Duroliponte
Duroliponte (also Durolipons ) is the ancient name of a small Roman town on the site of what is now Cambridge in England . The ancient name of the place has so far only been passed down in the Itinerarium provinciarum Antonini Augusti . The place was at the intersection of some important roads.
The history of Duroliponte is best known from excavations in the area of today's city. There was already an Iron Age settlement here. Shortly after the conquest of Britain by the Romans, some smaller fortifications were built here, which were supposed to protect the local roads and the river crossing. A fort was built around 70 AD. This has so far only been poorly investigated and its function as a military camp remains uncertain. The fort was demolished at the beginning of the 2nd century. Little is known of the second and third century settlements, but most of the houses seem to have been simple half-timbered buildings with only one room. But at least a stone building was found that even had hypocausts . It may be a mansio (rest house, hostel). Remnants of wall paintings in various buildings show a modest level of living luxury. Pits, in which skeletons of horses, dogs, but also children and luxury objects were found, are interpreted as sacrificial pits of a sanctuary, in which a Celtic deity was perhaps worshiped and gave the place regional importance.
In the middle of the fourth century an approximately 8.6 hectare area of the city was surrounded by a wall, in which three gates have so far been proven. The place that was probably abandoned in the 5th century now concentrated on this.
literature
- John Alexander, Joyce Pullinger: Roman Cambridge, Excavations on castle Hill 1956-1988 , Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 88, 1999, 4-75.
- Malcolm Todd: CAMBRIDGE (“Durolipons”) Cambridgeshire, England . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 12 ′ 45 ″ N , 0 ° 6 ′ 51 ″ E