Kösching Castle

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Kösching Castle
Alternative name Germanicum
limes ORL 74 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Rhaetian Limes,
route 15
Dating (occupancy) Spring 80 AD
until around 242/243 AD
Type Alenkastell
unit a) Ala I Augusta Thracum (?)
b) Ala I Flavia Gemelliana
size 216 × 197 m (= 4.3 ha)
Construction a) wood-earth
b) stone
State of preservation completely built over
place Koesching
Geographical location 48 ° 48 '39 "  N , 11 ° 29' 59"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 48 '39 "  N , 11 ° 29' 59"  E
height 388  m above sea level NHN
Previous Nassenfels Castle (west)
Subsequently Fort Pförring (east)
Upstream Castle Böhming (northwest)
fortlet Güßgraben (north)
fortlet the rear Seeberg (northeast)

The Kastell Kösching (ancient name Germanicum ) was a Roman military camp in the area of ​​today's market Kösching in the district of Eichstätt in Bavaria . The Alenkastell was built as the location of a mounted Roman unit to defend the Limes in the spring of 80 AD.

location

The fort in its position facing the Limes
The Alenkastell in the middle of the village of Kösching is completely overbuilt. The plan shows excavation and observation results up to 1960.

The facility was founded on the northern bank of the Danube ( Danuvius ) on a raised terrace from the Riss Ice Age . A hilly country extends north of Kösching and flows as a plateau above the Altmühl . The Köschinger Forest, also north of today's market town , still consisted almost exclusively of deciduous forest in the 18th century. The Köschinger Land has often calcareous clay soils of massive strength, which certainly represented a challenge for ancient agriculture.

Research history

Today's findings on the Kösching Fort go back to the complete overbuilding to a large extent on point-like excavations . The historian Johannes Aventinus (1477–1534) already reported on an old castle stable near Kösching, which would be called "Cesarea". Three Roman inscriptions were found there, and Roman coins kept coming out of the ground while the fields were being farmed. In 1509 Aventinus documented the grave inscription of Marcus Varius Montaninus and an inscription from the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161). In the early 19th century, scholars in Kösching first suspected the Germanicum known from the Tabula Peutingeriana . A clear localization was only possible from 1889 in the corridor "Masonry", when parts of a large representative building with 31 rooms came to light there, the function of which had been interpreted differently in the past. By locating a bathroom in its central section, the remains of the wall could most likely be addressed as a rest station ( mansio ) . The remains of the building were excavated in 1890 on behalf of the Commission for Research into the Prehistory of Bavaria by the grammar school director Joseph Fink (1850–1929) and the local history researcher Ferdinand Ott (1851–1928).

The remains of the fort were found in 1893 in the middle of what was then the market town of Kösching. There they were already from the retired major general working for the Reich Limes Commission (RLK). D. Karl Popp (1825–1905) was conjectured. From 1897 the first investigations were carried out by Fink, who was appointed route commissioner of the Reich Limes Commission, but was hampered by the already strong development and the displeasure of the Kösching population. From 1903, under these difficult circumstances, Fink cut the double fort ditch in different places, was able to identify parts of the defensive wall and observe the remains of the west tower at the south gate. In 1904 the work of the Reich Limes Commission in Kösching was completed. More modern excavations could not always confirm the results of that time. The local researcher Hermann Witz (1868–1936) found during his continuous observations during the construction of the Kösching sewer system from 1925 that Fink had assumed the northern front about 23 meters too far north. In July 1931, Witz was able to carry out an investigation on the southern fort wall. In this area, Fink's findings were largely confirmed. In August 1931, Witz made a long cut in the south-east wall, which showed that Fink's entries for this wall were a few meters too far to the west. In this context, Witz also doubted a small entry by Fink in the fort plan, which was supposed to mark a section in the northern area of ​​the east wall. New investigations took place during the development of the western part of the "Masonry" corridor shortly before the beginning of the Second World War and were published in 1940.

During the pre-war and post-war years, local researchers Josef Reichart (1897–1987) and Wilhelm Ernst (1916–2004) observed the ongoing construction work in the local area of ​​Kösching. During the excavation work on the sewer system in autumn 1956, Ernst was able to confirm the course of the southern fort wall, as Witz had described it. In 1960, when a sewer system was being built, the two weir trenches were found on the east side of the fortification. The trench of the older wood-earth store, which was built in 80 AD, was also found for the first time by Reichart shortly before the Second World War in the corridor "Bricked". When a water pipeline was built in 1954, this trench was cut across its full width.

The modern course of the road still partly indicates the location of the fort. The "Ludwigsgraben" shows the approximate position of the fort ditches in the west and south, while the "Kastellstrasse" and "Ambergergasse" lie in the area of ​​the eastern Lagerringstrasse (Via sagularis) . Today's Kösching parish church "Mariä Himmelfahrt" rises above the former Roman Principia (staff building).

Building history

Wood-earth warehouse

Due to the discovery of a building inscription that was destroyed during the Second World War in Munich and described on both sides, but a cast of which has been preserved, the original wood and earth camp was dated to the reign of Emperor Titus (79–81) in the spring of 80 AD . This meant that the oldest documented camp north of the Danube stood in Kösching . The identical building inscription, written on both sides and found during the construction of the girls' school house in 1906, reads:

Front:

[Imp (eratori) Tito Caesari divi Vespasi-]
[a] ni f (ilio) Vespasia [no Aug (usto) pontifici maximo]
trib (unicia) pot (estate) VIIII imp (eratori) [XV co (n) s (uli) VIII p (atri) p (atriae) censori et]
Caesare (!) Divi Ves [pasiani filio Domitiano co (n) s (uli) VII]
collegioru [m omnium sacerdoti ---?]

Back:

[Imp (eratori) Tito Caesari divi Vespasiani filio Vespasiano Augusto pont (ifici) max (imo) trib (unicia) pot (estate) VIIII imp (eratori)] XV co (n) s (uli) VIII p (atri) p ( atriae) censor [i]
[et Caesari divi V] espasiani f (ilio) Domi-
[tiano co (n) s (uli) VII] collegior (um) omnium
[sacerdote pr] oc (uratore) C (aio) Saturio ---?]

Translation: “To the emperor Titus Caesar, son of the deified Vespasian , Vespasian the Exalted, the high priest, holder of tribunician power for the 9th time, emperor for the 15th time, consul for the 8th time, father of the fatherland, censor and for Caesar Domitian , son of the deified Vespasian, consul for the 7th time, member of all colleges of priests, the governor Caius Saturius ... "

There were still traces of red paint in the characters. A copy of the building inscription is kept in today's Kösching secondary school. The oldest known dendrochronological dating matches the inscription dating, because it comes from the year 79 AD.

The southern trench section of the wooden fort found in 1939 around 70 to 80 meters south of the stone fort at today's property "Schillerstraße 2" confirmed older assumptions that it occupies a location that deviates from the later stone fortification. According to the location found, the younger fortification overlapped the older camp in its northern half. At the house "Schillerstraße 1" this trench was cut in its entirety in 1954 when a water pipe was built. Ernst found out that this trench must have been eight meters wide and around meters deep. The finds from the backfill were very rich. Apparently the Roman inhabitants used the trench as a garbage pit after the abandonment of the wood-earth store. From the finds, a well-worn bronze ointment vessel from the middle-imperial period was remarkable. Among other things, the ceramics found were a fragment of a picture bowl from the East Gallic workshops in Heiligenberg , the thin-walled edge piece of a Raetian varnish of the “ Dressel 2” type and early Germanic shards made without a turntable. In addition to the ditch, traces of the camp village were repeatedly found in the area.

In July 1937 a Roman road was investigated south of the wood-earth camp, which bypassed both forts in the south. The road was already known at the time of the Reich Limes Commission and could now be examined again. Their route was around 6.50 meters wide and still had a 0.30 to 0.40 meter thick ceiling made of limestone blocks of various sizes. The drainage ditches typical of Roman roads were found on both sides of the road.

Stone fort

During his excavations in the 1920s, Witz was able to depict the dimensions, which Fink only roughly measured due to the meager findings. Through a longitudinal section made by him on the presumed south-east side of the fort wall, he not only encountered the defensive wall, but was also able to document the double-pointed trench. To the north of this point, it was again possible in 1960 to observe the trench work during construction. A little further to the west, a baker had come across a 0.95 meter wide limestone wall in his property “Marktplatz 6” in 1938 when he was installing a new oven, which could have come from the defensive wall. During the investigation in 1960, the outer eastern pointed ditch was found exactly at the intersection between the houses on "Unteren Marktstrasse 1" and "2". At this point it was still at least 1.30 meters wide. Quarry stones and fragments of Roman roof tiles were found in its backfill. The inner trench to the west in this section was poorly preserved. Its remains were eleven meters from the outer enclosure moat. Its filling consisted of brown and gray clay, interspersed with bits of charcoal. Due to the construction work that caused the cut, the investigation could only take place superficially. In comparison with the southern section of Witz, it was found that the trenches here - measured from trench tip to trench tip, were 14 meters further apart.

The Praetorial Front, the side of the stone fort facing the enemy, is assumed to be facing south, towards the Danube.

Troop

Ala I Augusta Thracum , who had a Weißenburg military diploma for the year 107 AD in the province of Raetia ( Raetia ), could have been responsible for the construction of the wooden fort. Unfortunately, the name of the troop was not preserved on the building inscription, so that one has to rely on speculation. What is certain is that this Thracian cavalry unit formed the first regular occupation of the garrison. At the latest between 121 and 125 AD this troop was detached from Raetia and replaced by the Ala I Flavia Gemelliana , which remained until the destructive Alemanni invasion around 242/243 AD. This troop can be proven for the first time in the year 141 AD by a building inscription found by Aventinus on the stone fort. It is possible that this building inscription also stands for the stone expansion of the camp that has only now been carried out.

The brick stamps of the Cohors I Flavia Canathenorum discovered in Kösching were also found in Eining , Pförring , Regensburg and Straubing. The research assumes that this cohort supplied brick material for construction work to various forts or even sent teams of craftsmen with these supplies.

Vicus and fire burial ground

Due to the difficult accessibility of the site due to the overbuilding, so far only minor traces of the camp village ( vicus ) spreading to the south, west and north-west of the Reiterkastell could be found. To the southwest of the fort, in the “Bricked” corridor, there was probably a mansio with a bathroom, as can be seen, for example, at the Eining fort . The cremation burial ground "In der Schwärz" was located northwest of the fort.

Found good

Terra Sigillata

Terra Sigillata of a Dagodu (b) nus was found in Kösching . Its production site is still unknown and could either be in Lezoux near Clermont-Ferrand in Gaul or in Rheinzabern ( Tabernae ). Both were manufacturing centers for sigillata production. Dagodubnus goods also appear in Regensburg , Pfünz and Great Britain.

Treasure find

A treasure trove of 240 denarii about 125 meters east of the fort wall contains a final coin minted in summer 241 by Emperor Gordian III. (238-244). After all rows of coins - including those from the vicus - break off, it is assumed that both the fort and the settlement were abandoned or destroyed during this time. The Köschinger final coin coincides with a coin find discovered in 1953 that was made in Gunzenhausen Fort . The final coin there, an antoninian, was minted in 242 AD. The archaeologist and numismatist Hans-Jörg Kellner determined from this year the time of the second Alemanni invasion around the year 242/243 AD. The first, 233, most likely wiped out fort Pfünz and Straubing , among others . Since 242/243 also located near Regensburg Castle Grosspruefening , Castle Künzing and the extensive Roman settlement at Pocking , Passau , and other places must have been overrun, the research is based on a presented on a broad scale attack against the Rhaetian and Upper Germanic Limes and against the Rhaetian Danube border . In Pocking, the final layer of fire concealed an Antoninian from 241/243 or 240 that had only been in circulation for a short time. For the time of the reconstruction after this onslaught, there is the building inscription from the small bath of the Jagsthausen fort , which dates from 244 to 247 AD. BC originated.

Roman road

The copy of the milestone of 201 AD in Kösching

Kösching was connected to the Pfünz and Pförring forts via a Roman road . This ancient body of the road is still in excellent condition in many places. In 1984, around one kilometer from the parish church of Kösching, a completely preserved, 2.20 meter high milestone from the year 201 AD - at that time Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211) ruled - directly under the Gänsäcker settlement Sward to be revealed. Another milestone, which the Kösching residents set up in their cemetery and crowned with a crucifix made of sheet iron, was salvaged as early as 1760 on the orders of the elector and brought to Munich. The shape of the stone bears a date for 195 and another for 215, when Emperor Caracalla (211-217) already ruled. Perhaps the road that had already been renewed under Septimius Severus had to be rehabilitated, at least in places, under his successor, or the complete rehabilitation was not completed until 215 AD. The stone was destroyed by fire during the war in 1944.

Villa Rustica

At a distance of one and a half Roman miles to the east of the fort there is a small Roman manor ( Villa Rustica ) , secured only by aerial archeology , which, together with many others, was responsible for the supply of the military and village residents. The courtyard has the usual design with clear corner projections on the representative front. In addition to the main building, which offered the indispensable Roman luxury of its own heatable bath in an apse, other auxiliary buildings could be identified. Like the military camp and vicus of Kösching, this Villa Rustica was also destroyed in the 3rd century.

Monument protection

The Kösching fort and the facilities mentioned are protected as registered ground monuments within the meaning of the Bavarian Monument Protection Act (BayDSchG) . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to authorization, accidental finds must be reported to the monument authorities.

See also

literature

  • Dietwulf Baatz : The Roman Limes. Archaeological excursions between the Rhine and the Danube . 4th edition, Mann, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7861-2347-0 , p. 320.
  • Joseph Fink : The Kösching fort. In: Ernst Fabricius , Felix Hettner , Oscar von Sarwey (eds.): The Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes of the Roemerreiches B VII, No. 74 (1913).
  • Wilhelm Ernst: Observations and finds in the area of ​​the Roman fort Germanicum-Kösching. 1954-1960. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 70, 1961, pp. 3-66. On-line
  • Thomas Fischer . In: Wolfgang Czysz u. a .: The Romans in Bavaria. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-11-6 , pp. 469-470.
  • Thomas Fischer, Erika Riedmeier Fischer: The Roman Limes in Bavaria . Pustet, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7917-2120-0 .
  • Rudolf Albert Maier: A Germanic drinking horn from the Kösching Roman fort in the Ingolstadt City Museum. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 86, 1977, pp. 15-20. Online .
  • Claus-Michael Hüssen , Natascha Mehler: Kösching. News about the Germanicum fort and the medieval fortifications of the Marienkirche, Eichstätt district, Upper Bavaria. In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2004, pp. 84–86.
  • Josef Reichart: A Roman wine jug from Kösching . In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 79, 1970, pp. 58–59. Online .
  • Josef Reichart: New observations in the "Masonry" near Kösching . In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 58, 1940, pp. 45–51. On-line
  • Günter Ulbert , Thomas Fischer: The Limes in Bavaria . Theiss, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8062-0351-2 .
  • Hermann Witz: Römerstrasse Kösching - Westerhofen. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 52, 1933, pp. 109–116. On-line
  • Hermann Witz: Kösching Castle. Eastern and Southern Front. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 52, 1933, pp. 1-14 (= special reprint of the Ingolstädter Heimatgeschichte , supplement of the Ingolstädter Zeitung No. 19, 1933) online .
  • Hermann Witz: New observations in the Kösching-Germanicum fort. In: Germania 11, 1927, p. 26 ff.

Web links

Commons : Kastell Kösching  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Elisabeth Weinberger: Forest use and forest trade in Old Bavaria in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Steiner, Stuttgart 2001. ISBN 3-515-07610-7 . P. 166.
  2. ↑ CIL 3, 5908
  3. ↑ CIL 3, 5906
  4. ^ Günter Ulbert, Thomas Fischer: The Limes in Bavaria . Theiss, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8062-0351-2 , p. 113
  5. ^ Ernst Aichner : Ingolstadt and the Upper Bavarian Danube Region . Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1716-5 . P. 160.
  6. ^ A b Wilhelm Ernst: Observations and finds in the area of ​​the Germanicum-Kösching Roman fort. 1954-1960. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 70, 1961, pp. 3-66; here: p. 8.
  7. ^ Rainer Braun: Karl (Ritter von) Popp (1825-1905). The forgotten Bavarian general and Limes researcher . In: Bavarian prehistory sheets, Munich 2010. pp. 319–331. P. 329.
  8. ↑ Hans-Jörg Kellner : The coins found in the Roman period in Germany. Dept. 1 Bavaria, Volume 1 Upper Bavaria, Mann, Berlin 1960. p. 103.
  9. ↑ a b Thomas Fischer, Erika Riedmeier Fischer: The Roman Limes in Bavaria . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-7917-2120-0 . P. 142.
  10. ^ Hermann Witz: Kastell Kösching. Eastern and Southern Front. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 52, 1933, pp. 1–14; here: p. 4.
  11. ^ Hermann Witz: Kastell Kösching. Eastern and Southern Front. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 52, 1933, pp. 1–14; here: p. 6.
  12. ^ Josef Reichart: New observations in the "Masonry" near Kösching . In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 58, 1940, pp. 45–51.
  13. ^ Wilhelm Ernst: Observations and finds in the area of ​​the Roman fort Germanicum-Kösching. 1954-1960. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 70, 1961, pp. 3-66; here: p. 11.
  14. ^ Wilhelm Ernst: Observations and finds in the area of ​​the Roman fort Germanicum-Kösching. 1954-1960. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 70, 1961, pp. 3-66; here: p. 12.
  15. ^ Wilhelm Ernst: Observations and finds in the area of ​​the Roman fort Germanicum-Kösching. 1954-1960. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 70, 1961, pp. 3-66; here: pp. 13-14.
  16. ↑ AE 1907, 00186 ; Inscription at Ubi erat lupa .
  17. ↑ AE 1907, 00187
  18. ↑ C. Sebastian Sommer : Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marc Aurel ...? - To date the systems of the Raetian Limes . In: Report of Bayerische Bodendenkmalpflege 56 (2015), pp. 321–327; here: p. 142.
  19. ^ Wilhelm Ernst: Observations and finds in the area of ​​the Roman fort Germanicum-Kösching. 1954-1960. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 70, 1961, pp. 3-66; here: p. 14.
  20. ^ Josef Reichart: New observations in the "Masonry" near Kösching . In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 58, 1940, pp. 45–51; here: pp. 45–46.
  21. ^ Wilhelm Ernst: Observations and finds in the area of ​​the Roman fort Germanicum-Kösching. 1954-1960. In: Collective sheet of the Historisches Verein Ingolstadt 70, 1961, pp. 3-66; here: p. 12.
  22. ↑ CIL 16, 55
  23. ↑ CIL 3, 6001
  24. ↑ CIL 3, 11992b
  25. ↑ CIL 3, 11992d ; CIL 3, 11992e
  26. ↑ AE 2005, 01152 ; CIL 3, 11992f ; CIL 3, 11992g
  27. ↑ Thomas Fischer, Erika Riedmeier Fischer: The Roman Limes in Bavaria . Pustet, Regensburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-7917-2120-0 . P. 143.
  28. ↑ Andrea Faber: The Roman auxiliary fort and the vicus of Regensburg-Kumpfmühl , Beck, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-406-35642-7 . P. 372, note.
  29. ↑ Robert Roeren : On the archeology and history of Southwest Germany in the 3rd to 5th century AD In: Yearbook of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum Mainz. 7, 1960, p. 217.
  30. ^ Dietwulf Baatz: Roman roads in the Ries. In: Guide to the prehistoric monuments Volume 41, 2: Nördlingen, Bopfingen, Oettingen, Harburg. von Zabern, Mainz 1979. p. 264.
  31. ↑ Thomas Fischer, Michael Altjohann: The Roman Provinces. An introduction to their archeology . Theiss, Stuttgart 2001. ISBN 3-8062-1591-X . P. 132.
  32. ↑ Hans-Jörg Kellner: The Roman settlement near Pocking (Lower Bavaria) and its end. In: Bavarian History Leaflets 25, 1960, pp. 132-164.
  33. ↑ CIL 13, 6562 ( figure ).
  34. ↑ CIL 17-04, 00070 ; Karlheinz Dietz : A new milestone from the year 201 AD from Kösching, Eichstätt district, Upper Bavaria. In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 1985 . ed. v. Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and Society for Archeology in Bavaria, Theiss, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-8062-0471-3 . Pp. 110–111, Fig. 65. ( Online ).
  35. ↑ CIL 3, 5999
  36. ↑ Rainer Christlein , Otto Braasch : The underground Bavaria . Theiss, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8062-0855-7 , p. 200.