Höchst Castle

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Höchst Castle
limes ORL 28 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes,
rear fort
Dating (occupancy) Augustan to maximally Tiberian time
unit unknown vexillatio
size unknown
Construction probably a wood and earth fort
State of preservation Soil monument
no longer visible above ground because it is built over
place Frankfurt-Höchst
Geographical location 50 ° 6 '3 "  N , 8 ° 33' 3"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 6 '3 "  N , 8 ° 33' 3"  E
height 95  m above sea level NHN

The Höchst am Main fort was an early imperial Roman military camp , the area of ​​which is now completely overbuilt by the Höchst district of Frankfurt . The exact dating of the fort is no longer possible. It was of particular importance for the surrounding forts on the Limes as a center of brick production.

Location and description

The fort was located between the confluence of the Nidda in the Main on the west side and the fertile plain of the Wetterau on the east side, directly on the Main, in today's Rhine-Main area .

The fort square was characterized by several favorable factors. Several traffic routes crossed here, for transports the Main and Nidda rivers, which were already navigable at that time, were of particular importance, as the Nidda flows into the Main at this point. The most important street was the Elisabethenstraße , an east-west connection from the Rhine Valley to the Wetterau that had existed since prehistoric times and started from Mainz-Kastel . It ran here relatively close to the Main and accordingly passed the Höchst Castle. Via this one also reached Nida-Heddernheim , the main town of the Civitas Taunensium . A local connection to Kastell Saalburg , which, however, did not yet exist at the time of the Höchst Castle, existed via Lindenweg .

The high plateau directly on the river, which was flown around by the arms of the Liederbach , also favored the location of the fort. There was also a ford across the Main (roughly at the height of today's ferry connection). The local structure of the terrain also made it possible to build a river port in the mouth of the Nidda ( ⊙ ).

In view of the time, it can be assumed that the castle was made of wood and earth. However, to this day nothing is known about the exact extent of the fort. Excavations on the property at Bolongarostraße 152 , in the courtyard of the Kronberg House ( ⊙ ), uncovered only two parallel pointed trenches, from which early imperial pottery was recovered. Another defensive trench was found about 150 m further south, west of the Justinuskirche in the Kirchgarten ( ⊙ ). Whether these trenches belonged to the same complex or whether there are even two separate forts is still unknown. However, if it was actually only a matter of defending one fort, it would have had a rather atypical trapezoidal shape.

Settlement remains were found in two excavations on the property at Bolongarostraße 101 ( ⊙ ). A number of early imperial ceramic shards were also discovered.

Dating and Findings

Italian terra sigillata plate, found at Höchst, in the holdings of the Frankfurt Archaeological Museum

Excavations were carried out in the urban area of ​​Höchst in 1893/94, 1904 and 1911/12 by Ernst Schmidt , Reinhard Suchier and Georg Wolff .

The find situation clearly shows that the Höchst Camp was founded in Augustan times. Whether it was already at the time of the Drusus campaigns between 12 and 9 BC It is unclear, but seems likely due to its strategic location. Its occupancy from the early Iberian period also seems certain, whether this also took place continuously, however, cannot yet be precisely determined. A temporary task and subsequent reoccupation in the course of the Germanicus campaigns and an advance into the Wetterau against the Chatten from 14 to 16 AD seems conceivable. After these offensives were stopped, the base was probably finally given up.

The find material from the fort area shows an early imperial ceramic spectrum, which is rare in the regions of Upper Germany on the right bank of the Rhine. The coins found begin with five Celtic issues, followed by a large number of Augustan coins, including the Nemausus aces , which are often found in Germania , the Lyon Altar series and the Mint Master series . The mid-imperial coin series ends with a sesterce of Mark Aurel , in the area of ​​the brickworks in today's Nied with a bronze coin of Caracalla or Elagabal . A number of late Roman coins, predominantly Folles, as well as a coin treasure from 80 identical Folles of Constantine in Bolongarostrasse are remarkable , the final coin is a Siliqua of Honorius .

Ernst Schmidt and Georg Wolff assume that there could have been a stone fort in the Höchst area. So far, however, there are no indications or findings to support this speculation.

Effects on the highest cityscape

References in the literature by E. Schmidt that the fort is reflected in the road layout of Höchst are to be regarded as incorrect. On the one hand, this statement is based on a rectangular fort in the classic, playing card-shaped form of the Saalburg or Feldberg fort , which contradicts the local find situation. In addition, streets are confused with one another. Furthermore, E. Schmidt ignores the fact that a significant settlement of the area cannot be assumed for a period of a good 500 years. Even the settlement of the Höchst area at the time of the first documentary mention in 790 was sparse and consisted only of scattered individual farms. It was not until the 9th century that a rural structural change, promoted by the church's settlement policy, began, so that at the beginning of the 11th century one can speak of a village Höchst.

The legionary brick

The name of today's Höchster Straße replaced the old district name Im Ziegelfeld ( ⊙ ) in this area. When the area in today's Nied district was not yet built on, but was still being farmed, the farmers kept coming across broken bricks while plowing. As early as the 19th century, attention was drawn to a possible Roman settlement and appropriate investigations were then initiated. But it was not until the excavations under G. Wolff in 1891 that several brick kilns, clay slurry pits, workshops and sheds were discovered. These extended over the area of ​​today's Sweden Path ( ⊙ ).

Hundreds of clay bricks were also found. They were stamped and bore the marks of various units: the Legio I Adiutrix , VIII Augusta , XIIII gemina Martia victrix , XXI Rapax , XXII primigenia pia fidelis and the Cohors I Asturum . Later excavations - the last one in 1960/61 - also brought up evidence of pottery factories. Among other things, the Wetterau goods were also produced here.

The location of the brickworks was well chosen, as the forts in Upper Germany could be supplied with building materials via Nidda and Main. The associated clay pits were in Kelkheim-Münster . The bricks were mostly used in the construction of the thermal baths at the Limes forts.

Historical classification

The explorations by Wolff show that since Domitian's Chat War between 83 and 85 AD, the main production facilities of the Mainz legions were on the Ziegelfeld. The I., XIV. And XXI. The Legion had bricks burned here, and an auxiliary cohort - the Cohors I Asturum - produced here, and was possibly even stationed in Höchst. The aforementioned legions were gradually withdrawn and around 92 AD by the XXII. Legion replaced. The brick production continued until the Upper German Limes was completed, around 120/125 AD. This was followed by a break of several years, but the production of the pottery continued, the production was now probably in the hands of civilians . When the Odenwald-Limes was moved further east, brick production was stopped by the XXII. Legion resumed between 150 and 160 AD. From the late 2nd century onwards, the need for bricks for military buildings was met by smaller brickworks, of which that of the Cohors IV Vindelicorum at Großkrotzenburg Castle was the most important.

See also

literature

  • Peter Fasold : From Augustus to Aurelian. New research on Roman Frankfurt. In: Frank Martinäbüttel , Ulrich Krebs , Gregor Maier (eds.): The Romans in the Rhine-Main area. Theiss, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8062-2420-7 , pp. 41-54, especially pp. 42f.
  • Andrea Hampel: The Roman military brick in Frankfurt-Nied. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2001. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1749-1 , pp. 93f.
  • Andrea Hampel: The Roman military brickwork in Frankfurt aM-Nied - new excavations. In: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen (Ed.): Hessen-Archäologie 2012. Yearbook for Archeology and Palaeontology in Hessen , pp. 115–120.
  • Rolf Kubon: Research on the Roman Höchst, City of Frankfurt am Main - Catalog of the sites in Frankfurt-Höchst and the surrounding area, 2011 , Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013 (Writings of the Archaeological Museum Frankfurt am Main 23) ISBN 978-3-7954-2795- 5 .
  • Rolf Kubon, Peter Schauer : Augustan and Tiberian finds from Frankfurt-Höchst. Special print find reports from Hessen . 9-10 Born in 1969/1970.
  • Rolf Kubon: Antique found coins from FFM.-Höchst / Nied and the surrounding area. Höchst history books 20/21. Frankfurt-Höchst 1973: Association for history a. Antiquity e. V.
  • Wolfgang Metternich: The urban development of Höchst am Main. Frankfurt-Höchst 1990: City of Frankfurt and Association for History and Archeology e. VS 6-8.
  • Rudolf Schäfer : Höchst am Main. Frankfurt am Main 1981: Frankfurter Sparkasse from 1822. pp. 5–12.
  • Peter Schauer, P. Sigismund Betzler: Contributions to prehistory and early history: Catalog Höchst. The finds from the Stone Age to the early Middle Ages. Höchst history books 11/12. Frankfurt-Höchst 1967: Association for history and antiquity e. V.
  • Hans-Günther Simon : Frankfurt aM-Höchst. Early Imperial Military Camps ; Dietwulf Baatz : Legion brickwork and pottery. In: D. Baatz and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (eds.): The Romans in Hessen . 3. Edition. 1989. Licensed edition Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , pp. 302-304.
  • Gerhard Vetter: The Roman brick finds from FFM.-Höchst / Nied and the surrounding area. Höchst history books 22/23. Frankfurt-Höchst 1974: Association for history a. Antiquity e. V.

Excavation report of the Reich Limes Commission :

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Metternich: That ends well, everything is green. The long history of the ports in Höchst. In: Vereinsring Frankfurt (M) -Hoechst eV (Hrsg.): Festschrift zum Höchst Schloßfest 2007. Frankfurt am Main 2007. pp. 24–30. (PDF 1 MB) .
  2. ↑ For the coin finds, see Helmut Schubert: Die Fundmünzen der Romanzeit in Deutschland (FMRD) . Dept. V: Hessen . Vol. 2.2: Darmstadt; Frankfurt am Main. Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-7861-1552-4 , pp. 300-315.
  3. ↑ In 1024 Aribo of Mainz invited Bishop Meginhard of Würzburg to the regional synod in Höchst with the words convenire nos in unum in vigilia ascensionis Domini in loco vicino qui dictur Hosteti iuxta Moguntiam . The term locus describes a village in medieval documentary language, in contrast to villa , which refers to a single farm. Quoted from Lit. Metternich: The urban development of Höchst am Main. and W. v. Giesebrecht: The history of the German imperial era. Vol. 2. Munich 1885, p. 706, no.2a.
  4. ↑ Susanne Biegert: Roman pottery in the Wetterau. Frankfurt 1999 (writings of the Frankfurt Museum for Pre- and Early History 15); Vera Rupp : Wetterauer Ware - A Roman pottery in the Rhine-Main area. Frankfurt 1988 (writings of the Frankfurt Museum for Pre- and Early History 10).