.
  22. ^ After Gerhard Weber: Kempten - Cambidano in late Roman times. In: Karl-Josef Gilles / Clive Bridger (eds.): Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces. Oxford 1998, p. 137; after Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - a late Roman garrison town on the north-western border of the province of Raetia secunda. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 143 4.2 × 9.3 m
  23. Numbers from Gerhard Weber: Kempten - Cambidano in late Roman times. In: Karl-Josef Gilles / Clive Bridger (eds.): Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces. Oxford 1998, p. 137
  24. Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - a late Roman garrison town on the north-western border of the Raetia secunda province. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 143
  25. Gerhard Weber: Kempten - Cambidano in late Roman times. In: Karl-Josef Gilles / Clive Bridger (eds.): Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces. Archaeopress, Oxford 1998 ISBN 0-86054-887-2 (= British Archaeological Reports Intern. Ser. 704 ), p. 137.
  26. Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - a late Roman garrison town on the north-western border of the Raetia secunda province. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 143
  27. Gerhard Weber: Kempten - Cambidano in late Roman times. In: Karl-Josef Gilles / Clive Bridger (eds.): Late Roman fortifications in the Rhine and Danube provinces. Oxford 1998, p. 137; Michael Mackensen: Cambidanum - a late Roman garrison town on the northwest border of the Raetia secunda province. In: Gerhard Weber (Ed.): Cambodunum-Kempten. 2000, p. 143.
  28. Jochen Garbsch: The late Roman Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes (= Small writings on the knowledge of the Roman occupation history of Southwest Germany 6 ), Stuttgart 1970, esp. P. 14.

Coordinates: 47 ° 43 ′ 35.8 ″  N , 10 ° 19 ′ 31.2 ″  E

This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 15, 2010 in this version .