Romans in Hürth

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The traces that the Romans left in Hürth are diverse and in some places can still be seen or explored in the urban area of Hürth , for example on Luxemburger Strasse or along the Roman Canal hiking trail . During the monographic review in 2014, 58 Roman sites were found.

Stele as a modeled Leugenstein and "Roman paving" on two roundabouts on Luxemburger Strasse ( Römerstrasse ) in Hürth

The archaeological preservation of monuments in the city is the responsibility of the LVR office for preservation of monuments in the Rhineland , most of the finds are kept in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn .

Streets

Most striking, the old streets, the most important today are Agrippa Street Cologne-Trier -called Roman road , the course of the Luxemburger Straße is largely identical. An archaeological search cut was made through the street between Efferen and Hermülheim. The road there consists of poured gravel, in which lanes have also been observed. Two renewal measures can be identified. The width grew from originally 4.20 m to 9 m, the thickness of the road body was 55 cm. Since the surface was curved, the rainwater could run off to the sides. Bonnstrasse , which crosses this in Hermülheim, must be viewed as a supervision road for the Eifel line , just like Kreuzstrasse-Bachstrasse-Berrenrather Strasse for the Hürth line and the continuation of the lines to Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium , today's Cologne .

Old and new line (building above it, partly reconstruction) in Hermülheim

Water pipes

Before the Eifel aqueduct was built, the Cologne water came through several Roman aqueducts in Hürth , which were combined at Hermülheim Castle and then led along today's Berrenrather Straße to Cologne. The main line came from the Duffesbach valley . Parts of the Eifel pipeline were also excavated in the Hürth area. In 1989, a well-preserved section of the pipeline was recovered as part of construction work in the area of ​​Friedrich Ebert-Straße 10, which was now broken down into nine sections and set up as illustrative material for "water suppliers", for example at the Leichtweiß-Institut of the TH Braunschweig, for drinking water treatment the Wahnbachtalsperre , the Am Staad waterworks , Düsseldorf, and the administration building of the Mittelrhein energy supply . Other sections that had to give way to modern buildings were also salvaged and relocated . While the line on the slope of the Ville was led underground to Burg Hermülheim, it bridged the rest of the route to Cologne above ground as an aqueduct.

Villae rusticae

Several Roman villae rusticae have been excavated in parts in the Hürth area. A villa in the Hürther Tälchen on today's Römerhof street, preserved with foundation walls , was partially excavated and documented by Waldemar Haberey in 1953/57 . According to the inconsistent walls observed in different places, an extent of 80 × 30 m was reconstructed in older research. This would make it one of the major agricultural structures in the Ubier area. According to more recent information, however, it is not certain whether it is not the remains of the main and auxiliary buildings. Therefore no reliable information on the size of the main house is possible. Further remains of the wall were found a little further down the slope at the Kohlhaasmühle, they probably belong as an annex to the villa. Villae were excavated but documented in the brown coal mines between Berrenrath and the hamlet of Berrenrath (1943), as well as in the Theresia field east of Alt-Hürth (1981). The type of construction of the individual plants cannot be reconstructed with certainty. The main building in Berrenrath (1943) is a villa of the "hall type" with a large central room, the house possibly had corner projections. Finds of hypocaust bricks give evidence of the living comfort there.

When mapping different signs of settlement in the Hürth city area, it was determined that these villas were located between 300 m and 800 m apart. References to former villas can be found, for example, from Roman fragments or building materials. The graves, such as those in Efferen, Fischenich and Hermülheim, suggest the proximity of former living spaces. Based on these distances, the farm area can be roughly estimated, which was often between 50 and 100 hectares. Such a density of settlement in Roman times is not unusual for the Rhineland; Roman villas in the Hambach Forest or in the area of ​​the Hambach opencast mine , for example, were also at a similar distance .

Burgus

On the former Luxemburger Strasse, which has now been excavated and rerouted, a burgus , a fortification to protect the Roman road , was excavated in 1923 opposite the villa house at the time on the border with Brühl after the first artefacts were found there in 1875 .

Disappeared town

At the city limits of Brühl, also on the former Luxemburger Straße, the place M () nerica , which was recorded on the Tabula Peutingeriana , which was significant at the time, is assumed. Possible remains were picked up during deep plowing of the former arable land in 1925 and determined by Peter Anton Tholen . They are not received. Excavations did not take place. The area was charred by the Hürtherberg mine .

Graves

Knife handle in the form of a gladiator from the lead coffin found near Hermülheim in 1902

A larger cemetery was excavated in Hermülheim in 1987 and in 2004/5 at the old train station. There are three cremation graves in ash boxes and about 40 body graves. The anthropological evaluation showed that some of the deceased were over 60 years old. Two men (from grave 5 and from grave 15) were over 1.70 m tall. One man (from grave 38) suffered from a kidney stone , many of the residents had tooth decay. For some of the dead it was possible to provide anthropological evidence of kinship; such a proven family lies together as a group. Grave goods are relatively common in the Hermülheim cemetery . The dead were given dishes and drinking utensils made of clay and glass particularly often. Based on these additions, conclusions can be drawn about ancient table manners that were still known in the Rhineland in late antiquity. For example, people have toasted each other with glass bowls at dinner, these bowls were then placed on the upper body of the dead at the funeral. Other additions come from the field of cosmetics and hygiene. Occasionally women were given jewelry. A golden Hercules club from an ash box from grave 19 from the 3rd century indicates the presence of a wealthy and respected family, as does silver components of an officer's belt from the same period (grave 4). In the 4th and 5th centuries, several other men were placed in military belts. Since the position of the metal components in the findings was carefully observed and documented, two belts can be reconstructed. The owners of military accessories from the Hürth-Hermülheim cemetery are between 45–50 and 60–65 years old. So they were probably no longer active soldiers, but veterans . The addition of elaborately designed military belts and other things (including a mug with a presumably Germanic name beginning) are signs that Germanic mercenaries and their families were also buried in Hürth-Hermülheim in the late Roman period.

A grave field with a stone coffin, a lead coffin and two cube-shaped ash boxes with additions was found in 1874 during the construction of the Hürth-Kalscheuren-Ehrang railway "in the area of ​​the Hermülheim - Meschenich route". A smaller burial ground with five cremation graves was discovered in the inner courtyard of Fischenich Castle , the ruins of the associated settlement were observed at a short distance by the Fischenich church. In Aldenrath 1934 a Roman burial ground with cremations, including an ash box and a stone coffin was found. Another burial ground with ash boxes and a sarcophagus was discovered there in 1952. The latter is set up by the swimming pool today. Individual graves, including a lead coffin (1902), were found in several places, for example near Luxemburger Straße and on the site of the brown coal mines. Since accidental discoveries were often not searched any further, it is usually not possible to determine whether the burials are actually individual burials or parts of larger grave fields.

Efferen burial chamber

The Roman grave in Efferen , a double burial chamber with two stone coffins, was discovered in 1899 during the construction of the first station building for the foothill railway. It has been partially reconstructed and preserved under the house and can be viewed by appointment. A less elaborate burial chamber is not far from Efferen on the Kalscheurer Weiher .

Divine consecrations

Consecration stones for local gods

Matronenstein from Hermülheim, today in the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne

Particularly interesting is the discovery of several matron stones for the Audrineh matrons , known so far only from the Hürth area , which were reused as spoils in a (possibly Franconian) grave in Hermülheim. The associated sanctuary could not be located, it was probably not far away. The founder's names handed down on the stones are the earliest testimonials from the urban area of ​​Hürth. Some of these names are formed in an indigenous-provincial way as pseudogentilizia . The interpretation of the matron name is not clear in research. From a local history perspective, the Hürth author Elmar Brohl puts forward the thesis that the indefinable name Hürth is related to these deities. If you aspirate the name , consider the sound change from the au to French o ( aureum = or, St Audomar St. Omer) and the frequent jumping of the r (Born> fountain), the idea is not entirely absurd.

When the Gleuel church was demolished in 1893, some Roman (and Franconian) stone monuments walled up as spoilage came to light. On a large matron's altar, two women are depicted with the victim, who does not have an inscription. According to the inscription, another consecration stone was donated in 201 for the Ahueccan goddesses Aveha and Helliseva.

Consecrations to Jupiter

An altar for Jupiter belongs to the spolia from the church of Gleuel . A second dedicatory inscription for the highest Roman god is attached to the base of a Jupiter column found there. It is noteworthy that the founder Gaius Junius Frontinus had the column erected according to the inscription after a dream on God's own command. Fragments of other Jupiter columns have been found in several other places in the city of Hürth.

Literature / sources

  • Manfred Faust: History of the City of Hürth , ed. from Heimat und Kulturverein Hürth, Cologne, JP Bachem Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7616-2282-7 (pp. 10–15).
  • Raymund Gottschalk: Römer und Franken in Hürth , Verlag Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2014, ISBN 978-3-7749-3928-8 (ubique).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gottschalk takes p. 199 f. a total of 61 sites, three of which date from the Merovingian period.
  2. ↑ Gottschalk pp. 9–11.
  3. ↑ Klaus Grewe : Nine sections of the Eifel water pipeline to Cologne recovered , in Hürther Heimat , No. 65/66, pp. 113–117.
  4. ^ Klaus Grewe: Aqueducts. Water for Rome's cities , Regionalia Verlag, Rheinbach 2014, p. 390 f.
  5. ↑ Fundamental to the aqueduct: Klaus Grewe: Atlas of the Roman aqueducts to Cologne. Rhenish excavations 26. Cologne 1986.
  6. ↑ Günter Frenzel: The Römerhof in Hürth , in Hürther Heimat No. 39 1977. But now see Gottschalk p. 47.
  7. ↑ Gottschalk 55–57 with map, Fig. 44.
  8. ↑ Gottschalk pp. 107–111.
  9. ↑ Gottschalk, pp. 111–118.
  10. ↑ Gottschalk pp. 128-131.
  11. ↑ Gottschalk p. 54.
  12. ↑ Detailed, also pictorial, representations in Gottschalk, pp. 74 to 89.
  13. ↑ The names of Quintus Iucundinius Verinus (as donor for his son Quintus Iucundinius ), Lucius Saturninius Victor , Lucius Secundinius Ianuarius , as donor Superinia Primula , an Asamo with another person starting with "S" and Quintus are given on the different stones Cottius Colonius . See Gottschalk especially pp. 83 to 86 (with further literature).
  14. ↑ Jan de Vries interprets the name as the divine supporters . On the other hand, I. Rüger suggests in: G. Bauchhenß, G. Neumann (Red.): Matronen and related gods . Supplements Bonner Jahrbücher 44, Cologne 1987 p. 156 Schicksalsweberinnen vor, Günter Neumann counts in the same book p. 126 the Audrinehae or Autrinehae to the unexplained names.
  15. ↑ Hermülheim and the German Order , Hürth o. J. (1975), p. 12.
  16. ↑ Gottschalk pp. 74–80.