Dorcic
Dorcic is the ancient name of a Roman city in the province of Britain . It is today's Dorchester-on-Thames . The old name Dorcic is only passed down from Beda Venerabilis (* around 673 - 735).
The place may have been important in pre-Roman times. A military camp was built here under the Romans around AD 60 , but the evidence is rather sparse. The camp was abandoned around AD 90 and a small town emerged that received a city wall at the end of the second century. This initially consisted of an earth wall with a ditch. A stone wall was added in the third century. The wall enclosed a rectangular area of perhaps 4 hectares, whereby the course of the wall and the extent of the city are largely unknown, especially in the east.
The town's residential development initially consisted of wooden buildings, which were later replaced by stone ones. Remnants of wall paintings and floors were found in the urban area. There is hardly any evidence of handicrafts in the urban area, so that the place served more as a market town and local agricultural center.
In the city area there was an altar named Jupiter , which may have been worshiped here. Outside the city there were cemeteries, one in the north and another in the southeast of the city. In the east there was a possibly Christian burial ground, which was occupied until the sixth century and the continued existence of the city into the Middle Ages. So far there is no evidence for suburbs. The place was in the area of the Civitas of the Catuvellaunen .
literature
- Martin Henig / Paul Booth: Roman Oxfordshire . Stroud 2000, ISBN 0-7509-1959-0 , pp. 58-63
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 38 ′ 40.2 " N , 1 ° 9 ′ 58.7" W.