Aventicum

Aventicum was the capital of the Roman Civitas Helvetiorum the Swiss Plateau and political, religious and economic center of the Helvetii. The Roman city was located on the site of today Avenches. It was in its heyday in the 1st to 3rd century AD, the largest city on Swiss soil and counted time, more than 20,000 inhabitants. Finds from the numerous excavations can be visited at the Musée Romain in the tower above the main entrance of the amphitheater.

Location

Aventicum was on the southern edge of the Broye Plain, south of Lake Murten at around 445 m above sea level. M. on the Roman army road which led from Lake Geneva, respectively, from the Great Saint Bernard Pass by the Swiss Plateau to Vindonissa or to Augusta Raurica. The city was slightly increased, so that it was not haunted by the frequent flooding of the Broye. She took a good part of the vast open terrain to the northwest hollow between the hills of the city today Avenches and the east adjacent Molassehochflächen of Donatyre.

History

The beginnings

Its origins go back to a company founded by the Helvetii in the 1st century BC oppidum, which until now could not be accurately located. Until now it was thought this settlement on the forest hill Bois de Châtel approximately 2 km south of Avenches. There are also some sources that the oppidum on the present-day city hill - settle - so much closer to the Roman city.

The actual founding of Aventicum has not yet been accurately dated. Various sources place them on the time a few years after the birth of Christ. In En Chaplix but a tomb has recently been found that is dated to the year 15 BC, which is why the foundation of the city could possibly be done for nearly two decades before the Christian era. The name is derived from the Helvetic Aventicum source Goddess Aventia. From time to 70 AD, little is known about the city. It has gradually become the center of the Helvetii who inhabited the Central Plateau, between the lake and Lake Constance. The Civitas of the Helvetii was then part of the province of Gallia Belgica. Not secured is also the former name of the city; they could have been called Tiberii forum. Evidence of the great importance of the city at an early time and its strong ties with the imperial capital include numerous relics of life-size and larger than life marble portraits of the Julio- Claudian imperial family from the city of Rome production, which were found in the Forum area and in the religious district on the western outskirts.

Heyday

The flowering period began around 70 AD, when Emperor Vespasian, who probably spent part of his youth in the city, Aventicum rose to the rank of a colony Roman law. The city had then the name Colonia Pia Flavia Constans Emerita Helvetiorum Foederata, at least that was an inscription on a stone found in the 17th century. It's not entirely impossible that the inscription is a forgery.

Under the Romans Aventicum was founded by two magistrates ( duoviri ), governs two aediles, and two prefects. The duoviri practiced on the one hand the ministry of the priest, on the other hand also the office of city superintendent and judge from. To 89 AD Aventicum was incorporated into the province of Germania superior. This period also saw a building boom falls. The town was surrounded by a circular wall and adjacent to residential and commercial buildings arose large representative buildings, including the amphitheater, the Roman theater and the temple complexes Granges- of - Dîmes and Cigognier. Your water involved the city of fountains and of an aqueduct, the spring water launched by the Arbogne after Aventicum.

Aventicum quickly grew up to be a major political, administrative, religious and economic center. The city had about 20,000 inhabitants and was thus nearly ten times as large as today's Avenches. Probably since the beginning of the 3rd century, the city was also the seat of a bishop. Two early Christian churches, Saint- Martin and Saint- Symphorien are occupied, whose remains were removed only in the late Middle Ages altogether. There were probably two more churches.

The decline

With the first incursions of the Alemanni in the years 259 and 260 ( limit case ), the slow decline of Aventicum began. But the destruction was probably not as large as previously always assumed, and the city was largely rebuilt. According to coin finds they had in the 4th century still an important meaning. To secure the city a fort was built on the Bois de Châtel built.

A second invasion of the Alamanni in 354 led to an extensive destruction of the Roman city. The remaining residents in the impact on the hill refuge, where the town is today. A new fortified settlement was established again on the site of the Roman city in the 5th century. Aventicum was also during this troubled times and the ongoing threat posed by the Alemanni bishopric.

The final decline followed until the second half of the 6th century, when Bishop Marius moved its headquarters to Lausanne. Aventicum plummeted to insignificance and lost its status as the capital after it came to rest in the border area between the Burgundian kingdom and the kingdom of the Alemanni. Over the subsequent period, the history books are silent. Probably the settlement was permanently inhabited. The remains of Aventicum henceforth served as a quarry. Only with the founding of Avenches in the 11th century and the relocation of the settlement on the hill town began a new period of prosperity.

The "rediscovery" of Aventicum

During the Middle Ages, the former importance of Aventicum fell into oblivion. What was even present on stones, was used for the construction of churches and houses in the surrounding area. Only in the 16th century, people became aware of the past again by finds of Latin inscriptions. Other discoveries led to the first targeted excavations in the years 1783-86. A first museum with the lost property was opened in 1824. This was in 1838 in the possession of the Canton of Vaud and was moved to the former Bishop tower from the 11th century near the amphitheater.

With the guidance and promotion of numerous excavations since the end of the 19th century, the club pro Aventico founded in 1885 (now a Foundation ) commissioned. Remarkably the discovery of a gold bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (found in 1939, height 33.5 cm, weight: 1589 kg ) in the sewer at the foot of Cigognier temple. It was there, probably hidden from the marauding Alemanni. Among the important finds are the head of a statue of Minerva ( Akrolith ), numerous fragments of statues of the Julio- Claudian imperial family as well as more than 100 mosaics found so far.

Urban footprint and urban form

At the time of the Emperor Vespasian Aventicum was surrounded by a circular wall and a ditch lying in front. The wall was 5.2 km long, with the battlements around 7 meters high and 2 meters thick at the base. It was reinforced with 73 towers and owned two main gates to the Roman military road to the west and the east, and more goals in the northeast, north and south. The ring wall enclosed an area of ​​about 2 square kilometers, of which, however, was built over more than a quarter even in the heyday of Aventicum. The course of the curtain wall (in the south and east on the plateau of Donatyre, in the north in the Broyeebene and to the west outside the present-day city hill ) is still visible today in various places.

The actual town was laid out in the typical checkered floor plan, with the main road having a width of 9 m; the central north -south axis had a similar width. By road system Aventicum was called insulae ( living quarters ) divided into 48 ( presumably even 60 ) with an area of ​​70 x 110 m, but the settlement extended far beyond this chessboard -shaped core zone out. At the intersection of the two main axes stood the forum, the forum baths next to and south of the square, the basilica and the Curia. West of the north-south axis and to the increased documents the villas of the wealthier citizens were built. The artisan quarters, especially those businesses that noise and stench affected the city ( potters, Ziegler, Gerber, glassblowers, blacksmiths, creamer ) are more likely to settle in the north and north-east area.

Of particular note is the " Palais de Derrière la Tour " designated building complex, which was built on the northwest edge of the insula grid. Covering an area of ​​2-3 hectares, a three-part system, there was a of a business section (including a safe-like building) and two living / representation areas with Badetrakt extended. They were connected to each other each with porticoes and courtyards. The lying on the western edge of the complex main building of the plant ( outside dimensions approx 110 x 80 m) consisted of a framed by porticoes peristyle, which was followed on three sides building lines, while the fourth side in the middle had a Sommertriclinium with mosaic. The triclinium opposite, on the other courtyard, lay in the middle of the main building a representation Hall, discovered a in the 18th century, no longer extant today figurative mosaic (area: 19x12m ) was decorated, the center of an octagonal fountain was taken. Among the most important finds of this extraordinary plant include the remains of a Roman water organ ( Hydraulis ), a decorated with bronze mounts the bed and the famous relief of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus ( old find ).

In the southwest of the ancient city, the large representative buildings were located. This included the temple Granges- of - Dîmes, which was built on the site of a Celtic tradition still held in the sanctuary in the early 2nd century. He stood on a podium with grand staircase and one of a portico surrounded cella ( core of the sanctuary ) and was converted into a church in the early Middle Ages. Nearby there was the monumental temple complex Cigognier, also fitted on a podium and with a large courtyard, which was surrounded on three sides by colonnades. The temple was probably dedicated to Jupiter and other local deities. On the Cigognier the temple about 140 meters further to the southeast standing Roman theater was aligned, offered the space for about 8,000 - 10'000 spectators.

Slightly off the town on the eastern slope of the hill of Avenches end of the 1st century was built the amphitheater. After an enlargement at the beginning of the 2nd century there were 33 ranks a capacity of 14,000 to 16,000 people. The main entrance to the east (on the site of the present tower ) was equipped with a monumental facade with three arches.

Aventicum possessed also two port facilities, with which the city had connection via the Neuchâtel and Lake Biel to the northeast to the Aare River and thus to the Rhine. One port was on the south shore of Lake Murten, the other just north of the city at the end of a channel, which also led to the lake. These systems allow the conclusion that Aventicum was an important transshipment center for trade in goods. In the north- east from the city, the tombs, including several monumental mausoleums were in the area of En Chaplix.

Remnants of the former Aventicum

In addition to the exhibited in the Roman museum in the amphitheater archaeological objects, a number of other important installations can be visited in the field:

• The amphitheater at the eastern exit of the town of Avenches. It is the best preserved amphitheater in Switzerland and was thoroughly restored in 1986. The Opera Festival in Avenches be in every year since 1995 in the summer held.
• The Roman theater ( Théâtre romain ) at the foot of the bastide is on the southern edge of the former Aventicum
• Remains of the temple complex Cigognier, so named because of the only still standing, 12 -meter-high column, which previously was a stork's nest (from French cigogne = Stork)
• Remains of the Baths
• Remains of the Capitol
• Remains of the perimeter at the height between Avenches and Villarepos with the restored tower Tornallaz and the east gate