Roman thermal baths Bad Vilbel

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The Roman thermal baths in Bad Vilbel were discovered in 1848/49 during the construction of the Main-Weser Railway near the Bad Vilbeler Südbahnhof. Nothing of the facility is visible above ground today. The site is best known for a magnificent Roman mosaic that was found in one of the rooms. It is the only larger mosaic find from Roman times in Hesse , which is why it is now in the Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt .

Site plan of the Roman thermal baths at the Südbahnhof in Bad Vilbel
Hypocaust bricks from the Roman bathing complex at the Südbahnhof in the Living Roman Mosaic exhibition
View of the exhibition Living Roman Mosaic with display boards, exhibits and reconstructed mosaic
Glass pavilion in the spa gardens, exhibition of living Roman mosaics

Thermal baths

The building was only partially excavated, so that the exact floor plan of the entire complex cannot be determined to this day. The floor plan and type of construction of the excavated bathing building cannot be compared with ordinary public baths , but it also exceeds the bathing facilities known from Villae rusticae .

A total of nine rooms, grouped around an open courtyard with a rectangular bathing pool, were completely or partially exposed. The mosaic was in a central bathing room within the northern suite of rooms. The hall had a size of 11.75 × 10 m. It was reached via a small anteroom in the north, in which there was also a mosaic, but it was undecorated. On the south wall of the hall there was an oval marble basin 7 m long. The marble-framed mosaic was slightly stepped in front of it, so that it was washed over by the water. The production of the mosaic is dated to the end of the 2nd century AD. It was incorporated into the existing building as part of a renovation. When the building was constructed is unknown.

To the northwest of the bathing room, there was a hypocausted room, possibly a sweat bath (sudatorium) . A corridor connected the northern tract with the less completely excavated eastern one. Of the three larger rooms cut off here, the two southern ones could also be heated, so that a normal bathing wing with three levels (from N to S) cold bath (frigidarium) , leaf bath ( tepidarium) and hot bath (caldarium) could be connected here. The richly equipped northern tract would therefore be reserved for special use; it was assumed that it was used as a spa, which would suit Bad Vilbel's later status as a health resort and spring town. Up until a landslide in 1783 there was said to have been a warm mineral spring above the thermal baths in the Vilbel forest.

The area in which the building was located cannot be precisely determined due to the lack of excavation results. In older research, it was initially believed that they had come across the bathroom of an unusually large estate. Since such a thing was not uncovered, this conclusion was made ex silentio according to today's standards . An assessment of the floor plan beyond the exposed bathing building is hardly possible without knowledge of the entire facility. The bath surpasses the thermal baths of Roman villas in Hesse, known from excavations, many times over. The size and the equipment would have exceeded the possibilities of a villa owner in the Civitas Taunensium , so that in current standard works on regional archeology, a state thermal spa operation is considered more likely, in the vicinity of which there could also have been an associated settlement ( vicus ) . Roman-era settlements at thermal and medicinal springs are common in Germania from Baden-Baden , Badenweiler and Wiesbaden ( Aquae Mattiacorum ), among others , but mixed forms, such as a place of pilgrimage, are also documented.

Oceanus mosaic

The mosaic was in the center of the large bathing room in front of the marble basin. The picture area had a size of 4.78 × 7.06 m. In the center was the mask of the sea god Oceanus . The face, like a front part of the mosaic, is not preserved in the original, presumably due to animal excrement as a result of the area being used as a stable. There is an inscription by the artist under the mask. Fish, lobster claws and mythical animals spring from the curls of the ocean . Around this are arranged various real and mythical sea creatures: tritons , nereids , erotes , seahorses and sea ​​lions . Each figure is shown from a different perspective and movement, most of them in three-quarter profile. The mosaic also gained vitality because it was flooded with water.

Among the mosaics of Roman times in Germany, the Vilbeler Oceanus mosaic is one of the most important finds. It is now in the Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt and takes up an entire room there.

Thanks to a grant from Hassia Mineralquellen , it was possible to create a replica that has been on display in Bad Vilbel since 2007 in a pavilion as an exhibition of Living Roman Mosaic . In addition, there are some finds from the bathroom as well as replicas and panels on everyday Roman culture. Another replica is located in the inner courtyard of the praetorium of the Saalburg , but is not accessible to visitors there.

literature

  • Dietwulf Baatz : Bad Vilbel, FB. Healing baths. In: Dietwulf Baatz, Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (Hrsg.): The Romans in Hessen. Licensed edition of the 3rd edition from 1989. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-58-9 , p. 241f.
  • Klaus Parlasca : The Roman mosaics in Germany. de Gruyter, Berlin 1959, pp. 93f., Pl. 92,6 and 93.
  • Egon Schallmayer : The reconstructed water basin in the praetorium of the Saalburg fort. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2005. Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2053-0 , pp. 170-173.
  • Gabriele Seitz : Bad Vilbel, Wetteraukreis. Roman bath district with rich mosaic decoration. In: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany. Volume 19: Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area. Theiss, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-8062-0585-X , pp. 190-192.

Web links

Commons : Römische Thermen Bad Vilbel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Smaller fragments are known from the Arnsburg castle and from Nida-Heddernheim . See Klaus Parlasca: The Roman Mosaics in Germany. de Gruyter, Berlin 1959, p. 94, notes 2 and 3.
  2. ↑ a b c d Dietwulf Baatz : Bad Vilbel, FB. Healing baths. In: Dietwulf Baatz, Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (Hrsg.): The Romans in Hessen. Licensed edition of the 3rd edition from 1989. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, p. 241f.
  3. ↑ a b c Gabriele Seitz : Bad Vilbel, Wetteraukreis. Roman bath district with rich mosaic decoration. In: Guide to archaeological monuments in Germany. Volume 19: Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area. Theiss, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-8062-0585-X , pp. 190-192.
  4. ↑ a b c Egon Schallmayer : The reconstructed water basin in the praetorium of the Saalburg fort. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2005. Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2053-0 , p. 171.
  5. ↑ Christian Ludwig Boßler : The Roman site near Vilbel and the mosaic floor discovered there in 1849. In: Archive for Hessian History and Archeology. 10, 1864, pp. 1-35, ill. P. 214 ( online ); Friedrich Scharff: The streets of the Frankenfurt. In: Archive for Frankfurt's History and Art. 1865, p. 224. ( online )
  6. ↑ For example, the largest known villa in Hesse Haselburg near Hummetroth (Baatz / Herrmann: Die Römer in Hessen. Pp. 360–362) and Friedberg- “Auf der Pfingstweide” (Paul Wagner: The Roman villa rustica “Auf der Pfingstweide” at Friedberg. In: Vera Rupp (Hrsg.): Archäologie der Wetterau. Friedberg 1991, pp. 259–264.); For thermal baths at villae rusticae outside Hesse, see O. Paret: The Romans in Württemberg, Part III: The settlements of Roman Württemberg. (Stuttgart 1932) especially pp. 72-95; Wolfgang Czysz : The Roman estate in Munich-Denning and the Roman settlement of the Munich gravel plain. Kallmünz 1974, p. 94 (catalogs of the Prehistoric State Collection 19).
  7. ↑ C. Sebastian Sommer : Les Agglomérations secondaires de la Germanie transrhénane. In: J.-P Petit, M. Mangin (eds.): Les agglomérations secondaires. La Gaule Belgique, les Germanies et l'Occident romain. Actes du Colloque de Bliesbruck-Reinheim / Bitche (Moselle). 1992, p. 93.
  8. ↑ Thomas Fischer : Vicus In: The Roman Provinces. An introduction to their archeology. Theiss-Verlag Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1591-X , pp. 56-58.
  9. ↑ Pervincus f (ecit) , CIL 13, 07392 (4, p 125) .
  10. ↑ For the mosaic see Klaus Parlasca: The Roman Mosaics in Germany. de Gruyter, Berlin 1959, pp. 93f., Pl. 92,6 and 93.
  11. ↑ Information on both reconstructions on the page of the Saalburg Museum ( memento from September 10, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) see also: Egon Schallmayer: The reconstructed water basin in the praetorium of the Saalburg fort. In: hessenARCHÄOLOGIE 2005. Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-2053-0 , pp. 170-173.

Coordinates: 50 ° 10 ′ 41.3 ″  N , 8 ° 44 ′ 1.2 ″  E