Rigomagus

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Rigomagus
Alternative name Fort Remagen
Fort Rigomagus
limes Lower Germanic Limes
Dating (occupancy) A) Augustan
B) Tiberian - Early Claudian to Vespasian
C) Vespasian
up to 2nd half of 3rd century
D) Middle of 2nd to middle of 3rd century
E) 2nd half of 3rd century
to 2nd half of 4th century AD . Chr.
Type A) unknown
B + C) cohort fort
D) beneficiary station
E) late antique fortress
unit A) unknown
B.a) Cohors I Thracum (equitata?)
Bb) Cohors VIII Breucorum
C.a) Cohors II Varcianorum equitata civium Romanorum
C.b) Cohors I Flavia (Hispanorum equitata pia fidelis)
Cc) Cohors I Raetorum
D) unknown
E) unknown
size A) unknown
B) 100 m × 120 m = 1.2 ha
C) 110 m × 140/150 m = 1.6 ha
D) unknown
E) 1.65 ha
Construction A) wooden
fort B) wood and earth fort
C) stone fort
D) unknown
E) stone fort
State of preservation late antique walls partially still visible
place Remagen
Geographical location 50 ° 34 '46.5 "  N , 7 ° 13' 38.5"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 34 '46.5 "  N , 7 ° 13' 38.5"  E
height 64  m above sea level NHN
Previous Legion camp Bonn (north-northwest)
Subsequently Small fort Rheinbrohl (southeast, Upper German Limes )
Fort Andernach (south-southeast, late antique Rhine Limes )

Rigomagus was a Roman garrison site that was used as an auxiliary fort of the Lower Germanic Limes , as a beneficiary station and as a late Roman fortress. Today's ground monument is in the area of ​​the Rhineland-Palatinate city ​​of Remagen , whose name is derived directly from the Latin place name, in the Ahrweiler district .

location

Rigomagus in the Limes

The fort was located in the highest part of today's Remagen, in the northwest of the city, directly on the Rhine.

In ancient times, the fort was located there directly on the Roman trunk road , which in this section connected the Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ( Cologne ) with Confluentes ( Koblenz ), between Bonna ( Bonn ) in the north and Antunnacum ( Andernach ) in the south. Topographically, it took a place in a cramped location between the river and the mountains that came close to it from the west. It was more likely to have served to monitor the Rhine Valley Road than to control the roads leading into the western hinterland. Rigomagus was the southernmost fortification of the Lower Germanic Limes on the left bank of the Rhine, which was continued almost eleven kilometers further south as the crow flies, opposite the Vinxtbach , in the Upper Germanic Limes that began at the small fort Rheinbrohl and ran to the right of the Rhine .

In today's cityscape, the ground monument is located roughly between “Drususstrasse” / “Milchgasse” and the Rhine, and between “Deichweg” and the town hall.

Research history

In the second half of the 19th century the research of the first archaeologists was actively supported by the Mayor of Remagen, Heinrich Reuleaux. Reuleaux published reviews in 1885 and 1888 on the current state of research. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the pharmacist Eugen Funck who periodised the Roman camps , especially in collaboration with Hans Lehner . Lehner took the view that Rigomagus was founded in the Tiberian period. In the second half of the 20th century, research then proceeded from a Claudian dating. In 2008, however, the already published and unpublished excavation reports were analyzed again and compared with the findings and findings of the early 21st century. This led to a complete reevaluation combined with the realization that the first Roman troops must have been present in Rigomagus as early as the Augustan period. In 2017, large-scale emergency rescues had to be carried out in the area of ​​Remagen city center.

Military installations

Traces of a pre-Roman settlement to which the name Rigomagus could possibly be traced have not yet been found. More recent research in 2008 proved that there must have been a garrison in Rigomagus as early as the Augustan era.

Period 1: Augustan camp

Evidence of the Augustan camp phase was primarily achieved through the dendrochronological examination of two oak beams that came from a palisade comprising a total of twelve posts, in front of which two angular posts were placed. The analysis dated the woods to the new era plus / minus six years. Lehner had also already described Augustan terra sigillata, but the finds had been lost in the turmoil of the times. For the military use of the square at this early time, the fact that in addition to the twelve posts there was also a pilum murale and pila muralia are only known from military contexts speaks for itself . No statements can yet be made about the transition between the Augustan camp and the Tiberian - Early Claudian wood-earth fort at the current state of research

Period 2: wood and earth fort

The following Roman military installation in Remagen is a Tiberian-Early Claudic wood-earth warehouse in the form of a slightly shifted rectangle. This wood-earth fort had a width (northwest-southeast) of around 100 meters. The length could no longer be determined, as the praetorial front (front) facing the Rhine was destroyed by post-Roman deformations of the terrain. It should not have been more than 120 meters, with which the warehouse would have covered an area of ​​around 1.2 hectares. The complex was protected by a three meter wide earth wall, rounded at the corners of the fort, which was clad on the outside with a stiffened palisade and on the inside with a simple wooden palisade. Before that, two three-meter-wide pointed trenches ran on the southeast side, while only a single trench could be found on the southwest and northwest side. Little is known of the interior development. According to the previous view, the found material ( Claudian - Neronian ceramics - no occurrence of Arretian terra sigillata and early Belgian goods - and coins from the first century AD) made a foundation around the middle of the century, probably in the Claudian period, likely. This view will have to be revised on the basis of the more recent research results (see above). During the Batavian uprising , the wood-earth warehouse was destroyed, as indicated by a layer of fire from the years 69/70. A Cohors I Thracum (equitata?) And the Cohors VIII Breucorum are known for the time of the wood and earth fort .

Period 3: stone fort

After the Batavian uprising and the turmoil of the Four Emperor's Year , the fort was replaced by a stone fort in the Vespasian era. This fortification, which was in the same place as the wood-earth camp, but was extended to the south compared to this, had a width (northwest-southeast) of 110 meters and a length (southwest-northeast) between 140 and 150 meters. It took up an area of ​​around 1.6 hectares. It was surrounded by a 1.0 m to 1.2 m wide stone wall, in front of which a simple pointed ditch ran. The wall was provided with corner and intermediate towers (on the southeast flank at a distance of 16 meters from each other). Some larger buildings are known of the interior development, which extended along the Via Principalis (main camp street, which connected the right and left side gate). Some of them were hypocausted and connected to a system of drainage canals. They are addressed as Principia , Praetorium (staff building and commandant's house, both stone buildings) and Fabrica (workshop, half-timbered building). All three buildings are in a phase of renovation, which, however, cannot be extended in terms of time. An honorary inscription for Trajan was found near her . Numerous other stone inscriptions also come from the interior of the fort. According to the ceramic finds, the fort survived well beyond the middle of the third century. The discovery of a hoard not far from Porta Praetoria should also be seen in this context . The depot contained 8,500 coins, all antoninians made of silver-plated bronze, which were minted as emergency money between 270 and 280 near Remagen and were only in circulation for a short time. The construction of the hoard is presumably related to the devastation of the Rhineland by the Franks . The Cohors II Varcianorum equitata civium Romanorum , the Cohors I Flavia (Hispanorum equitata pia fidelis) and the Cohors I Raetorum are documented in the almost two hundred year history of the stone fort .

Benefit station

From the second half of the second to the middle of the third century there was a beneficiary station in Remagen. However, it is only documented in writing, corresponding archaeological findings are still pending.

Period 4: Late antique fortifications

In late Roman times - probably not too long after the stone fort was abandoned - Rigomagus was fortified again. The location and size of the fortifications roughly corresponded to that of the imperial fort. The defensive wall was three meters thick and was created by reinforcing the wall of the imperial fortification by adding a gray quarry stone wall. Parts of the wall can still be seen today. An upstream trench was not created. Inside the fortress, the Principia , the Praetorium and the Fabrica were rebuilt. The Fabrica was replaced by a thermal bath , the former Praetorium and Fabrica were now used as residential and commercial buildings. Ammianus Marcellinus mentions the oppidum Rigomagus as - next to a tower in Cologne - the only undestroyed place north of Brocomagus ( Brumath ) for the year 356 . The relatively small amount of pottery, including wheel sigillata , dates from the late third and fourth centuries. Brick stamps of the Milites Martenses and Milites Menapii prove the existence of the place for the years 368/370. The latest coins were minted under Gratian and Magnus Maximus . The late antique fortress probably came to a violent end, as indicated by a horizon of destruction between the Roman and the early medieval strata . The finds indicate a continuity of the settlement with the further use of the stone buildings.

Vicus and burial grounds

The Auxiliar vicus von Rigomagus, the civil settlement that was located at every long-term Roman military camp and in which initially the entourage of the troops, later innkeepers, brothel operators and other service providers, traders, craftsmen, members of the military and discharged soldiers, was located south and southeast of the fort. It included pottery kilns from the first and second centuries. Presumably the vicus had a certain importance as a market place. It is doubtful whether the vicus still existed in late antiquity.

The imperial burial grounds extended on both sides of the Rheintalstraße, which also ran south of the fort . The use of cremation and body graves lasted from the middle of the first to well into the third century. The late antique burials were primarily north of the fortification.

Monument protection and remains

Rigomagus and the facilities mentioned are cultural monuments in accordance with the Monument Protection and Maintenance Act (DSchG) of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Research and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval. Incidental finds are to be reported to the monument authorities. The finds recovered in Rigomagus are in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn , in the Roman Museum in Remagen, in the Landesmuseum Koblenz as well as by private owners in Remagen.

See also

literature

  • Sibylle Friedrich: Remagen. The Roman auxiliary fort Rigomagus . (= Reports on archeology on the Middle Rhine and Moselle, 16), Society for Archeology on the Middle Rhine and Moselle, Koblenz 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811687-4-7 .
  • Sibylle Friedrich: On the Augustan founding date of Rigomagus / Remagen . In: Peter Henrich (Ed.): Perspektiven der Limesforschung. 5th colloquium of the German Limes Commission . (Contributions to the Limes World Heritage, 5). Theiss, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-8062-2465-8 , pp. 42-47.
  • Dorothea Haupt: Remagen - Rigomagus . In: Julianus Egidius Bogaers , Christoph B. Rüger : The Lower Germanic Limes. Materials on its story . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1974, ISBN 3-7927-0194-4 , pp. 208-213.
  • Kurt Kleemann: The Roman Museum Remagen . Neusser Druck und Verlag, Neuss 1994, ISBN 3-88094-759-7 .
  • Hans-Helmut Wegner : Remagen. Rigomagus fort . In: Heinz Cüppers (Hrsg.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition of the 1990 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , pp. 529-531.

Web links

Wiktionary: Rigomagus  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b CIL 13, 07803
  2. ↑ a b CIL 13, 07801
  3. ↑ a b CIL 13, 07804
  4. ↑ a b CIL 13, 07786 , CIL 13, 07787 , CIL 13, 07792 , CIL 13, 07796 , CIL 13, 07797 , CIL 13, 07800 and AE 1978, 00568 .
  5. ↑ a b CIL 13, 12452
  6. ↑ Heinrich Reuleaux: Remagen in the Middle Ages and Roman times . In: Bonner Jahrbücher 80, 1885, pp. 161–183.
  7. ↑ Heinrich Reuleaux: Further excavations in Remagen . In: Bonner Jahrbücher 82, 1888, pp. 60–74.
  8. ^ Hans Lehner: Excavation and find reports Remagen . In: Bonner Jahrbücher, 114/115, 1906, pp. 205–243.
  9. ^ Dorothea Haupt: Remagen - Rigomagus . In: Julianus Egidius Bogaers and Christoph B. Rüger: The Lower Germanic Limes. Materials on its story . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1974, ISBN 3-7927-0194-4 , pp. 208-213.
  10. ↑ a b c Sibylle Friedrich: On the Augustan founding date of Rigomagus / Remagen . In: Peter Henrich (Ed.): Perspektiven der Limesforschung. 5th colloquium of the German Limes Commission . (Contributions to the Limes World Heritage, 5). Theiss, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-8062-2465-8 , pp. 42-47.
  11. ↑ Emergency excavation in Remagen. Archaeologists encounter a possible criminal criminal case in Rome , on Spiegel Online on September 8, 2017, accessed on December 6, 2018.
  12. ↑ CIL 13, 11981 .
  13. ↑ AE 1995, 01109 , AE 1995, 01110 , CIL 13, 07788 , CIL 13, 07791 , CIL 13, 07794 , CIL 13, 07817 and CIL 13, 07818 .
  14. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus 16, 3, 1.
  15. ^ Helmut Bernhard : The Roman history in Rhineland-Palatinate . In: Heinz Cüppers (Hrsg.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition of the 1990 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , p. 113.
  16. ^ Helmut Bernhard: The Roman history in Rhineland-Palatinate . In: Heinz Cüppers (Hrsg.): The Romans in Rhineland-Palatinate. Licensed edition of the 1990 edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-60-0 , p. 136.
  17. ↑ DschG or DSchPflG RP .
  18. ^ Römisches Museum ( Memento from February 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on the official website of the city of Remagen.