Damasia
Damasia was a Celtic-Roman city in the north of the Roman province of Raetia , in what is now Bavaria .
history
The ancient Greek historian and geographer Strabo writes “... Vindelicians, ... their cities are ..... Cambodunum and Damasia, as it were the castle of the Likattier.” Here Damasia is described as a rock castle (“Acropolis”), as the capital of the Celtic tribe of the Likatier , the inhabitants of the Lech region. Since there is no - at least today recognizable - comparable hilltop castle on the Lech , the Auerberg could be the Damasia sought after . The Auerberg, a conical mountain with 1055 m above sea level. NN in front of the Alps (Upper Bavaria-Allgäu), is the largest pre-Alpine mountain on the Lech.
Excavations on the Auerberg
Excavations revealed an urban settlement area (thermal baths, Fabrica, etc.) surrounded by an extensive city wall (ring wall). The Auerberg was divided into two zones, the Schlossberg to the east and the Kirchberg to the west. Only five percent of the Auerberg have been archaeologically examined so far.
Other identifications
The question is what definition of “Höhenburg” has at Strabo. If it simply means that the settlement is not directly on the river, but rather elevated, then several places on the Lech come into question, including Augsburg ( Augusta Vindelicorum ), which is not a hilltop settlement, but whose historical center is still 10 meters above the Lech level is on a slope edge.
Also feet or Dießen were as Damasia addressed. Füssen is the Roman Foetibus and Dießen is not a hilltop settlement, but lies on the Ammersee .
One fact that speaks against the Auerberg, however, is that, unlike Augsburg and Füssen, the mountain is not directly on the Lech, but Damasia was called the capital of the Likatier. Another argument against the Auerberg is that it is very unusual for a “capital” that the settlement tradition should have completely disappeared. All other cities mentioned by Strabo such as Brigantium ( Bregenz ) and Cambodunum ( Kempten (Allgäu) ) continued to exist as a city. Since the Romans destroyed Damasia , it could also be that they renamed the city.
legend
Legends tell of cave dwellers on the Auerberg or “the little man from Burgstall Echt” from the neighboring Stötten area. The legend about Dießen reports: "A legend points to the fate of the city, after which it is said to have been inundated by a heavy flood of the lake". An exposed hilltop castle (Strabo: "Damasia ... Castle of the Likattier" .) Cannot be flooded by a lake per se.
Another legend about Dießen says: The land around Damasia was swampy ... it started to rain until the whole city, including people and animals, was almost completely submerged. Only a few houses remained, which had been elevated where Dießen is today. But above the big city Damasia lies the lake ( meaning the Ammersee ). Here a hilltop castle is flooded by the lake far below. At the end the lake lies above the hilltop castle. Such tectonic reversals are interpreted as increases as in fables with an apocalyptic impetus.
literature
- Günter Ulbert : The Auerberg I. Topography, research history and wall excavations. (= Munich contributions to prehistory and early history 45). Beck, Munich 1994
- Günter Ulbert, Werner Zanier : The Auerberg II. Settlement within the ramparts . (= Munich contributions to prehistory and early history 46). Beck, Munich 1997
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Max Spindler, Andreas Kraus: Handbuch der Bayerischen Geschichte , p. 50 .
- ^ Günter Ulbert, Dietwulf Baatz, Werner Zanier, Christof Flügel: Der Auerberg , p. 37 .
- ^ Yearbooks of the Society of Friends of Antiquity in the Rhineland , 1857 - p. 176 .
- ^ Franz Streber: About the so-called rainbow bowl, Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1860, p. 65 .
- ↑ http://www.alt-fuessen.de/fuessen-geschichte.html
- ↑ http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/Home/Lokales/Landsberg/Lokalnachrichten/Artikel,-Von-Damasia-und-anderen-Geschichten-_arid,1430327_regid,10_puid,2_pageid,4500.html