Castle Duel
On the hill of Duel , near Feistritz an der Drau (market town Paternion , Carinthia ), a late antique fort was excavated between 1928 and 1931 .
The hill drops off quite steeply on all sides, the plateau is around 230 meters long and up to 110 meters wide. A fortified hilltop settlement was established here in late antiquity, around 400 AD, which replaced the settlement near Nikelsdorf in the valley floor of the Drava. The fortification controlled access to a trade route that led from the Drautal into the Gailtal and on to Northern Italy. The complex was destroyed at the end of the 6th century, probably by the immigrating Slavs.
Fortifications
The entire summit plateau is surrounded by a wall around 90 centimeters thick. It replaced an older, partially destroyed wall. This enclosing wall is reinforced in several places by towers and bastions. On the north side there is the entrance, which was secured by a gate system: A brick ramp leads to the entrance with a gate tower on the side.
Along the inside of the wall is an almost continuous row of small buildings. The buildings are attached to the wall, especially on the north, east and west sides. Some of the rooms are equipped with underfloor heating, which is simple hose heating . Due to the location on the wall, the houses were in the blind spot of enemy catapults. Only in the south do they extend further into the terrain. The buildings are likely to have been mostly accommodation, living spaces and storage facilities.
In the southern part of the plateau, at its highest point, there are two larger buildings: a church and a building designed as a rectory.
Early Christian Church
The foundations of the early Christian church were preserved after the excavations and are the only structures that have remained visible. The church is 21 meters long and 14.5 meters wide in plan. It is an aisle church facing east . It consists of a 7.15 meter wide main nave with an apse and two side aisles of unequal width . In the main nave there is the clergy bench, or the foundations that have been preserved, set apart from the apse wall. Here priests, deacons, etc. sat during the Eucharist. In the central axis in front of the priest's bench there is an artificial pit in the rock that once contained the reliquary . The altar above the reliquary can be assumed, which has not been preserved.
Four entrances lead from the main nave to the aisles. In the north aisle was the entrance to the church, which led over a few steps. For this reason, the north aisle is interpreted as a narthex , the vestibule for the unbaptized. The main nave had glazed windows. The floor consisted predominantly of the surrounding rock. The walls were decorated with paintings, but only individual pieces of plastering have survived.
More buildings
There were some buildings to the west of the church. One of them had a recessed, sloping floor, which is interpreted as a cistern . There is no spring on the plateau.
To the east of the church is a larger building, which is interpreted as a residential house or rectory. In the north-west corner of the building, a separate room is separated as a baptistery . The basin is made of rubble stones and has the shape of a four-leaf. It is one of only three preserved early Christian baptisteries in Austria today. A smaller building south of the rectory is interpreted as a bathhouse or hospital, the larger room had underfloor heating.
Single finds
A number of objects from the 5th and 6th centuries were found on the plateau. Clay vessels and iron utensils predominate. The only coin found was a sesterce of Emperor Severus Alexander (222–235).
Several fragments of monuments from the middle imperial era were built into the masonry. Some are now in the Teurnia Museum.
Fourteen graves have been excavated at the northern foot of the hill.
literature
- Gernot Piccottini : The Romans in Carinthia . Carinthia University Press, Klagenfurt 1989, pp. 32–37. ISBN 3-85378-333-3
- Franz Glaser: Teurnia. Roman city and bishopric. A guide to the excavations and the museum in St. Peter in Holz as well as to the sites in the urban area of Teurnia . Verlag des Geschichtsverein für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1992, pp. 136–140. (without ISBN)
Individual evidence
- ^ Glaser: Teurnia , 1992, p. 139
Web links
- Entry on Kastell Duel in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
Coordinates: 46 ° 41 ′ 55 ″ N , 13 ° 38 ′ 54 ″ E