Großkrotzenburg Castle
| Großkrotzenburg Castle | |
|---|---|
| limes | ORL 23 ( RLK ) |
| Route (RLK) | Upper German Limes, route 5 (eastern weather route) |
| Dating (occupancy) | around 105/110 AD to 260 AD |
| Type | Cohort fort |
| unit | Cohors IIII Vindelicorum |
| size | 175 × 123 m = 2.1 ha |
| Construction | Stone fort |
| State of preservation | The foundation walls of two towers and parts of the fort wall have been reconstructed |
| place | Großkrotzenburg |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 4 '49 .7 " N , 8 ° 58' 49.5" E'49 |
| height | 106 m above sea level NHN |
| Previous | Neuwirtshaus fort (north) |
| Subsequently | ORL 32: Fort Seligenstadt (south) |
The Großkrotzenburg fort was a Roman fort on the Wetterau line of the Upper German-Raetian Limes in Großkrotzenburg am Main in the Hessian Main-Kinzig district .
location
The fort is now completely overbuilt in the old town center of Großkrotzenburg in a flood-protected bank location on a gravel terrace north of the Main, which flows from the south in a slight curve to the west. In the course of the Limes to the north, there are mainly wetlands such as the Großauheimer Torfbruch with the ship puddle and, further north, the Bulau , so that the fort was built mainly to monitor the river crossing.
Southern United Krotzenburgs formed of a so-called Main Main Limes or "Wet Limes" the border to the Fort Wörth ( Odenwald Limes ) or Kastell Miltenberg-Ost (younger Odenwald line).
The Limes passed the fort at a distance of only 25 m from the fort wall east of the complex. There was just enough space for a path to the outer Spitz trench at a distance of six meters. The area between the fort and the Limes was last examined in the run-up to construction work in 2001. It was found that the palisade took a different course than the Limes moat and that both probably did not exist at the same time.
exploration
Although remnants of the fort's walls are still preserved in modern buildings and walls in the town center, archaeological excavation work began relatively late with the excavations of the Hanau History Association in 1881 and the Reichs-Limeskommission in 1893 under the direction of Georg Wolff . Initially mainly the fort defenses and parts of the staff building ( principia ) were identified . Some other, very detailed building findings were uncovered during individual investigations in the course of the 20th century.
investment
The fort can still be seen today from a few streets in the townscape. The Kirchstraße runs almost the same as the via principalis of the fort, with a little more deviation the dead end street similar to the via praetoria and the "Breite Straße" to the via decumana .
The Cohors IIII Vindelicorum , a 500-man auxiliary unit that was originally excavated in the foothills of the Alps, can be documented as a unit primarily through inscriptions and the brickwork finds.
Fort
The fort faced east, facing the Limes. Due to the small distance to the Limes and the fact that it slightly changed direction north of the fort twice, Wolff concluded that the fort already existed when the Limes palisade was built.
The foundations and the brickwork of the 175 by 123 meter external wall of the fort (= 2.1 hectares), which are not very high, are still preserved in a few places in the southern section or are enclosed in modern structures. The south-western corner tower is particularly well preserved, as its basement was later used as a prison. Following this, an adjoining section of the wall was reconstructed with sandstones today. The fort wall actually consisted of a 1.80 meter wide foundation on which a cast masonry was placed. Outside, basalt stones in an inclined position ( opus spicatum ) were faded in.
Further remains of the fort's fortifications are visible in the case of the southern gate tower of the rear gate (porta decumana) , the foundations of which in the Breite Straße in front of the local history museum have been restored. The southern churchyard wall of the modern church of St. Laurentius consists essentially of Roman masonry, which, however, can hardly be seen. As an extension of this, an inconspicuous stone block can be seen in Kirchstrasse, which protrudes over the churchyard wall. All remains of the wall are provided with information boards.
Double pointed trenches were found especially on the west side, in the north and east through smaller cuts. These are missing or could not be detected along the southern wall towards the Main. There are several sewers that run at right angles to the fort wall.
To the west of the porta decumana , part of the fort bath was excavated in the 1960s.
Main bridge
During dredging work, wooden pile shoes were discovered in the Main in 1885 and 1903, which were used to stabilize stone bridge piers. The superstructure of the bridge was probably made of wood. Dendrochronological examinations dated the timbers to the year 134 AD at the end of the reign of Emperor Hadrian . In addition to the connection with areas south of the Main, the bridge made it possible to move troops along the Limes.
Beneficiary station
In 1960, two so-called consecration stones were between the main bridge and the castle beneficiarii (beneficiarii consulares) discovered. They suggest that there was a police post at the convenient location, as can be seen more often at crossroads or bridges.
Brick factory
Away from the fort and vicus near the Limes, there was a brick factory belonging to the cohort due to the risk of fire. A total of five kilns have been uncovered there so far. With the bricks produced, which usually bear the stamp of the Cohors IIII Vindelicorum , a large part of the buildings in the northern part of the province could be supplied due to the good transport possibilities at the end of the 2nd century AD. The brickworks succeeded the brickworks of Legio XXII Primigenia in Nied . The most distant evidence of Großkrotzenburg bricks comes from Walldürn in Baden-Württemberg and the Neuwied basin in Rhineland-Palatinate .
Vicus
Few statements can be made about the development of the fort village, which was to the west and northwest of the fort. The location and extent can be explored using several Roman roads. With the exception of a basement, no building floor plans are known. A place of worship of the god Mithras , of which several stone monuments are known, has been proven . However, some of the originals were destroyed along with the holdings of the Hanauer Museum during World War II .
Dating
Großkrotzenburg shows a certain continuity of settlement through many epochs, although it should be noted that there is no evidence for longer periods in between. In addition to traces of settlement from the Neolithic , Bronze and Iron Ages , traces of a Latène Age settlement were discovered under Roman layers in the town center in 1988 .
The time of the beginning of the Roman occupation of the square cannot be precisely determined. It is possible that the fort was preceded by a previous building, to which a pointed ditch north of the stone fort could have belonged, as well as some ditches that were discovered during investigations east of the fort in 2001. However, the relatively new discovery of an earlier Limes line from Heldenbergen to Hanau-Salisberg, which has become known through new discoveries of two small Roman forts in Hanau-Mittelbuchen , could be a limitation . In this case, the end of the Hanau-Salisberg fort gives a post-quem term for the Großkrotzenburg fort. It is generally assumed that the stone fort was built in the time of Emperor Trajan . The Cohors IIII Vindelicorum, which is documented by numerous brick finds as a Großkrotzenburger unit, can still be proven in the early reign of Trajan as an occupation of the stone fort A (also: Alenkastell ) in Nida-Heddernheim .
A few decades after the Romans withdrew around AD 260 ( Limesfall ), new settlers settled in the camp area. The earliest finds can be dated to the 4th century, some grave finds from the 4th and 5th centuries were made across the Limes. Construction work to the east of the fort brought Alemannic finds from the camp ditch in 2001, which speaks for a dating a few decades after the fort was abandoned. Later finds are only available from the Middle Ages. During this time, the walls, which were still partially upright, were used as village fortifications. The first mention of Großkrotzenburg as Cruzenburch is only documented in 1175.
Monument protection
The Großkrotzenburg fort, as part of the Upper German-Raetian Limes, has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 2005 . It is also a ground monument according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.
museum
Finds from the fort and the vicus are shown in the Museum Großkrotzenburg, which is located at Breiten Straße 16 in the vicinity of the visible remains of the fort wall. In addition to piles of the Main Bridge and bricks of the IIII. Vindeliker cohort mainly includes inscriptions in the exhibition, including the aforementioned Beneficiarier stones and finds from the Mithraeum . Finds from older excavations of the Hanau History Association have partly reached Hanau and are exhibited in the Museum Schloss Steinheim .
Museum Großkrotzenburg, exterior view.
Brick stamp of the IIII. Vindeliker cohort from the museum.
The Mithras relief from Großkrotzenburg in the Hanauer Museum, largely destroyed in 1945.
Pole shoes of the Main Bridge in the Saalburg Museum .
See also
literature
- Dietwulf Baatz : The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube. 4th edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2347-0 , pp. 173-175.
- The same, 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. 325–328.
- Thomas Becker and Elisabeth Ida Faulstich with an excursus from Oliver Stoll: Excavations in the vicus of Großkrotzenburg . In: Peter Henrich (Ed.): The Limes from the Lower Rhine to the Danube. 6th colloquium of the German Limes Commission . Theiss, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8062-2466-5 , (= contributions to the Limes World Heritage Site, 6), pp. 67-77.
- Claus Bergmann: Großkrotzenburg. Northern end point of the main limit . In: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany, 27. Hanau and the Main-Kinzig district . Theiss, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8062-1119-1 , pp. 143-147.
- Claus Bergmann: From the state border to the garbage heap. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2001 p. 101f.
- Ernst Fabricius , Felix Hettner , Oscar von Sarwey (Hrsg.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roemerreiches / Dept. A , Bd. 2,1. P. 173f.
- Peter Jüngling : Another Roman brick kiln from Großkrotzenburg . In: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 13, 1983, p. 479ff.
- Ferdinand Kutsch : Hanau. Part 2 , Frankfurt a. M. 1926 (catalogs of west and south German antiquity collections 5) pp. 78–93.
- Bernd Steidl : World Heritage Limes - Rome's border on the Main . Accompanying volume to the exhibition in the Archäologische Staatssammlung München 2008. Logo, Obernburg 2008, ISBN 3-939462-06-3 , pp. 120–123.
- Georg Wolff : The Gross-Krotzenburg Castle . In: The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roemerreiches , Section B II, 3 No. 23 (1933).
Web links
- Großkrotzenburg Museum
- Großkrotzenburg Castle on the website of the German Limes Commission
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b C. Bergmann 2001 p. 100.
- ↑ CIL 13, 07410 , CIL 13, 07411 , CIL 13, 07415 , CIL 13, 07418 . CIL 13, 07419 .
- ↑ Wolff 1933 p. 3
- ↑ Baatz 1989, p. 326; Ernst Ernst Hollstein : Central German oak chronology . Mainz 1980, p. 64.
- ↑ AE 1978, 00550 and AE 1978, 00551
- ↑ AE 1978, 00547 and AE 1978, 00548
- ↑ Sabine Küppers / Michael Müller: Rediscovered: The foot of Mithras from Großkrotzenburg. In: New Magazine for Hanau History 2017, pp. 3–7.
- ↑ Marcus Reuter : The small Roman fort of Hanau-Mittelbuchen and the course of the eastern Wetterau Limes under Domitian. In: E. Schallmayer (Ed.), Limes Imperii Romani . Contributions to the specialist colloquium “Limes World Heritage Site” in November 2001 in Lich-Arnsburg. Saalburg-Schriften 6, 2004 (Bad Homburg v. D. H. 2004), pp. 97-106. Also internet source ( memento of the original from November 15, 2016 in the internet archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Baatz 1989, p. 325; Bergmann 1994, p. 143.
- ↑ C. Bergmann 2001 p. 101f.
