Toutonenstein
The so-called Toutonenstein is an ancient Roman boundary stone from the Greinberg ring wall near Miltenberg from the middle of the 2nd century to the middle of the 3rd century.
Discovery
South of the sanctuary on the summit of the Greinberg, a woodworker found a nearly five-meter-long sandstone stele with Latin letters outside the ramparts in the forest floor, half-covered, in the forest floor at the point where it had been blasted off the rock. The worker informed the Limes commissioner Wilhelm Conrady about the find in the spring of 1878, who then scientifically examined and published the stone and its location. After it was found, the stone was placed in the courtyard of the Mildenburg and is now on display in the Miltenberg town / local history museum.
Inscription and description
The Toutonenstein is made of red sandstone from the Miltenberg area (4.75 × 0.50 m) with a square base that tapers towards the top and a round cross-section with a dome-shaped end.
In the approximate center is a six-line inscription in the usual Capitalis script , which was rather roughly beaten with a sharp iron and which makes an unprofessional impression in the execution. The height of the letters tends to be between 12 and 22 cm. Lines 1 to 2 are complete, lines 3 to 6 are considered incomplete fragments with initials in research. The initial in line 6 was interpreted as an F alongside the conventional reading I.
"Inter / Toutonos / C / A / H / I"
The incompleteness has led to numerous theories and speculations in research. The initials of lines 3 to 6 were discussed as common abbreviations / abbreviations ( Abbreviatur ) of words, names or as exceptions to these common, comparable patterns, or as abbreviations of several words (sequences) in a line. The assumption that the type in line 6 is a tie rune - a ligature made up of two runes - is wrong because of the non-existent continental rune epigraphs on stone.
Due to the shape of the letters, a reliable dating is not possible. In general, however, the period of the production and erection of the stone between the advancement of the Neckar-Odenwald-Limes around 159 AD under Antoninus Pius and the Alemanni storms around 260 AD is preferred to a more recent date, which has also been discussed.
literature
- Wolfgang Beck : Toutonenstein. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 31, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018386-2 , pp. 108-110. ( Fee Germanic Altertumskunde Online at de Gruyter )
- Wilhelm Conrady: The Toutonenstein in Miltenberg: In: Korrespondenzblatt des Gesamtverein der Deutschen Geschichts- und Alterthumsvereine 26, 1878, P. 68-75.
Web links
- Toutonenstein www.museen-mainlimes.de
- Greinberg temples www.museen-mainlimes.de
- Entry in the ubi-erat-lupa project
- Epigraphic database Heidelberg: HD 017882
Remarks
Coordinates: 49 ° 41 ′ 56.5 " N , 9 ° 15 ′ 6.2" E