Roman hostel (Xanten)
The Roman hostel in Xanten was a mansio in the ancient Colonia Ulpia Traiana , the Roman predecessor town of today's Xanten . It was in Insula 38 near the port on the Rhine . The building was excavated and reconstructed on the spot as part of the Xanten Archaeological Park .
description
The two-storey structure stood along a street near the small port gate of the city wall of Colonia Ulpia Traiana in the southeastern part of Insula 38. It was originally 64 meters long and 10 meters wide. The time of origin is dated to the penultimate to the last decade of the 1st century. At an unknown later date, the building was extended to a length of 80 meters and a width of up to 25 meters and received a cellar.
Presumably, the building served as accommodation for merchants, craftsmen and, because of the proximity to the port, also for ship travelers. There were three entrances on the ground floor, followed by corridors that led straight through the building. From each corridor there were chambers to the left and right, which are interpreted as sleeping chambers for the accommodation of guests. There were also larger room groups that may have been intended for wealthier travelers. There was a zone facing the courtyard that was reconstructed as an open two-storey portico .
Immediately next to the hostel in the southwest are the hostel thermal baths as a Roman bathing facility. It is not known whether this facility was intended for the hostel guests or for the residents of the neighborhood.
Research history and reconstruction
The excavation of the hostel took place between 1974 and 1983. It was started with the intention of uncovering typical Roman craftsmen's houses for the newly established Xanten Archaeological Park. The excavated archaeological structures were initially referred to as the house at the small port gate . During the excavation, the archaeologists realized that the building complex was the remains of a mansio.
During the excavations, the archaeologists uncovered the cellar of the ancient inn, where they found an Antoninian (Roman silver coin) from the time of Aurelian (reigned 270–275) in a layer of fire . The excavator Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn concluded that the complex was probably destroyed in the course of the great incursions by Frankish tribes into the Gallic and Germanic provinces in the years 275/276. As a result, the destruction and abandonment of the entire city was associated with this historically documented event, even if there are no other indications of this. Bernd Liesen and Marcus Reuter published the archaeological finds from the basement rooms in 2009 and came to the conclusion that the layer of fire with the coin was insufficient to link the destruction of the entire Colonia Ulpia Traiana with the Franconian raids west of the Rhine or even to claim a violent destruction of the hostel.
After the excavations were completed in 1983, Gundolf Precht reconstructed the mansio for the Xanten Archaeological Park (APX) on its original foundation walls, as did the cellar. The interiors of the replicated building were furnished and decorated with wall paintings based on Roman models. There is a restaurant in the hostel where you can get dishes cooked according to original Roman recipes.
Generous interior with Roman wall painting
Kitchen room
Smaller bedroom with several beds
The courtyard with portico
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literature
- Clive Bridger: Colonia Ulpia Traiana, Insula 38: The findings of the excavation 1979 to 1983 (= Rhenish excavations. Volume 31). Rheinland-Verlag on commission from Dr. Rudolf Habelt, Cologne / Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-7927-1132-X (the excavations essentially comprised the area of the “Herbergsthermen”).
- Evamarie Goddard: Colonia Ulpia Traiana: The excavations in the area of the house at the small port gate (Insula 38). Dissertation, Munich 1990 (self-published dissertation, without location details in 1996; deals with the results of the excavations from 1974 to 1978).
- Peter Kienzle: The civil residential development in the CUT. In: Martin Müller , Hans-Joachim Schalles , Norbert Zieling (eds.): Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Xanten and its surroundings in Roman times (= history of the city of Xanten. Volume 1). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3953-7 , pp. 413-432, here p. 427.
- Bernd Liesen, Marcus Reuter : The cellar of the mansio in Insula 38 and the end of the Colonia Ulpia Traiana. In: Xantener reports. Volume 15, 2009, pp. 279–312 ( online ) (publication of the finds from the basement and historical classification of the task of the building).
Web links
- Description of the Roman hostel on the Xanten Archaeological Park website
Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′ 7.2 " N , 6 ° 26 ′ 55.7" E