Civitas Auderiensium

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Location of the province of Upper Germany in the Roman Empire

The Civitas Auderiensium was a Roman civitas in the right bank of the Rhine in the province of Germania superior (Upper Germany).

geography

The Civitas Auderiensium was west of the Limes (red line) and south of the Main

The civitas roughly comprised the area of ​​today's southern Hesse (today's districts Offenbach district , Darmstadt-Dieburg , Odenwaldkreis , district-free city ​​Offenbach ) and small parts of the western Main region of Lower Franconia , with the areas directly on the Main likely to the north adjacent Civitas Taunensium with the capital Nida (today : Frankfurt-Heddernheim ) belonged. Areas southwest of the Bergstrasse belonged to the Civitas Ulpia Sueborum Nicrensium (main town Lopodunum / Ladenburg ).

The main place of the Civitas Auderiensium was the Vicus Med ... (name only incomplete), today's Dieburg . The settlement focus of this administrative unit was also around him, as the Dieburger Land offered extremely fertile soil, while other parts of the country such as the Odenwald or the Hessian Ried were much less populated due to climatic or soil reasons. Other larger settlements were located in Groß-Gerau - Auf Esch and in Gernsheim .

To the east, the Main formed the border of the Civitas ( Nasser Limes ), which here was also the Roman state border, i.e. Limes. There are also villages in front of some Limes forts, for example in Seligenstadt or Obernburg am Main .

history

Roman expansion in southwest Germany

The Civitas Auderiensium was founded no later than 125 AD after the Neckar-Odenwald-Limes was laid out shortly before the turn of the century and the so-called agri decumates had been incorporated into the Roman Empire. The first Roman installations were the Groß-Gerau fort , which was part of the extensive bridgehead of the provincial capital Mainz and which secured the road from Mainz to Ladenburg that was built before the Limes was built; also the port of Gernsheim am Rhein, where Mainz legion troops could be landed by ship.

After the military protection of the area through the Limes with its forts , the now rear forts of Groß-Gerau and Gernsheim - the latter was located in 2014 - were abandoned and the soldiers were moved to the border. The way was clear for civil settlement. The camp village of Groß-Gerau remained as vicus . Roads were laid to connect Mainz with the Limes and the settlements.

Then the new Civitas main town Med ... (Dieburg) was laid out as planned as a traffic and administrative center as well as a market place. The surrounding Dieburger Land was surveyed and agricultural estates were established at regular intervals. Such a villa rustica is in Höchst i. Odw. - Hummetroth has been uncovered, dozens more are known.

Overview of the distribution of the Alemanni

After the Odenwald Limes was initially laid out as a land fortification on a ridge, in the course of the second century AD the border was pushed up to the river, so that the area between Obernburg am Main and Miltenberg was also incorporated into the empire.

The Alemanni incursions in the second half of the third century ended the Roman presence and the existence of the Civitas Auderiensium ( Limesfall ). Even the lavishly built city wall of Dieburg could not prevent Rome from retreating beyond the Rhine border. However, late Roman coin finds confirm that the inhabitants continued to trade with the empire; numerous settlements remained continuously populated, albeit on a modest scale.

There may be a connection between the traditional name of the Civitas Auderiensium and the current name Odenwald for the mountains south of Dieburg.

Roman roads

From Bürgel a Roman road led southeast over the Bieberer Berg to Bieber and from there along the old Dohnweg (branches off at Bieber-Waldhof towards the center of Obertshausen through the Bieberer Wald) via Jügesheim and Seligenstadt to the fort in Stockstadt am Main . The Frankfurt Mainfurt , for its part, was directly connected to Dieburg, the capital of the Civitas Auderiensium, along the Wendelsweg in Sachsenhausen. This road connected the two main towns and was better developed by Roman soldiers than others, which is why it was still used in the Middle Ages. At Ebertsberg in Dietzenbach there are ditches of this road in the forest, which is why a neighboring aisle is still called "Steinerne-Straß-Schneise" today. The field names Steinerne Straße in Dietzenbach and Urberach also bear witness to the old Roman road. From Urberach to Dieburg, the old Roman road is now called "Hohe Straße" and part of the road has been reconstructed on the Bulau.

The Romans also used older, already existing long-distance connections. A prehistoric long-distance route, which connected Central Germany and the Middle Rhine, was also used in Roman times. Within the Civitas Auderiensium, this path , coming from Langen , ran along the so-called Indian path in the Offenbach city forest south of Tempelsee, continued along Langener Straße in Bieber, past the old Bieber town center, via Lammerspieler Weg (in Bieber: Würzburger Straße) through Lammerspieler Forest after Lammerspiel .

At the end of the 1st century AD, a wooden bridge was built near Hanau-Steinheim in place of an old Main ford. The access to this bridge was in today's camping area. The fact that this ford was already used by the residents of the area is shown by the discovery of a Celtic coin ( rainbow bowl ) from the Vindeliker tribe from around 100 BC. In the area of ​​the southern bridgehead a Roman settlement was established, which perished in the years 230–260 AD (Alemannic invasion). The ruins of this settlement stood upright until the Middle Ages and served as building material.

Castles

The Limes ran with its sections Wetterau-Limes and Main Limes on the eastern edge of the Civitas. The border wall was secured here with several forts.

The specified ORL refers to the continuous route numbering of the Roman fort as determined by the Reich Limes Commission .

Upper German Limes

Corner tower of the Großkrotzenburg fort
Limes fort ORL Closest place
Großkrotzenburg Castle 23 Großkrotzenburg am Main
Seligenstadt fort 32 Seligenstadt
Stockstadt Castle 33 Stockstadt am Main
Niedernberg Castle 34 Niedernberg
Fort Obernburg 35 Obernburg am Main
Fort Wörth 36 Woerth am Main
Trennfurt Fort 37 Trennfurt

With the fort in Hainstadt there was still a fort at the rear.

Older Odenwald line

Würzberg Fort: Fort bath, with the Praefurnium in the foreground, the sudatorium bulging to the left
Limes fort ORL from to Type Closest place
Fort Seckmauern 46b early
Trajan or late Domitian 		138 Numerus fort Community Lützelbach ,
district Seckmauern
Fort Lützelbach 46 early
Trajan or late Domitian 		159 Numerus fort Community Lützelbach ,
district of La Petite-Wiebelsbach
Small fort Windlücke early
Trajan or late Domitian 		159 Small fort Community Lützelbach ,
district Haingrund
Hainhaus Castle 47 early
Trajan or late Domitian 		159 Numerus fort City of Michelstadt ,
district of Vielbrunn
Fort Eulbach 48 early
Trajan or late Domitian 		159 Numerus fort City of Michelstadt ,
Eulbach Hunting Lodge
Würzberg Castle 49 early
Trajan or late Domitian 		159 Numerus fort City of Michelstadt ,
Würzberg district

The forts Miltenberg-Altstadt (38) and Miltenberg-Ost (38a) were located on the younger Odenwald line.

population

It is not known whether there was a tribe of the Auderienser after whom this civitas was named. Before the annexation, the Romans will probably not have tolerated any dense tribal settlement in the area in question. Rather, Roman sources tell of Gallic adventurers who had settled east of the Rhine before the borders were expanded. Perhaps with the establishment of the Civitas, tribes were also settled here as planned.

The Celts in Europe (1)
ocher (approx Hallstattkultur 750 - 500 / 450 .. BC)
green: spreading La Tene culture
orange: spread of Celtic languages ( 3rd century BC... )

Celts still settled in the first century BC. In this area, which was part of the Herkynian Forest . Numerous names of waters and place names from the Celtic language have been preserved to this day. Archaeological finds from this period can also be found in the area of ​​the later civitas. The two Celtic tribes that settled here were the Boier and the Helvetii . The Boier left the area in two trains as early as 500 BC to the south and east, and new tribes emerged from the merger with other groups. Only a small part of their tribe will have remained behind and mixed with new peoples.

In the middle of the 1st century BC, the Suebi belonging to the Elbe Germans immigrated . They eliminated the political order of the Celts living here. Some of the old settlements continued to be inhabited and some of the local population survived, which contributed to the fact that the local population was very diverse. Due to the influence of the Romans in the area at that time, this conquest was probably only possible with their consent. The Mattiakers , probably part of the Chatten tribe , settled north of the Main . According to Tacitus' report, "poor and adventurous people" who sought their fortune in the sparsely populated areas also moved here from the province of Gaul.

In the first century, Roman activities were mainly limited to the north Main area, the Wetterau. There are signs that the Wetterau should remain uninhabited as a Roman advance area. The area south of the Main was not taken over by the Romans until the 2nd half of the 1st century. The Groß-Gerau fort also dates from this time. It is not certain whether there were fights or whether the country was won without a fight. Fighting took place mainly against the chats in the north. The population of the Lower Maine area, described as inconsistent, was to be subjected to the Roman administration during this time and the external borders were to be secured here. The establishment of the province of Upper Germany between 85 and 90 as well as several forts and the start of construction on the Upper German Limes were steps in this direction. The land was redistributed and the old settlements were largely abandoned. From then on, the population concentrated near the forts or at road crossings.

The impenetrable forest of the Spessart and the eastern part of the Odenwald was probably uninhabited at that time, at least the Romans did not expect any danger from here.

Sites

(s) = visible, (n) = not visible, (m) = museum, exhibition on site

Dieburg in Roman times

Groß-Umstadt

Radheim

  • Villa Rustica under the village church, or in the area of ​​the village church (s)
  • 4 four god stones found indicate 3 more villa rusticae. Locations are not yet explored (s)

Hummetroth

Ober-Ramstadt

Gross-Gerau

Gernsheim

Weiterstadt

  • Gravestone (s Ev. Church)

Odenwaldkastelle

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Kaiser in: Steinheim - Monuments and History ", 2nd edition, 1991, Kulturamt der Stadt Hanau and Geschichtsverein Steinheim (publisher), p. 13
  2. ↑ See Kaiser in: Steinheim - Monuments and History ", p. 13

Web links

literature

  • Dietwulf Baatz , Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (ed.): The Romans in Hessen . 2nd edition Theiss, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-8062-0599-X .
  • Werner Jorns : New land documents from Starkenburg . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1953, pp. 112–145.
  • Alfred Kurt: On the history of roads and traffic between the Rhine and Main, part 2, the military roads of the Romans . Dissertation, Frankfurt am Main, 1957.
  • Karl Nahrgang: The archaeological finds of prehistory and early history in the city and district of Offenbach am Main . Waldemar Kramer publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1967.
  • Bernd Steidl: Limes World Heritage: Rome's border on the Main. Logo, Obernburg am Main 2008, ISBN 3-939462-06-3 (exhibition catalogs of the Archäologische Staatssammlung 36).