Alteburg Castle

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Fort Alteburg
(Fort Alteburg-Heftrich,
Fort Heftrich)
limes ORL 9 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes ,
western part of the Taunus
Dating (occupancy) shortly after 150
to around 260 AD
Type Numerus fort
unit Numerus Cattharensium
size 78 × 93 m (= 0.7 ha)
Construction a) wood-earth b) stone
State of preservation only weak ground marks
place Idstein -Heftrich
Geographical location 50 ° 12 '30.6 "  N , 8 ° 19' 58.6"  E
height 348  m above sea level NHN
Previous ORL 8 Fort Zugmantel (west)
Subsequently Maisel fort (east)
Alteburg market area
Alteburg market area

The Alteburg Fort is a Roman numerus fort that belonged to the western Taunus stretch of the Upper German-Raetian Limes , which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005 . The remains of the complex are now located as a ground monument under a field one and a half kilometers south of the Idstein district of Heftrich in the Rheingau-Taunus district in Hesse .

Location and research history

The fort probably served to monitor an old path that crossed the Limes line here. This path was known in the Middle Ages as the Alter Mainzer Weg and connected the Rhine valley with the Limburg basin, which has been inhabited since ancient times .

In 1893 the Reichs-Limeskommission (RLK) carried out the only archaeological excavations to date . Today, the location of the fort can only be perceived by means of deformations of the terrain; there are no more visible building fragments above ground.

Building history

Wood-earth warehouse

A few hundred meters north-east of the stone fort, under the fields, there are two older, wooden small fort, which were only discovered in aerial photographs in 1980 and 1989 . They were probably built at the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century and must be addressed as the predecessor of the Alteburg-Heftrich stone fort. The larger of these two camps, closer to the stone fort, had one gate and was secured by a double-pointed trench, the smaller one had only a single trench. Both wood-earth camps have not yet been archaeologically researched.

Stone fort

The stone fort was probably built soon after the middle of the 2nd century. With the dimensions of 78 × 93 meters, the rectangular complex has a size of a good 0.7 ha and thus corresponds to the neighboring Feldberg fort . The surrounding wall was rounded at all four corners (playing card shape) and provided with watchtowers. On all four sides, the complex had an entrance reinforced with twin towers. The main gate of the fort, the Porta Praetoria , did not face the Limes, which passed the fortification about 100 meters to the northwest. Instead, it was oriented to the northeast, in the direction of the two predecessor camps built using the wood-earth technique.

The Alteburg fort enclosed some brick buildings within the camp square, of which only the principia (staff building) could be determined with certainty. The interpretation of other stone foundations is very uncertain, as the Roman origin evidence is severely disturbed by stone robbery and building measures in the Middle Ages. Outside the camp, however, traces of the vicus (civil settlement) and the fort bath could be located.

Troop

The auxiliary group stationed here was a number , a unit of around 160 men. The Numerus Cattharensium could be specifically proven .

Downfall and further development

The fort was evacuated when the Limes was abandoned during the internal and external political and economic crisis of the empire around the middle of the 3rd century ( Limesfall ). In the Middle Ages, the ruins were used as a quarry. Among other things, developed from the removed material, a 1178 built at this point hermits - Klause with an associated chapel for the Holy Kilian . The Alteburger Markt , which still takes place here on three Thursdays of the year, developed from the annual markets held on religious holidays . Nothing can be seen of the sacred building itself either.

Course of the Limes from Fort Alteburg to the small fort Maisel

Traces of the Limes structures between the Alteburg and Maisel forts.
ORL Name / place Description / condition
ORL 9 Alteburg Castle see above
Wp 3/32
Wp 3/33
Wp 3/34
Wp 3/35 "On the Totenberg"
Location of Wp 3/35
Floor plan and section of Wp 3/35
NW pit at Wp 3/35
Tower part of a single stone tower destroyed by road construction.
Wp 3/36 Suspected but not reliably proven tower site due to high volume of fire rubble.
Wp 3/37 "Am Schloßborner Feld"
Wp 3/37
Stone tower with an almost square floor plan with a wall thickness of around 70 cm. Excavated by the RLK. In the Limeswerk it says: "Wachtpost 87 in the northwest corner of the Holzwäldchen district on Schloßborner Feld can be seen as a flat mound of rubble with deep excavation cuts and stones lying around." The tower was first mentioned in 1784 in the Hanau magazine: "Above against the village Criftel zu is a small jump made of piled stones, about 10 steps into the square. "
Wp 3 / 37a Presumed, but not archaeologically proven, tower site.
Wp 3/38 "Am Maisel"
Wp 3/38
Stone tower with an almost square floor plan with a wall thickness of around 80 cm.
Wp 3/38 * "At the height of the Maisel"
Location of Wp 3/38 *
Wooden tower with a concentric double moat.
KK Maisel small fort see main article Kleinkastell Maisel

Lost property and monument protection

A small selection of the finds can be found in the Limes information center of the Rheingau-Taunus district at the Georgenthal estate .

The Alteburg Fort and the adjoining Limes structures have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage as a section of the Upper German-Raetian Limes since 2005 . In addition, they are ground monuments 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.

Alteburg market

The "Alteburger Markt" takes place three times a year on the site of the former fort, on the Thursday after Whitsun and on the last Thursday of July and August.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Kastell Alteburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Fort Alteburg on the side of the German Limes Commission
  • Fort Alteburg on the website of the private Limes project taunus-wetterau-limes.de

Remarks

  1. ↑ ORL = numbering of the Limes structures according to the publication of the Reich Limes Commission on the O bergermanisch- R ätischen- L imes
  2. ↑ ORL XY = consecutive numbering of the forts of the ORL
  3. ↑ Wp = W oh p east, watch tower. The number before the slash denotes the Limes section, the number after the slash denotes the respective watchtower. An additional asterisk (*) refers to a guard on the older Limes line.
  4. ↑ Wp 3/32 at 50 ° 12 '29.26 "  N , 8 ° 19' 44.62"  O
  5. ↑ Wp 3/33 at 50 ° 12 '39.43 "  N , 8 ° 20' 8.13"  O
  6. ↑ Wp 3/34 at 50 ° 12 '44.19 "  N , 8 ° 20' 31.66"  O
  7. ↑ Wp 3/35 at 50 ° 12 '50.9 "  N , 8 ° 21' 8.39"  O
  8. ↑ a b c d e Margot Klee: The Roman Limes in Hesse. History and sites of the UNESCO World Heritage. Pustet, Regensburg 2009. ISBN 978-3-7917-2232-0 , p. 89.
  9. ↑ Wp 3/36 at 50 ° 12 '53.74 "  N , 8 ° 21' 43.05"  O
  10. ↑ Wp 3/37 at 50 ° 12 '56.72 "  N , 8 ° 22' 17.67"  O
  11. ↑ North side 4.00 m, east side 3.84 m, south side 3.90 m, west side 3.74 m
  12. ↑ Oscar von Sarwey , Felix Hettner , Ernst Fabricius , Friedrich Leonhard : The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes des Roemerreiches , Section A, Volume 2, Section 3: The Limes in the Taunus from the Aar to the Köpperner Tal near the Saalburg , 1935, p. 94.
  13. ↑ Georg Philipp Kraus: Cumbersome news of the train of the Polgraben over the mountains from the place Kemel to the Feldberg . In: Hanauisches Magazin from 1784 with coppers. Pp. 9-24; here: p. 21.
  14. ↑ Wp 3 / 37a at 50 ° 12 '59.31 "  N , 8 ° 22' 42.35"  O
  15. ↑ Wp 3/38 at 50 ° 13 '2.51 "  N , 8 ° 23' 0.31"  O
  16. ↑ North side 4.40 m, east side 4.40 m, south side 4.25 m, west side 4.25 m
  17. ↑ Wp 3/38 * at 50 ° 12 '45.42 "  N , 8 ° 23' 5.51"  O
  18. ↑ KK = unnumbered K linseed K astell