Aguntum

Aguntum was a Roman settlement, which was raised by Emperor Claudius for an autonomous city, the " municipium Claudium Aguntum ". The ruins of Aguntum are about four kilometers east of Lienz in East Tyrol ( Austria ) in the municipality Doelsach.

History

The origins of the city are not yet clear. The people of Noricum Laiancer had his residence here; her name is in the city of Lienz recognizable today. According to one theory, the settlement of a road station ( mansio ) would have developed along the Via Julia Augusta. It lies on the ancient Straßenabzweigung into Moelltal, was delivered from where valuable Tauerngold. The find material speaks for an intense building activity and urban development under Emperor Claudius. The only east-facing existing city wall is called a mystery. This in the second or third century to Repräsentativbau wall was last remodeled explained by the first direction as frühaugusteische barrier wall on the Via Julia Augusta. However, since archaeological evidence of a settlement of the later city area already lacking in the Augustan period, this may be considered at the current state of research only as a hypothesis.

The stepsons Emperor Augustus in 15 BC conquered the Alpine countries. These areas were then incorporated into the Roman provinces of Noricum and Raetia.

The conquest of Noricum should be gone pretty peacefully after today's existing source location in front of him. Relations of Rome to the peoples north of the Alps (or at the southern edge ) are from the 2nd century BC handed. With the Roman conquest of the Alpine countries and the friendly Noricum was tied more closely to Rome, and finally incorporated as a province of the Roman Empire. The endpoint of this process five municipia, namely Iuvavum, Teurnia, Virunum, Celeia and Aguntum established under Emperor Claudius.

After the survey of the municipium Aguntum experienced an at least two centuries of flowering time, which is reflected in the construction of numerous public and private buildings. Thus, in the first century, the city walls, the atrium house (both in the second half of the 1st century AD) and built the large thermal complex ( multi-phase with the beginning still in the first half of the 1st century AD).

Part of the management of the " municipium Claudium Aguntum " urban area was both the area of ​​today's East Tyrol, and the Pusteria together with its side valleys. The area of ​​influence Aguntum stretched to the Felber Tauern in the north, to the Carinthian Gate in the east, ( presumably) Mühlbach in Val Pusteria in the west and to the transitions in the Gail Valley, the Kreuzbergsattel and ( presumably) the Enneberg in the south.

The city remained inhabited into at least to the 5th century AD, but the nearby Lavant was as early as the 3rd century AD more populated. The local topographical conditions ( elevated position, so-called " hillfort " ) offered the population in Late Antiquity better protection against enemy attacks than the lowland settlement Aguntum.

Excavations

Even in the 16th century ruins of the city were visible, so then came the legend of the dwarf city. The reason for this was that of the buildings, only the low vaults and passages of the false bottom of Hypokaustenheizung were obtained. So it was believed that the rooms could only have been inhabited by dwarfs.

First excavations took place in the 18th century. Since the beginning of the 20th century Vienna and the Austrian Archaeological Institute excavations were carried out in Vienna by the university. In 1991, a contract between the Tyrol and the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the Roman Provinces and the University of Innsbruck was closed, making the institution is now responsible for the excavations. Today you can visit the museum next to the city walls, the atrium house, the spa, the so-called artisans' quarter and the macellum.

The macellum was uncovered during excavations in 2006. The circular building was initially rise to speculation about its function at that time was of a meeting or a sanctuary in the speech. Such circular buildings were indeed often found in Italian motherland of the Roman Empire and in the African and Oriental provinces, but are rare in the northern provinces. It is but today than likely that it is the building as well as with most other small round buildings in the southern provinces of the empire is a macellum, a small covered market, were sold in the food such as meat, fish and oysters. Live oysters were then cooled with ice and straw isolated from car to Cologne and Mainz, and brought in other provincial cities.

Museum

Because of the risk of flooding and mudslides in the nearby Debantbach a shelter was built directly over a portion of the atrium house from 1999, which was expanded in the following years to the museum. This shelter was renewed from 2006 and now covers the central area of ​​the atrium house. Since June 2005, the newly built Museum Aguntum is accessible. The museum is located on the opposite side of the excavation the main road at street level.