Icorigium

Current southeast side of Icorigium

Icorigium is a Roman vicus on the Roman road from Trier to Cologne in the south of the Germania inferior province . The Roman settlement is located in Jünkerath in the Kylltal and was discovered in 1886 when the Trier-Cologne railway line was being built . It is recorded in the Itinerarium Antonini and on the Tabula Peutingeriana .

The vicus was probably founded in the 1st century by the settlement of Germanic Ubier . After the Germanic invasions of 275/76 AD, the settlement was temporarily abandoned. In the row of coins there is a hiatus that spans about a generation. In Constantinian times, at the beginning of the 4th century, the place was repopulated and surrounded with a 3.70 meter wide fortress wall, which was veneered with limestone blocks. The fortified settlement covers a total of 1.52 hectares. The fence includes 13 round towers, each around ten meters in diameter. At least three of the towers were equipped with passageways from which one could leave or enter the facility unseen in the event of a defense. The identical construction of the fortifications with the fortifications in Jülich ( Iuliacum ), Bitburg ( Beda ) and Neumagen-Dhron suggests that such structures were built according to plan.

Gravestones were built into the foundations of the defense towers as spoilers . An important find from Icorigium is a tombstone with a relief showing an everyday scene from a vicus . A street situation is shown with passers-by approaching a shop . In the shop, a man is sitting at a counter on which goods are uncovered.

Monument protection

The Icorigium ground monument is protected as a registered cultural monument within the meaning of the Monument Protection Act of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate (DSchG). Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

literature

Joseph Hagen: Römerstraßen der Rheinprovinz (= explanations of the historical atlas of the Rhine province. Volume 8). 2nd Edition. Kurt Schroeder Verlag, Bonn 1931, p. 121.
Wolfgang Binsfeld : Jünkerath . In: Südwestliche Eifel (= guide to prehistoric and early historical monuments. Volume 33). Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1977, ISBN 3-8053-0302-5 , pp. 300-304.
Heinz Cüppers (Ed.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate . Theiss, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8062-0308-3 .