Echzell fort

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Echzell fort
limes ORL 18 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes ,
Wetteraustrasse (4)
Dating (occupancy) around 90 AD
to 260 AD
Type Alen and cohort fort
unit ?
size 5.24 hectares
Construction a) Wood and earth fort.
b) Stone fort
State of preservation Ground monument not visible
place Echzell
Geographical location 50 ° 23 '35 "  N , 8 ° 52' 59.6"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 23 '35 "  N , 8 ° 52' 59.6"  E
height 140  m above sea level NHN
Previous Haselheck small fort (east)
Subsequently Small fort Lochberg (south-southeast)
Location and floor plan

The Echzell fort was a Roman fort in today's center of the municipality of Echzell in the Wetterau district in Hesse . It was built around 90 AD and served Roman auxiliary troops as a military base to protect the Upper German Limes in the Wetterau until 260 AD . Only in the 3rd century is the Ala I Indiana Gallorum known as a unit . The size of the camp makes it probable that a cohort was stationed here together with a 500-man cavalry unit ( Ala quingenaria) . The fort was one of the most important troop locations on the Wetterau Limes, along with the Friedberg fort and the previous camps at Nida-Heddernheim .

location

The fort was located northwest on the outskirts of Echzell, around 1.3 km west of the Limeswall. The vast forest areas of the Vogelsberg were to the east of the Limes . It was flood-free on a flat, loess-covered hill west of the Horloff lowland. The distance to the Ober-Florstadt cohort fort is around eight kilometers. Both forts were located a little behind the Limes, which is probably why a large part of the monitoring was taken over by the numerous small forts along the route such as the small fort Auf der Burg , small fort Haselheck , small fort Lochberg and the small fort Staden . The valley of the Horloff, which flows into the Nidda at Florstadt , will have been decisive for the location of the forts. The Limes runs along a ridge east of the Horloff and crosses very hilly terrain south of Echzell.

To the west, wide plains adjoin the fertile Wetterau, for which a dense settlement by villae rusticae can be proven from the beginning of the 2nd century AD . In modern times, lignite was mined in the region , which is why the landscape was reshaped here in places and Roman sites were lost, including large parts of the cemetery to the southwest.

Echzell local history museum
Floor plan of the north gate
Reconstructed wall paintings from the officers' apartment in Echzell in the Saalburg Museum
Fragment of an honorary inscription for Caracalla and Iulia Mamaea, exhibition in the Heuson Museum Büdingen.
Alexander-type face mask , 2nd / early 3rd century. Part of a cavalry Roman masked helmet , found in the retentura of the fort, Saalburgmuseum Bad Homburg v. d. H.
Reconstruction of the Jupiter column in front of the museum

history

Roman troops established the camp around 90 AD in the final years of Emperor Domitian's reign . According to a more recent evaluation of the coin series, the first construction took place around 110 AD. Conjectures about an older cohort fort from the Chat Wars of older research were later refuted. Under Emperor Hadrian , the initial wood and earth fort was expanded. It received a stone fence and principia (commandant's office), but the crew quarters remained half-timbered buildings.

While the first half of the 2nd century was a very peaceful time on the Limes and in the hinterland, there are traces of destruction from the second half. Occasional horizons of destruction of this time are mostly associated with the Marcomann Wars, which apparently also brought minor warlike actions in the northern Limes area, possibly through the Chatten.

The fort was destroyed when the Alemanni invaded in 233. The complex was rebuilt and existed until the Limes fall around 260 AD. A few years later, Alemanni settled in the vicinity of the fort, but not in the center of the Roman ruins . Parts of this settlement were excavated northeast of the fort in the "Mühlbach" corridor and southwest in the "Heinrichswiese" corridor in several campaigns, most recently in 2008/2009. Settlement there began soon after the Limes fall around 280 AD and is one of the very few known places of settlement of this period in the region.

exploration

The fort was only found in 1897 as one of the last forts on the Wetterau line. Previously , Friedrich Kofler , who later became the commissioner of the Reich Limes Commission (RLK), had found traces of Roman settlement on an area of ​​81 hectares since 1880. Excavations of the Saalburg Museum under Hans Schönberger and Dietwulf Baatz took place in 1958 and 1962–1965. The only larger area in the camp village ( vicus ) was excavated from 1990 to 1992 by the district archeology of the Wetterau district in front of the south gate of the fort. This was followed in 1996 by an investigation of the rear areas of the elongated strip houses in a new building area in Beundestrasse. The finds from the more recent excavations are either in the Saalburg Museum or in the local Echzell local history museum.

investment

Fort

The fort had a floor area of ​​5.24 hectares and was one of the largest on the Upper German-Raetian Limes. It was facing east, towards the Limes. In addition to the eight gate and four corner towers, the fort had eight intermediate towers at regular intervals. Four intermediate and corner towers could be excavated. Like the larger part of the proven fence, they were located on the north and east sides. A single pointed ditch about nine meters wide was found in front of the fence.

The staff building ( Principia ) was a simple post structure in the first period of the fort and was later expanded in stone. In all four fort periods it had a width of 38 m. The vestibule is only fully known in period 3, making the commandant's office 63 m long.

During the excavations, a total of 14 wooden crew quarters were discovered. At the end of a team barracks, in the area of ​​the officer's apartment in the head building, a wall painting was found that shows scenes from Greco-Roman mythology and was probably made in the middle of the 2nd century AD. It was applied with mortar plaster and covered a half-timbered wall. Today the room has been reconstructed in the principia of the Saalburg Museum together with the magnificent paintings and is considered to be one of the most important examples of Roman wall paintings in the northwestern provinces.

Period 1

Period 1 includes the first wooden fort with a beginning around 90 AD. The end of this period is possibly due to the dilapidation of the wooden structures and can only be roughly dated. In addition to southern Gallic , the findings also contain central Gallic terra sigillata , which is why it is likely to be at the beginning of the Hadrianic period. The findings from period 1 do not yet show any shifted settlement layers.

Period 2

Beginning in the time of the Emperor Hadrian, Period 2 extended into the second half of the 2nd century. The fort received a stone fence. Of the staff building, only the flag shrine was made of stone. The end of the period came due to a fire, although it cannot be said whether this was related to warlike events. Few of the settlement pits, which in addition to fire rubble contained parts of weapons, allow such conclusions. Fragments of a roughly life-size bronze statue were discovered in such pits near the flag sanctuary. The findings from period 2 contained fragments of terra sigillata plates of the shape Dragendorff 32. Therefore, the end of the period is very likely to be after 160 AD.

Period 3

Period 3 extends from the second half of the 2nd century to around AD 233. The principia were rebuilt. Part of the building received dry stone walls, which probably served as conditions for half-timbered buildings. As in period 2, only the flag shrine was provided with a mortar wall. The end of this period was again brought about by a fire.

Period 4

The last period, beginning around 235, extended to the time of the Limes falls around 260 AD. After the end of period 3, the fort was soon rebuilt. Once again, parts of the headquarters were laid on unmortured foundations. The walls of period 4 contained spoils from period 3, including parts of an inscription by Julia Mamaea . The inscription is likely to have been in the principia of period 3 and therefore indicates the Alemanni invasion of 233 as the cause of the upheaval between period 3 and 4.

crew

The exceptionally large Limes fort probably served as a common camp for an ala and a cohort of 500 men each. There are individual finds of the units stationed here that do not yet allow a clear statement. A recent find of a Jupiter column (similar to a Jupiter giant column , but with a seated pair of gods instead of a group of riders as a crowning) in a nearby villa rustica names a veteran of the Ala I Indiana Gallorum in its inscription . It could be rare evidence of a veteran's settlement in a villa near his unit.

However, there are also brick stamps of the Ala Moesica felix torquata . Ala I Flavia Gemina, previously stationed in Nida-Heddernheim, and the Cohors XXX voluntariorum civium Romanorum as a cohort were also considered . The exact location of both units within the Upper German Army is unclear. A change of troops would also be conceivable.

Sudatorium of the fort bath is marked in the pavement in front of the church

Fort bath

The fort bath was discovered in 1960 under the Protestant parish church during a renovation after a fire. It was considerably larger than today's church and, with a length of around 50 m, is one of the largest fort baths on the Limes. The two sweat baths (sudatoria) are marked in the pavement on the square in front of the church. The elongated main axis with the changing room (apodyterium) , cold bath (frigidarium) , leaf bath ( tepidarium) and warm bath (caldarium) was arranged in rows. With the exception of the basin protruding from the structure and other additions, today's church rests almost congruently on the Roman foundations. The construction of the bathing building can be narrowed down by finding brick stamps. The 69 types of stamps found, mainly to be assigned to the Legio XXII Primigenia and its brickworks in Frankfurt-Nied , are evidence of a relatively early construction. The composition is comparable to the fort baths of Salisberg and Bendorf .

Vicus

Up until the excavations in 1990–92, only small parts of the vicus were known. Kofler mistakenly interpreted a larger building in the camp village with heating equipment as a fort bath. It was probably a mansio (hostel). In 1964 the remains of a pottery were found about 120 m south of the fort. Coarse utility ceramics were produced, which are sometimes referred to in research as “Echzeller goods”. In general, numerous commercial operations can be expected in the vicus, which supplied the fort and the surrounding area.

Greater knowledge about the vicus was only gained with the excavations in the 1990s. It extended mainly along the southern arterial road of the fort for at least 350 m. While the extent of the camp village could only be determined by site inspections and excavation observations, excavation cuttings are available from the north near the fort and the parallel street. As usual in fort villages in the region, there were strip houses there. They had a length of about 33.5 m with widths between 11 and 8.5 m.

After the Alemanni invasion in the 3rd century, there was a clear decline in settlement. Of the five parcels examined, only the so-called baker's house can be identified as provisional.

Roman roads

Roman gravestone with a relief representation of a funeral meal, found in Echzell-Gettenau

The fort was connected to the well-developed Roman road network of the Wetterau. There was probably no important crossing over the Limes here, as the dense forest area of ​​the Vogelsberg was to the east. The cavalry unit stationed here secured the plain to the west. A striking triangle of Roman roads connected the fort towns of Echzell, Friedberg and Arnsburg . Large parts of this street are still visible or are still used as dead straight traffic routes.

Two further streets connected the fort with the neighboring fortifications in the north and south. On the road leading south to Ober-Florstadt Fort, there was a burial ground near the town of Gettenau . The find of a tombstone depicting a funeral meal comes from there. The stone is now in the Büdingen Museum.

Monument protection and remains

The Echzell fort and the facilities mentioned have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage as a section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes since 2005 . It is also a ground monument in the sense of the Hessian Monument Protection Act . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

Finds from the fort and the vicus are exhibited in the Echzell local history museum , a few older finds are in the Büdingen museum.

See also

literature

  • Eduard Anthes , Friedrich Kofler and Wilhelm Soldan : stretches 4 and 5 (the Wetterau line from the Köpperner Tal near the Saalburg to the Main near Gross-Krotzenburg). The route description. In: Ernst Fabricius , Felix Hettner , Oscar von Sarwey (ed.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roemerreiches / Abt. A, Vol. 2, routes 4 and 5 (The Wetterau line from the Köpperner Tal near the Saalburg to the Main near Gross-Krotzenburg) , 1936, pp. 135-137.
  • Dietwulf Baatz : Echzell, FB. Limes fort and bath. In: Dietwulf Baatz and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (eds.): The Romans in Hessen. Licensed edition of the 3rd edition from 1989. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , pp. 261-265.
  • Dietwulf Baatz: The excavations in Echzell fort 1962. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 21, 1963/64, pp. 32-58.
  • Dietwulf Baatz: excavations in the Limes fort Echzell. In: Germania 41, 1963, pp. 338-344.
  • Dietwulf Baatz: The stamped bricks from the bath of the Limes fort Echzell. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 22, 1965, pp. 118–127.
  • Dietwulf Baatz: Echzell Limes Fort. Brief report on the excavations in 1963 and 1964. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 22, 1965, pp. 139–157.
  • Dietwulf Baatz: The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube. 4th edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2347-0 , p. 164f.
  • Hans Klumbach and Dietwulf Baatz: A Roman parade face mask from the Echzell Fort, Kr. Büdingen (Hesse). In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 27, 1970, pp. 73–83.
  • Hans Ulrich Nuber : Dedication of an equestrian prefect from Echzell, district of Büdingen. In: Find reports from Hessen. 11, 1971 pp. 67-80.
  • Vera Rupp and Heide Birley: Hikes on the Wetteraulimes. Archaeological hikes on the Limes from the Köpperner Tal in Taunus to the Drususeiche near Limeshain. Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1551-0 (=  Guide to Hessian Pre- and Early History 6 ), pp. 166–179.
  • Hans Schönberger : The Roman fort complex of Echzell. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 18, 1959/60 pp. 35–51.
  • Hans Schönberger: Newer excavations at the Upper Germanic and Rhaetian Limes. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1962 (=  Limesforschungen 2 ), pp. 69-139, esp. P. 84.
  • Bernd Steidl : The crisis of the 3rd century using the example of selected findings. Fort Echzell. In: Egon Schallmayer (Ed.): The Augsburg victory altar - testimony to a troubled time. Saalburgmuseum Bad Homburg vd H. 1995 (=  Saalburg-Schriften 2 ), pp. 27–35.
  • Bernd Steidl: Echzell fort - Haselheck small fort - Limes line. Case study on the overall extent of a fort on the Limes. In: Egon Schallmayer (Ed.): Limes Imperii Romani. Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Bad Homburg v. d. H. 2004, ISBN 3-931267-05-9 (=  Saalburg-Schriften 6 ), pp. 115–125.

Excavation report of the Reich Limes Commission :

  • Friedrich Kofler: The Echzell Fort. In: Ernst Fabricius, Felix Hettner, Oscar von Sarwey (ed.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roman Empire. Dept. B, Vol. 2a, Fort No. 18 (1903).

Web links

Commons : Kastell Echzell  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the rural settlement see Jörg Lindenthal: The rural settlement of the northern Wetterau in Roman times. Wiesbaden 2007 (materials on the prehistory and early history of Hesse 23).
  2. ^ A b Herbert Nesselhauf / Hans Lieb : Third addendum to CIL XIII: Inscriptions from the Germanic provinces and the Treverer area. In: Report of the Roman-Germanic Commission 40, 1959, pp. 120–228, no. 184.
  3. ↑ For information on the find and where it was found, see Hans Klumbach and Dietwulf Baatz: A Roman parade face mask from the Echzell fort, Kr. Büdingen (Hessen). In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 27, 1970, pp. 73–83.
  4. ↑ Klaus Kortüm : On the dating of the Roman military installations in the Upper German-Raetian Limes area. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 49, 1998, Zabern, Mainz 1998, pp. 5–65, here: p. 30.
  5. ↑ H. Schönberger 1962, p. 84.
  6. ↑ Dietwulf Baatz in: D. Baatz, F.-R. Herrmann (Ed.): The Romans in Hessen, p. 211f.
  7. ↑ On the excavations see Nicole Boehnke, Jörg Lindenthal and Sabine Schade-Lindig : Life after the Roman Age - Traces of Settlement from the 3rd to 7th Century AD, on the "Heinrichswiese" near Echzell, Wetteraukreis. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2008, pp. 96–100.
  8. ↑ Dietwulf Baatz: Limes fort Echzell. Brief report on the excavations in 1963 and 1964. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 22, 1965, p. 141.
  9. ↑ For the wall paintings see Mathilde Schleiermacher: The Roman wall and ceiling paintings from the Limes fort Echzell (Wetteraukreis). In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 46, 1991, pp. 96–120; Dietwulf Baatz: A painted triclinium from Echzell Fort. In: Antike Welt Heft 1, 1991, p. 31 f .; Rüdiger Gogräfe: The Roman wall and ceiling paintings in northern Upper Germany. Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1999, pp. 127–130, cat.-no. 150f. (Archaeological research in the Palatinate 2).
  10. ↑ a b Dietwulf Baatz: Limes fort Echzell. Brief report on the excavations in 1963 and 1964. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 22, 1965, p. 140.
  11. ↑ For a discussion of the occupation see: Barbara Oldenstein-Pferdehirt : The Roman auxiliary troops north of the Main. Research on the Upper Germanic Army I. In: Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseums 30, 1983, pp. 303-348, esp. Pp. 324 (Ala moesica), 333 (Ala I Flavia gemina) and 338-340 (Ala I Indiana Gallorum ); Hans Ulrich Nuber: Dedication of an equestrian prefect from Echzell, district of Büdingen. In: Find reports from Hessen 11, 1971 pp. 67–80.
  12. ↑ The inscription is a relatively new find from 1998/1999 and has not yet been recorded in corpus works. It is published by J. Lindenthal, V. Rupp, A. Birley: A new veteran inscription from the Wetterau. In: S. Hansen / V. Pingel (Hrsg.): Archeology in Hessen: New finds and findings. Festschrift for Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann on his 65th birthday. Rahden / Westf. 2001, pp. 199-208 (International Archeology, Studia honoraria 13).
  13. ↑ For example, AE 1969/70, 00437
  14. ↑ Dietwulf Baatz in: D. Baatz / F.-R. Herrmann (Ed.): The Romans in Hessen. P. 264.
  15. ↑ For the bathing building, the types of bricks and the dating, see in detail Dietwulf Baatz: The stamped bricks from the bath of the Limes fort Echzell. In: Saalburg-Jahrbuch 22, 1965, pp. 118–127.
  16. ↑ For ceramics see Susanne Biegert: Roman pottery in the Wetterau. Frankfurt 1999, ISBN 3-88270-334-2 (publications of the Frankfurt Museum for Pre- and Early History 15).
  17. ↑ On the vicus see especially Bernd Steidl: Echzell fort - Haselheck small fort - Limes line. Case study on the overall extent of a fort on the Limes. In: Egon Schallmayer (Ed.): Limes Imperii Romani. Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Bad Homburg v. d. H. 2004, ISBN 3-931267-05-9 (Saalburg-Schriften 6), pp. 120f.
  18. ↑ See: Bernd Steidl: The crisis of the 3rd century using the example of selected findings. Fort Echzell . In: Egon Schallmayer (Ed.): The Augsburg victory altar - testimony to a troubled time . Saalburgmuseum Bad Homburg vd H. 1995 (Saalburg-Schriften 2), pp. 27–35.
  19. ↑ a b Werner Jorns : A Roman gravestone in Gettenau. In: Büdinger Geschichtsblätter 2, 1958, pp. 15-18.
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