Capitol of Colonia Ulpia Traiana

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Insula 26 was the Capitol temple precinct just south of the forum

The Capitol of Colonia Ulpia Traiana was the central temple of the Roman city Colonia Ulpia Traiana (CUT), a Colonia in the area of ​​today's Xanten ( North Rhine-Westphalia ). It existed from about 100 to 275 AD as a capital of the province Germania inferior . The area sacra of the Capitol, which took up the whole of Insula 26, was at the highest point in the city in the immediate vicinity of the Forum (Insula 25). Presumably it was a sanctuary of the three Capitoline deities Jupiter , Juno and Minerva .

history

Oblique aerial view of the Archaeological Park . The Capitol and Forum could be found near the windmill.
This is what the capitals of the Capitol Temple could have looked like (reconstruction of two capitals on the port temple )

A hallway name - Auf der alten Burg - is reminiscent of a mighty ruin that has been called "Old Borgh" for centuries. It bears witness to a mighty building from ancient times. But it was not a castle or a fortress, but a large temple with preserved foundations measuring 30 by 40 meters. So this temple turned out to be larger than the Capitol Temple in Cologne . Workpieces of the rising masonry were not found. The masonry and even parts of the foundation were lost as a result of stone robbery. But there are indications that the podium, the columns and the entablature and gable areas were made of limestone, which comes from the upper Moselle region. The columns probably had Corinthian capitals . A wooden roof construction with a tiled roof completed the building at the top. The temenos , the area sacra of the temple, was closed off at the rear of the temple by a two-storey hall with a portico on both sides . The halls on the north, east and south sides were only half as high and also had porticos, especially on the street.

In the Xantener Reports , Volume 25, Gundolf Precht extensively documents the entirety of the excavations in the area of ​​Insula 26 under the title Die Capitolsinsel der Colonia Ulpia Traiana (in the series settlement history development, excavation - research - presentation . Edited by Martin Müller) . He goes into the complicated construction history of the chronologically successive buildings within this insula and distinguishes between eight different construction phases. Only the last phases of the stone construction are of interest for the Capitol temple. In the section “Reconstruction of the Area sacra des Capitols” and the following section “The Temple” the (often hypothetical) conclusions about the findings are presented. Gundolf Precht formulates the following final result:

“Little is known (so far) about the first temple construction. The development of the peripheral zones was obviously divided into several building lots. From the workflow, the foundations for the development on the west side and possibly at the same time for those on the east side were created. The foundations of the southern one were then placed on the eastern edge of the building. After a construction interruption, probably due to the season, the connection of the south wing to the western building was redesigned and then both components were raised at the same time. "

“In the second half of the second century, the temple and parts of the western outskirts fell victim to a fire. While the temple was obviously enlarged and rebuilt, the completion of the west wing seems to have stalled and was only completed later (simplified?). At the end of the third century, the eastern and southern peripheral buildings of the Capitol were integrated into the late antique fortification wall of the city complex, which was reduced to nine insulae. "

So one can only speculate about the appearance of the temple, because there are no reliable findings about it. Only its direction is clear.

Placement within the city

Foundations of the buildings at the northeast corner of Insula 26, part of the peripheral development of the Capitol District

Hans-Joachim Schalles says about the planning and placement of the Capitol as a separate insula district:

“The placement of the Capitol Temple in Colonia Ulpia Traiana (Xanten), on the other hand, appears to be conventional: The Capitol District was assigned the insula to the southwest of the Forum and thus a central point in the urban fabric on the Hauptcardo. The decumanus running between the forum and the capitol district seems to guarantee an opening up of both areas, which has already been mentioned as a characteristic feature of a whole group of plazas. But a hall seals off the Capitol District from this Decumanus and thus from the Forum. The decisive difference to the aforementioned plazas is that the temple faces northeast and is therefore not oriented towards the forum. The Capitol is understood here as a closed, independent district, its orientation possibly - the Cologne parallel suggests this idea - based on the desire for a river-side architectural prospect. Perhaps it is no coincidence that this conception is similar in its isolation to the imperial cult district in the new town of Italica. "

Note: If you look at the overview plan of the insulae of the CUT at the very top, you have to conclude from this north-facing representation that Capitol Island 26 is southeast of Forum Island 25 (and not "southwest" as stated in the quoted text).

reconstruction

This is how visitors to the APX should imagine the former Roman city. In the center, the Capitol can be seen as a reconstruction. It is a possible version!

A reconstruction of the Capitol will probably not be possible. But one can at least make well-founded hypotheses about the appearance of the temple. The two versions of the reconstruction of the rising are in accordance with the findings and principles of Roman temple construction and draw comparisons with temples of the same type from the same epoch.

Version 1: Ring hall with eight front pillars and eleven pillars on the long sides. (square above the outer wall). Cella square over the inner wall.

Version 2: Cella walls in a square on the outer wall, half-columns in front of three outer walls, in the east a vestibule made up of free-standing columns.

literature

  • Gundolf Precht: The Capitol. In: Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Xanten and its surroundings in Roman times (= history of the city of Xanten, Volume 1, edited as a special volume of the Xanten reports by Martin Müller, Hans-Joachim Schalles and Norbert Zieling) - Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 2008
  • Gundolf Precht: The Capitol Island of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Development of settlement history. (= Xantener reports, No. 25) - Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt / Main 2013
  • Ursula Heimberg and Anita Rieche: Colonia Ulpia Traiana. The Roman city. Planning, architecture, excavation. (Revised 1998 by Ursula Grote) - Cologne 2014

Web links

Commons : LVR-Archäologischer Park Xanten  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ursula Heimberg and Anita Rieche: Colonia Ulpia Traiana. The Roman city. Planning, architecture, excavation. (Revised 1998 by Ursua Grote) - Cologne 2014. pp. 68–73
  2. ↑ Hans-Joachim Schalles: Forum and central temple in the 2nd century AD. In: H.-J. Schalles et al. (Ed.), The Roman city in the 2nd century AD. The functional change in public space. (= Xantener reports 2) pp. 176-211
  3. ↑ Ursula Heimberg and Anita Rieche: Colonia Ulpia Traiana. The Roman city. Planning, architecture, excavation. (Revised 1998 by Ursula Grote) - Cologne 2014. pp. 69–70