Vitudurum

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Location of Vitudurum on the Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes (black point)

Vitudurum (sometimes also Vitodurum ) was a Roman settlement that was expanded into a fort on the Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes defense line in AD 294 and was located in what is now the city of Winterthur in the canton of Zurich ( Switzerland ).

History and findings

At the beginning of the 1st century AD , the first, reliably documented buildings northeast of the church hill of Oberwinterthur were built along the Roman traffic route that led from Vindonissa ( Windisch ) and Centum Prata ( Kempraten ) to Lacus Brigantinus ( Lake Constance ) . After ongoing expansion, a vicus was built up to the year 70 AD , a Roman street village with characteristic strip houses in half-timbered technology , a water supply that works via a pipe system, which was fed from a two cubic meter well room, as well as workshops such as blacksmiths , pottery , one Tannery and shoemaking proven by preserved vats , which was documented in 2007 by means of the first completely preserved pair of shoe lasts from Roman times .

There were also public buildings that were laid out on the now well-excavated and documented church hill. It is a Gallo-Roman temple built around 80 AD , a so-called fanum , with a rectangular floor plan, a tower-like cella and a colonnade supported by columns. To the south-east there was an outbuilding belonging to the temple. Both were enclosed by a wall and thus formed the temenos , the sacred area. This was lined on the eastern long side by another three strip houses, whereby the middle strip house had a significantly higher level of living comfort and is therefore interpreted as a public building. The stone building flanking the temple area on the southern narrow side is interpreted as a thermal bath due to the system of water pipes .

Roman wall remains on the church hill

In the course of the Alemannic invasions that took place repeatedly in the middle of the 3rd century AD , the church hill was fortified in AD 294 and expanded into a fort on the Danube-Iller-Rhine-Limes defensive line. The date of foundation was handed down by a preserved building inscription, which was possibly set into the main gate of the fort wall and is now in the Winterthur town hall. It was also during this period that a hoard was buried in the so-called “Lower Bühl”, the western part of the vicus .

In addition to building finds, today's knowledge of the appearance, everyday life and development of Roman Oberwinterthur is based on numerous small finds, of which the ceramic finds, fibulae, bronze votive statuettes, smaller terracottas and unusual glass vessels are only a small selection from a large abundance of finds. None of the finds, however, is younger than AD 400. With the withdrawal of the Roman troops from the Rhine border and the decline of the fort, Vitudurum experiences a demolition of the archaeological sources. During the rescue excavations in "Untere Bühl" alone on an area of ​​4500 square meters on the western edge of the settlement, over a million individual finds were discovered.

Founding inscription

Roman inscription tablet from Vitudurum attesting to the founding of the fort

A stone inscription is known from the fort, which was originally probably placed above the main gate (1.63 × 0.74 meters). The fragment was probably part of a much larger inscription tablet and was later brought to Constance , where it was embedded in the Mauritius rotunda and venerated as a sanctuary by the townspeople, as the inhabitants of the city used the inscription tablet as proof of the foundation of Constance by the emperors in the Middle Ages Constantine I looked. At the beginning of September 1967 the piece was handed over to Winterthur by Konstanz as a sign of neighborly friendship and has since been exhibited in its town hall (you can see the plaque from the town hall passage). On this inscription tablet the year 294 AD is given as the laying of the foundation stone for Vitudurum , whereby the fort is meant here.

The text of the inscription is as follows:

"[I] MP (erator) CAES (ar) C (aius) AURE (lius) VAL (erius) DIOCLETIAN [US PONT (ifex) MAX (imus) GER (manicus) MAX (imus) II]
SAR (maticus) MAX (imus) PERS (icus) MAX (imus) TRIB (unicia) POT (estate) XI IM [P (erator) X CO (n) S (ul) VP (ater) P (atriae) PROCO ( n) S (ul) ET]
IMP (erator) CAES (ar) M (arcus) AUR (elius) VAL (erius) MAX {si} IMIA [NUS PONT (ifex) MAX (imus) GER (manicus) MAX (imus) SAR (maticus)]
MAX (imus) PERS (icus) MAX (imus) TRIB (unicia) POT (estate) X IMP (erator) VIIII CO (n) [S (ul) IIII P (ater) P (atriae) PROCO (n) S ( ul) P (ii) F (elices) INV (icti) AUGG (usti)]
ET VAL (erius) CONSTANTIUS ET GAL (erius) VAL (erius) [MAXIMIANUS NOBILISSIMI]
[C] AESS (ares) MURUM VITUDURENSEM AS [OLO SUMPTU SUO FECERUNT]
AURELIO PROCULO V (iro) P (erfectissimo) PR [AES (ide) PROV (inciae) CURANTE] "
"The emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , greatest German winner,
greatest Sarmatian winner , greatest Persian winner , in the 11th year of his tribunician power , proclaimed victor for the tenth time, consul for the fifth time, father of the fatherland, proconsul, and
the emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus , greatest German winner, greatest
Sarmatian winner, greatest Persian winner, in the 10th year of his tribunician power, proclaimed victor for the ninth time, consul for the fourth time, father of the fatherland, proconsul, the pious, happy, victorious emperor,
and Valerius Constantius and Galerius Valerius Maximianus , the most illustrious
Lower emperors had the fort wall of Vitudurum built from scratch at their own expense
under the direction of Aurelius Proculus, the most respected provincial governor. "

Varia

  • The asteroid (398045) Vitudurum , discovered by the Eschenberg observatory , is named after the vicus . The suggestion for this name came from an 11-year-old student at the Children's University in Winterthur.

See also

literature

  • Pierre Bouffard: Winterthur in Roman times (= 276th New Year's sheet of the Winterthur City Library ). Buchdruckerei Winterthur, 1943.
  • Jürg E. Schneider, Walter Ulrich Guyan, Andreas Zürcher: Turicum - Vitudurum - Iuliomagus : three Vici in Eastern Switzerland: Festschrift for publishers Dr. Otto Coninx on his 70th birthday . Tages-Anzeiger publishing house, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-85932-002-5 , pp. 170-231.
  • Jürg E. Schneider, Walter Ulrich Guyan, Andreas Zürcher: Turicum, Vitudurum, Iuliomagus = Zurich, Winterthur and Schleitheim: three Roman settlements in eastern Switzerland . Supplemented special edition, Werd-Verlag, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-85932-002-5 .
  • Vitudurum. Contributions to the Roman Oberwinterthur , volumes 1–9, ed. v. of the Cantonal Archeology of Zurich, 1984–2001.
    • Vitudurum 1 : Jürg Rychener: The church hill of Oberwinterthur. The rescue excavations of 1976, 1980 and 1981 , (= Monographs of Canton Archeology Zurich 1 ), 1984, ISBN 978-3-905647-96-9
    • Vitudurum 2 : Jürg Rychener, Peter Albertin: A house in the Vicus Vitudurum - the excavations at Römerstrasse 186 ; Christiane Jacquat: Roman times plant finds from Oberwinterthur , (= Monographs of Canton Archeology Zurich 2 ), 1986, ISBN 978-3-905647-97-6
    • Vitudurum 3 : Jürg Rychener: Die Rettungsgrabungen 1983–1986 , (= Monographs of Canton Archeology Zurich 6 ), 1988, ISBN 978-3-905647-77-8
    • Vitudurum 4 : Beat Rütti: The Glasses , (= Monographs of Cantonal Archeology Zurich 5 ), 1988, ISBN 978-3-905647-78-5
    • Vitudurum 5 : Hansueli F. Etter, Regine Fellmann Brogli, Rudolf Fellmann, Stefanie Martin-Kilcher, Philippe Morel, Antoinette Rast: The finds made of wood, leather, bone, fabric. The osteological and anthropological investigations , (= Monographs of Canton Archeology Zurich 10 ), 1991, ISBN 978-3-905647-79-2
    • Vitudurum 6. Volumes 1 and 2 : Thomas Pauli-Gabi, Christa Ebnöther, Peter Albertin, Andreas Zürcher. With contributions by Stefan Schreyer and Kurt Wyprächtiger: Excavations in the Lower Bühl: The building findings in the west quarter. A contribution to small-town building and life in the Roman north-west , (= Monographs of Canton Archeology Zurich 34 ) 2002, ISBN 978-3-905647-39-6
    • Vitudurum 7 : Eckhard Deschler-Erb, Verena Schaltbrand Obrecht, Christa Ebnöther, Annemarie Kaufmann-Heinimann u. a .: Excavations in the Lower Bühl: The metal finds. A cabinet with a lararium from the 3rd century , (= Monographs of Canton Archeology Zurich 27 ) 1996, ISBN 978-3-905647-67-9
    • Vitudurum 8 : Véronique Rey-Vodoz, Anne Hochuli-Gysel, Lilian Raselli-Nydegger u. a .: Excavations in the Lower Bühl: Les fibules. Ceramic special groups: lead-glazed ceramics, terracottas, lamps , (= Monographs of Canton Archeology Zurich 30 ), 1997, ISBN 978-3-905647-85-3
    • Vitudurum 9 : Bettina Hedinger, Florian Hoek, Karin Kob Guggisberg, Jürg Rychener, Verena Jauch, Rosanna Janke, Eckhard Deschler-Erb, Elena Corvi: excavations on the church hill and in the northeast of the vicus 1988–1998 , (= monographs of the cantonal archeology Zurich 35 ), 2001, ISBN 978-3-905647-43-3
  • Swiss Society for Prehistory and Early History (Ed.), SPM V. Roman Time (2002) pp. 403–404.

Web links

Commons : Vitudurum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release of the cantonal archalogy Zurich of December 11, 2007: [1]
  2. ↑ CIL 13, 05249
  3. ↑ Helmut Maurer : Constance in the Middle Ages. 1. From the beginning to the council. Constance: Stadler 1989, p. 71.
  4. ↑ Winterthur on the move in space. In: Winterthurer Stadtanzeiger . January 24, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 30 '  N , 8 ° 45'  E ; CH1903:  699 206  /  262608