Vicus

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Schematic representation of the vicus iuliacum in the 1st – 3rd centuries . Century AD Redrawing after Tholen (1975)
Roman millstone, which was used to mark a vicus border and was provided with the inscription Fines Vici ("border of the vicus")

A vicus (plural: vici ) was a settlement with a small town character in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire . The economic focus of such settlements was on industrial production , handicrafts , trade and services . The name was independent of the size of the settlement; Depending on their function, their size ranged from a small street settlement to the expansion of contemporary cities.

Linguistically, the term vicus can be traced back to the Indo-European expression weik , which in its basic meaning probably stands for house . If you look up vicus in the dictionary, the translations courtyard, (country) spots, district or alley are often given. So the word must have been a name for districts of Rome and with the expansion of the Roman territory it became the name of a district outside the city, i.e. a small satellite town .

Research defines a vicus neither linguistically nor legally, it is based rather on a demarcation from other, known forms of settlement. So often as Vicus designated what neither clearly municipium or Colonia yet villa rustica is. This very open definition is supplemented by the assignment according to certain characteristics such as planning structure, public building or function. 

Roman vici had no administration of their own, no legal status and were assigned to the regional body of a civitas . However, some vici themselves achieved the status of a civitas capital (e.g. Nida-Heddernheim or Pforzheim ). Not all of them had public buildings such as thermal baths or temples . Some locations of the vici could be located using the tabula peutingeriana and the itinerarium antonini .

Isidore of Seville described vici as settlements "which are not distinguished by the rank of a township, but are inhabited by an ordinary group of people and, because of their tiny size, are assigned to larger communities."

The term vicus can also denote a part of town / district in a larger town.

Vici in Gaul

The emergence of the vici in the Gallic provinces took place on the basis of the Oppida culture developed there , which in the pre-Roman late Latène period comprised the entire Celtic settlement area from Bohemia via southern Germany to the Channel coast. Here the Romans were able to fall back on a developed infrastructure of localities which, on the one hand, were integrated into a network of trade and exchange relationships in terms of transport geography, and on the other, already had a market-oriented production and commercial differentiation of the residents. What is striking about the furnishing of the places in Gaul that are then re-used as vici (agglomérations secondaires) are the scenic theater buildings , which often include temples. Examples are the vici in Alise-Sainte-Reine , Mandeure and Dalheim / Luxembourg. With the establishment of the vici there was mostly the abandonment of tribal centers and fortified hilltop settlements or their conversion to religious and cultic places.

Vici in Lower Germany

Strip house from the suburb of the legionary camp Aquincum (2nd - 3rd century)

Similar to the neighboring provinces, many vici of Lower Germany are located in convenient places such as river crossings, road bifurcations or crossings. In terms of research history, the majority of the known settlements were first discovered in the course of the investigation of the Roman military camps and the colonies.

In Lower Germany, barren, glacial soils dominate the loess zone north of the low mountain range threshold. In contrast to the inhabitants of the fertile loess zone, the focus of the local economy was on livestock and grazing. In the Roman Empire existed here native-part Romanized settlements Wohnstallhaus houses built out of wood with a clearly Iron Age character such. B. in Weeze -Vorselaer, Alps or Mehrum . These settlement structures, which were oriented towards pasture farming, were usually aligned with the road network. They are comparable to imperial settlements in the Netherlands . Strip House Similar ground plans of timber-framed buildings suggest Roman province of architecture to a takeover. In the specialist literature, the term vicus for these rural settlements is mostly avoided and replaced to some extent by the term rural centers .

Vici in Upper Germany and Raetia

Fort and vicus von Rainau-Buch
The "Bäderviertel" at Osterburken Castle

In the provinces of Raetia and Upper Germany , especially in the area of ​​the Agri decumates , vici formed predominantly in the immediate vicinity of forts . The appearance of these vici differed from place to place, despite fundamentally similar foundation concepts. As the development plans of the vici at Fort Buch or Fort Weißenburg show, elongated plots of approximately the same size, the narrow side of which touched the streets, were initially marked out. Then, as a rule, half-timbered strip houses were built on these properties. They formed the core of the settlements. Most of the gable ends of the oblong, rectangular buildings were oriented towards the street. Colonnades with multiple roofs stretched in front of the buildings along the street . In later expansion stages, vici could also take on very regional and individual forms. At Jagsthausen Fort, for example, the strip house development was abandoned in favor of urban stone buildings. In some cases, as in Weißenburg, the older parceling was also changed in favor of larger residential units. Recent research at Fort Theilenhofen indicates an urban expansion of this vicus . A forum, a basilica and a scenic theater could have stood here. A mansio as in Buch, at Fort Eining or at Fort Pfünz were evidently just as much a part of a vicus as the military bath, which could probably also be visited by the civilian population. In Osterburken there was even a larger "bathing district". There were also amphitheaters, such as those at Fort Dambach or at Fort Künzing, and religious areas such as the Jupiter-Dolichenus sanctuary in Pfünz, which is probably mainly visited by the military, or the spring shrine in Dambach, which the population visits against all kinds of physical ailments and ailments. In some vici there were locations for special units of the Roman army, the beneficiaries . At the fort Obernburg a representative townhouse similar station with attached sacred area was excavated, and the fort Osterburken a sacred area came with a wooden temple and nymphaeum to light. Craftsmen’s quarters are occupied at many vici .

With the withdrawal of the troops, certain types of garrison have also seen a sharp decline in settlement. Especially if a vicus did not have time to develop properly or if - as in the Upper German-Raetian Limes - border zones were cleared. However, there are indications that at least in some vici more or less large areas were used again after the violent fall of the Limes in 259/260 AD. In the vicus of the fort's book there were clear traces of metal processing, simple wood construction, fountains, late Roman coins and a late Roman glass fragment over a post-Limestone leveling layer.

Vici in the Netherlands and Belgium

Roman vici with brick foundations are known from the Maas-Schelde-Demer region . Here, as in Gaul, a development from indigenous settlements of the early imperial era to provincial Roman settlement structures can be seen, but this is not extensive. From the middle of the imperial period onwards, the settlements were built in stone according to Roman construction. This development took place differently from region to region. In addition to cultural aspects, the availability of stone material is also relevant here. While stone is hardly available as a building material in the northern Netherlands, Tournaier limestone and smaller local sandstone deposits could be used in the Maas-Schelde-Demer region.

In the northern Netherlands and northern Belgium, similar to the Lower Rhine, native Romanized settlements with a rural character are widespread. In these places, house floor plans using local construction technology dominated in the early imperial era. They consist of long, rectangular, multi-aisled residential stables without any reference to Roman architecture. As the example of the settlement of Hoogeloon shows, after the 1st century, the local building method was partly replaced by stone or half-timbered construction according to Roman construction, although most of the settlement remained in traditional wood construction.

Vici in Pannonia

The urban vicus at the Brigetio legionary camp and the civil town
Typical building in a vicus : a mansio (rest and transformer station). Here in the vicus of the Matrica Fort , Hungary

The vici in Pannonia resembled those in Noricum, Raetia and Upper Germany in terms of their conceptual structure, only they were often more luxurious and of higher quality in later expansion phases, and were much clearer evidence of the wealth of the upper classes of the population. At the Klosterneuburg fort the people could only enjoy a more modest level of prosperity and at the Vindobona legionary camp , in its canabae, there were remains of the striped houses in wood or timber-frame technology with white plastered walls and simple painting, which are also typical for small garrison types. The “basic equipment” of the settlements built directly at the military sites also included the mansionis and military baths . A votive altar from the camp village of Fort Matrica testifies that here cives Romani (Roman citizens) not only administered a subordinate area (territorii Matricensium) , but also created institutions that worked according to the municipal model. The buildings of the Pannonian civil settlements lay along the arterial roads in front of the camp gates. In some cases, as at the Carnuntum legionary camp or the Brigetio legionary camp , the vicus , also called canabae , had a stately character after several older construction phases. To the north of the amphitheater located in the vicus of Brigetio, however, a house lavishly decorated with stucco and frescoes could be examined. In addition to the complex street system of the camp village, which encompassed a larger area than the civil town of Brigetio to the west , there were also temples and other public buildings as well as artisan quarters. These artisan quarters can also be found in the smaller garrison types. In the early phase, residential buildings made of wickerwork and adobe bricks were part of the civil development there, as were found at the Budapest-Albertfalva Castle . In the metropolitan area around Budapest, buildings by the late Celtic Eraviskers can also be found in the vici in some places during the end of the 1st century AD . These accommodations often consisted of simple, sunk two-room dwellings with rising two-post structures and masonry made of air-dried bricks. Remains of the hinged iron plate that served as a cover were discovered in an associated cellar in Budapest-Albertfalva. Later buildings on this site had a stone foundation with rising mud brick walls. Heatable portico houses with baths and wall paintings developed there and there was a masonry sewer system. A similar development can be observed at other fort locations, such as the Ács-Vaspuszta fort, the Matrica fort or the Lussonium fort , from pit houses and / or wood and clay buildings to stone houses and villa-like buildings with hypocaust and canal heating under the terrazzo floors. There were sewers in Matrica as well, and the settlement was enclosed by at least two ditches. There were also traces of an associated wattle fence. The vicus of Intercisa could have had similar protection, at least for a time , as several pitfalls were found on both sides along the Limes road that continued from it. The wealth of many Pannonian vicus inhabitants is also evidenced by the splendidly furnished house from Intercisa , which had a column-supported transverse hall. In this building there were still the remains of a Roman carriage. In addition to temples, such as that of Mithras , which was found, for example, in the vicus of Fort Campona , or the Jupiter-Dolichenus sanctuary at Fort Vetus Salina , there were also Jewish synagogues , verifiably at Fort Intercisa . Another Jewish community is occupied by a grave building at the Esztergom fort . A small apse building in the vicus of Intercisa was referred to as an early Christian church from the 4th century.

The only short-lived vicus of the late antique small fort Visegrád-Gizellamajor is unusual . Here, even for late antiquity, there was a founding phase with the simplest development, which left almost no tangible traces.

Vici in Rome

Within Rome , vicus denotes one of the quarters or parts of the city, of which Pliny the Elder is said to have had 265. The German epigrapher Hermann Dessau lists in the register of his work Insciptiones Latinae selectae 78 vici Roms by name. At the same time, the word also referred to the street that went through the district.

Structural structure by vici

In most cases it is impossible to completely excavate a vicus , which means that only very few complete images of the entire settlement structure emerge. An overview of as many excavated vici as possible allows a relatively concrete idea of ​​the appearance and the various structural components of a vicus .

Reconstruction drawing of several strip houses

With a few exceptions, all vici have in common that they do not have an urban planning structure. Although they are often newly founded and settlement continuities to local settlements or oppida are seldom traceable, they have a structure that has grown along a street and that expands at random depending on the topography of the area. In view of the sometimes very different development factors, this is not particularly surprising, but this characteristic is a central criterion for research.

Structurally, the strip house dominates , a design that combines commercial and residential functions under one roof. The part of the building facing the street is used for the production and / or sale of goods, while the rear part consists of private rooms. Built close to each other along the street, they must have provided living space for the majority of the vicus residents; actual residential or villa quarters rarely appear. Other structural components are public buildings and appear differently depending on the size of the vici . So-called mansiones , state inns for travelers, and thermal baths are very common . Central to trade and therefore often present are the forum, sanctuary and basilica, as well as the theater / amphitheater . Vici located on lakes or rivers can have stately port facilities.

Vicus types

Civil vici

Vici in a civil context often emerged at road crossings, river crossings and other convenient locations. Some settlements such as Mayen , Rheinzabern or Schwabmünchen were geared towards a specific trade or were close to raw material deposits. Their function was mainly in trade and industry. In many vici there were markets for the villae rusticae in the area. Special functions such as health resorts or bathing resorts ( Baden-Baden ) or religious centers ( Faimingen ) and mixed forms are common. Typology according to function is only possible in gaps.

Kastellvici

Civil villages that were founded in the immediate vicinity of forts are referred to as Kastellvici or, if they developed at a legionary camp, also as canabae legionis . In addition to the wives of the soldiers, mainly innkeepers, veterans, craftsmen and traders settled here. In contrast, evidence of agriculture in the finds is rare. Fort villages were always dependent on the presence of the military, at least in their early phase. In the course of their development phases, however, many also showed their own economic dynamism, which was dependent on the local possibilities of the traders.

literature

  • Hermann Ament : On the post-antique settlement history of Roman vici in the Rhineland. In: Landesgeschichte and Reichsgeschichte. Festschrift for Alois Gerlich on his 70th birthday. (= Geschichtliche Landeskunde. 42) 1995, ISBN 3-515-06540-7 , pp. 19–34.
  • Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (ed.): Roman Vici and traffic infrastructure in Raetien and Noricum. Conference publication Colloquium Bedaium Seebruck, 26. – 28. March 2015. (= series of publications by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation. No. 15). 1st edition. Volk Verlag, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-86222-227-8 .
  • Gösta Ditmar-Trauth: The Gallo-Roman house . Volume 1: On the nature and distribution of the house of the Gallo-Roman population in the Imperium Romanum ; Volume 2: Map and panels for the catalog. Kovač, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-86064-349-5 .
  • Rüdiger Gogräfe (ed.): House and settlement in the Roman north-west provinces. Excavation findings, architecture and equipment; international symposium of the city of Homburg on November 23 and 24, 2000. Ermer Verlag, Homburg 2002.
  • Thomas Fischer : Examples of the emergence of Roman cities in the north-west provinces. In: Gundolf Precht , Norbert Zieling (Hrsg.): Genesis, structure and development of Roman cities in the 1st century AD in Lower and Upper Germany. Colloquium from February 17th to 19th, 1998 in the regional museum Xanten. (= Xanten reports , Volume 9). von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2752-8 , pp. 11-16.
  • Thomas Fischer: Vicus. In: The Roman Provinces. An introduction to their archeology. Theiss, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1591-X , pp. 56-58.
  • Ursula Heimberg : Settlement Structures in Lower Germany. In: Guido von Büren, Erwin Fuchs (eds.): Jülich, city - territory - history. Festschrift for the 75th anniversary of the Jülich history association 1923 e. V. (=  Jülich history sheets . 67/68). Kleve 2000, ISBN 3-933969-10-7 , pp. 189-240.
  • Franz Oelmann : Gallo-Roman street settlements and small house buildings. In: Bonner Jahrbücher. 128, 1923, pp. 77-97.
  • Jean-Paul Petit, Michel Mangin (eds.): Les agglomérations secondaires. La Gaule Belgique, les Germanies et l'Occident romain. Actes du Colloque de Bliesbruck-Reinheim / Bitche, October 21-24, 1992. Errance, Paris 1994, p. 294 ff.
  • Harald von Petrikovits : Small towns and non-urban settlements in the northwest of the Roman Empire. In: Herbert Jankuhn among others: The village of the Iron Age and the early Middle Ages. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1977, ISBN 3-525-82380-0 , pp. 86-135.
  • Monica Rorison: Vici in Roman Gaul. (=  British Archaeological Reports International Series. 933). Archaeopress, Oxford 2001, ISBN 1-84171-227-2 .
  • Peter Rothenhöfer: The economic structures in southern Lower Germany. Investigations into the development of an economic area on the periphery of the Imperium Romanum. (=  Cologne studies on the archeology of the Roman provinces . Volume 7). Leidorf, Rahen 2005, ISBN 3-89646-135-4 .
  • Gerd Rupprecht : Investigations into the decurion status in the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire. (=  Frankfurt Ancient History Studies.  8). 1975, pp. 44-46.
  • C. Sebastian Sommer , Gerhard Waldherr :  Vicus. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 32, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018387-0 , pp. 337-347.
  • Ludwig Wamser (Ed.): The Romans between the Alps and the North Sea. Civilizational legacy of a European military power. Catalog for the state exhibition of the Free State of Bavaria from May 12th to November 5th, 2000. (=  series of publications by the State Archaeological Collection.  1). Mainz 2000, pp. 108-110.
  • H. Fetz, C. Meyer-Freuler, J. Gerig: The Vicus Sursee - a small Roman town between the Central Plateau and the Alps. Sursee 2003, ISBN 3-9520856-5-0 .
  • BA Greiner: The Kastellvici on the front Limes - living on the edge of the empire. In: Archäologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Imperium Romanum. Rome's provinces on the Neckar, Rhine and Danube. Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1945-1 , pp. 165ff.
  • W. Drack, R. Fellmann: The Romans in Switzerland. Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0420-9 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ CIL XIII, 8695
  2. ^ Hermann Fetz, Christine Meyer-Freuler, Jasmin Gerig: The Vicus Sursee. A small Roman town between the Swiss Plateau and the Alps . Verlag Surseer Schriften, Sursee 2003, ISBN 3-9520856-5-0 .
  3. ^ Bernhard A. Greiner: The fort vici on the front Limes - living on the edge of the empire. In: Archäologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Imperium Romanum. Rome's provinces on the Neckar, Rhine and Danube . Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1945-1 .
  4. ^ Tilmann Bechert : Germania Inferior. A province on the northern border of the Roman Empire . Zabern, Mainz 2007, p. 51.
  5. ^ Albert William van Buren: Vicus. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VIII A, 2, Stuttgart 1958, Sp. 2090-2094.
  6. ↑ Dieter Hupka: The Roman settlement finds, commercial remains and road findings in Mönchengladbach-Mülfort. Dissertation. University of Cologne, Cologne 2015, p. 1 f. (Digitized version)
  7. ↑ Thomas Lobüscher: Temple and theater building in the Tres Galliae and the Germanic provinces. Selected aspects. Rahden / Westphalia 2002.
  8. ↑ Hupka 2015, p. 2 f.
  9. ↑ CS Summer: Fort vicus and fort. In: Find reports Baden-Württemberg. 13, 1988, pp. 457-707.
  10. ^ Bernhard Albert Greiner: The fort vicus of Rainau book: History of settlement and correction of the dendrochronological data. In: Ludwig Wamser , Bernd Steidl : New research on Roman settlement between the Upper Rhine and Enns . Greiner, Remshalden-Grunbach 2002, ISBN 3-935383-09-6 , p. 84.
  11. ^ Carsten Mischka , Jürgen Obmann, Peter Henrich : Forum, basilica and a scenic theater on the Raetian Limes? In: The Limes. News bulletin of the German Limes Commission. 4, 2010 / issue 1, pp. 10-13; Carsten Mischka, Peter Henrich: Forum or Campus? Theater and plaza in Theilenhofen. In: The Limes. News bulletin of the German Limes Commission. 2, 2012 / Issue 2, pp. 4-7 ( online pdf ).
  12. ↑ Carsten Mischka: The newly discovered mansio in the outer settlement of Fort Pfünz. In: The Limes. Issue 1. 5. Volume 2011. Newsletter of the German Limes Commission, Munich 2011, p. 13.
  13. ^ Dieter Planck: The Romans in Baden-Württemberg. Roman sites and museums from Aalen to Zwiefalten. Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1555-3 , p. 246.
  14. ^ Günter Ulbert, Thomas Fischer: The Limes in Bavaria . Theiss, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8062-0351-2 , p. 65.
  15. ^ Karl Schmotz : The wooden amphitheater of Künzing, Deggendorf district. State of knowledge and first reconstruction approaches after the site work was completed in 2004. In: Lectures of the 24th Lower Bavarian Archaeological Day. Leidorf, Rhaden 2006, ISBN 3-89646-235-0 , pp. 95-118.
  16. ↑ Monika Hörig, Elmar Schwertheim : Corpus cultus Iovis Dolicheni (CCID). Brill, Leiden 1987, ISBN 90-04-07665-4 , p. 305.
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Czysz: A Roman spring shrine at the Dambach fort. In: The Limes. 3rd year, issue 1, German Limes Commission, Bad Homburg 2009, p. 6.
  18. ^ Bernd Steidl: The statio of the beneficiarii consularis in Obernburg a. Main - Final excavations at the front of the building. In: The archaeological year in Bavaria 2007. Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8062-2156-5 , pp. 84–86; Bernd Steidl: Limes World Heritage: Rome's border on the Main. Logo, Obernburg am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-939462-06-4 , pp. 109–112, 138.
  19. ^ Bernhard Albert Greiner: The fort vicus of Rainau book: History of settlement and correction of the dendrochronological data. In: Ludwig Wamser, Bernd Steidl: New research on Roman settlement between the Upper Rhine and Enns . Greiner, Remshalden-Grunbach 2002, ISBN 3-935383-09-6 , pp. 85, 88.
  20. ^ Willem JH Verwers, LI Kooistra: Native House Plans from the Roman Period in Boxtel and Oosterhout. Reports ROB 40, 1990, pp. 251-284.
  21. ^ András Mócsy: Pannonia and the Roman army. Selected essays. Steiner, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-515-06103-7 , p. 170.
  22. ^ Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 , p. 56.
  23. ^ Kristina Szirmai: New archaeological data to the research of the Albertfalva vicus (1990-1991). In: Communicationes archeologicae Hungariae 1994. Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, Budapest 2005, p. 50.
  24. ^ Dénes Gabler (ed.): The Roman Fort at Ács-Vaspuszta (Hungary) on the Danubian limes. Part 2. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford 1989, p. 5.
  25. ^ Edit B. Thomas : Roman villas in Pannonia, contributions to the Pannonian settlement history. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1964, p. 261.
  26. ^ Dorottya Gáspár: Christianity in Roman Pannonia. An evaluation of Early Christian finds and sites from Hungary. (= British Archaeological Reports . International series 1010). Archaeopress, Oxford 2002, ISBN 1-84171-288-4 , p. 110.
  27. ^ Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary. Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 , p. 93.
  28. ↑ a b Zsolt Visy: The Pannonian Limes in Hungary . Theiss, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0488-8 , p. 104.
  29. ↑ Zsolt Visy: The reconstruction of the Roman traveling carriage of Dunaújváros. In: Archaeologiai értesítő. 112, 1985, pp. 178-179.
  30. ^ László Kocsis: Campona Castellum. In: Zsolt Visy (ed.): The Roman army in Pannonia. Teleki Lázló Foundation 2003, ISBN 963-86388-2-6 , p. 107.
  31. ↑ Monika Hörig, Elmar Schwertheim: Corpus cultus Iovis Dolicheni (CCID). Volume 106, Brill, Leiden 1987, ISBN 90-04-07665-4 , p. 123; Zsuzsanna Bánki: Sanctuary of Iuppiter Dolichenus in Vetus Salina. In: Alba Regia. 19, 1981, pp. 95-113.
  32. ↑ CIL III, 3327 .
  33. ↑ CIL III, 10599 ; Zoltán Kádár : The Asia Minor-Syrian cults during Roman times in Hungary. Brill, Leiden 1962, p. 42; Alexander Scheiber: Jewish inscriptions in Hungary, from the 3rd century to 1686. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest / Brill, Leiden 1983, ISBN 963-05-3304-9 / ISBN 978-963-05-3304-1 , p. 42.
  34. ^ Frank Kolb: Rome. The history of the city in ancient times. CH Beck, Munich 2002, p. 408.
  35. ^ Hermann Dessau (Ed.): Inscriptiones Latinae selectae . Volume III / 2, Weidmann, Berlin 1916, p. 645 f. (on-line)