Excavated and surveyed sites of the ancient world with occupation dates, ancient toponyms and provincial context.
Major Aegean commercial hub, featuring the two-story marble Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre of Saint Paul, and the Temple of Artemis (Ancient Wonder).
The omphalos ('navel of the earth') beneath Mount Parnassus where the Pythia delivered enigmatic hexameter prophecies inspired by Apollo.
Sacred site of the ancient Olympic Games held every four years in honor of Zeus; once housed Phidias's colossal chryselephantine Statue of Zeus.
Birthplace of Emperor Septimius Severus; renowned for its Arch of Septimius Severus, massive Severan Forum, Hadrianic Baths, and sheltered artificial port.
Buried under meters of volcanic ash and pumice in the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius, freezing Roman urban frescoes, bakeries, and bathhouses in time.
Crossroads of Greek, Persian, and Indian civilization along the Grand Trunk Road; Hellenistic grid city rebuilt by Indo-Greek king Demetrius I.
Harbor city at the mouth of the Tiber regulating Rome's vast maritime grain supply from Egypt and North Africa, complete with apartment insulae and guild halls.
'Pompeii of the Syrian Desert' above the Euphrates; mud-brick ramparts preserved the world's oldest intact house-church and synchrotron wall frescoes.
Wealthy Syrian desert oasis nexus mediating Silk Road trade between Rome and Parthia; capital of Queen Zenobia before reconquest by Aurelian.
Southwesternmost administrative center of the Roman Empire in fertile Morocco, thriving on olive oil exports and adorned with fine floor mosaics.
Fully realized Hellenistic polis discovered on the confluence of the Oxus (Amu Darya) and Kokcha rivers in Afghanistan, complete with gymnasium, theater, and Corinthian columns.
Steep acropolis of the Attalid Kingdom, famous for inventing parchment paper (charta pergamena), its 200,000-scroll library, and dramatic cliffside amphitheatre.
One of the best-preserved Greco-Roman provincial cities in the Levant, featuring Hadrian's Arch, the Colonnaded Cardo Maximus, and the unique Oval Forum.
Winter capital of the Parthian and Sasanian Empires on the Tigris; home to the Arch of Ctesiphon (Taq Kasra), the largest single-span unreinforced brick vault in the world.
Isolated mesa fortress above the Dead Sea built by Herod the Great; site of the epic 73 CE siege where Legio X Fretensis built a colossal earth assault ramp.
Herod the Great's monumental artificial harbor using underwater hydraulic pozzolana concrete; administrative seat of Roman prefects including Pontius Pilate.
Three-tiered 49-meter-high stone aqueduct bridge crossing the Gardon River, supplying 40,000 m³ of spring water daily to Roman Nîmes.
Massive blackened sandstone city gate and seat of the Western Roman Caesar Constantius Chlorus and Constantine the Great along the Moselle.
Colossal sanctuary containing the Temple of Bacchus and Temple of Jupiter, resting on the 'Trilithon' — three monolithic foundation stones weighing over 800 tons each.
Headquarters of the Legio XIV Gemina on the Danube; headquarters where Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote parts of his Meditations during the Marcomannic Wars.
Textbook exemplar of Roman orthogonal castrametation grid planning founded by Emperor Trajan for Legio III Augusta veterans at the foot of the Aurès Mountains.
Northern stone defensive frontier of the Roman Empire stretching 117 km across northern Britain; Vindolanda yielded the famous wooden ink writing tablets.
Excavated and surveyed sites of the ancient world recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer, with their ancient names and occupation dates. The sites that are themselves World Heritage Sites are written up with their listing instead.
Metropolis & Temple of Artemis · Turkey
Ephesus & Library of Celsus is an metropolis & temple of artemis in the ancient province of Asia Proconsularis, known in antiquity as Ephesos. Recorded occupation spans 1000 BCE – 614 CE. Major Aegean commercial hub, featuring the two-story marble Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre of Saint Paul, and the Temple of Artemis (Ancient Wonder).
Ephesus ( EF-uh-suhs) was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, a city-state that was also the capital of Arzawa, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.
The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.
Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Ephesus (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Turkey.
Humans had begun inhabiting the area surrounding Ephesus by the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC), as shown by evidence from excavations at the nearby höyük (artificial mounds known as tells) of Arvalya and Cukurici.
Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from the early Bronze Age at Ayasuluk Hill.
According to Hittite sources, the capital of the kingdom of Arzawa (another independent state in Western and Southern Anatolia/Asia Minor) was Apasa (or Abasa), and some scholars suggest that this is the same place the Greeks later called Ephesus. In 1954, a burial ground from the Mycenaean era (1500–1400 BC), which contained ceramic pots, was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John.
The history of archaeological research in Ephesus stretches back to 1863, when British architect John Turtle Wood, sponsored by the British Museum, began to search for the Artemision. In 1869 he discovered the pavement of the temple, but since further expected discoveries were not made the excavations stopped in 1874. In 1895 German archaeologist Otto Benndorf, financed by a 10,000 guilder donation made by Austrian Karl Mautner Ritter von Markhof, resumed excavations. In 1898 Benndorf founded the Austrian Archaeological Institute, which plays a leading role in Ephesus today.
Finds from the site are exhibited notably in the Ephesos Museum in Vienna, the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Selçuk and in the British Museum.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Ephesus (CC BY-SA 4.0).
| Established | 10th century BCE |
|---|---|
| Heritage status | part of UNESCO World Heritage Site |
Facts from Wikidata Q47611 (CC0).
Port of Imperial Rome · Italy
Ostia Antica is an port of imperial rome in the ancient province of Italia (Latium), known in antiquity as Ostia. Recorded occupation spans 350 BCE – 550 CE. Harbor city at the mouth of the Tiber regulating Rome's vast maritime grain supply from Egypt and North Africa, complete with apartment insulae and guild halls.
Ostia Antica (lit. 'Ancient Ostia') is the modern name given to the ancient Roman city of Ostia. It became the port city of Rome located at the mouth of the Tiber and is near modern Ostia, 25 km (16 mi) southwest of Rome. Due to silting of the coastline from the river, the site now lies 3 km (2 mi) from the sea. The name Ostia (the plural of ostium) derives from Latin os 'mouth'.
The city continued to be prosperous into late antiquity despite harbour deterioration. After its abandonment, sand dunes covered the site and aided the city's preservation, which is surpassed only by Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Ostia Antica is now a large archaeological site noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes and impressive mosaics. As in Pompeii, Ostia's remains provide details about Roman urbanism that are not accessible within the city of Rome itself.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Ostia Antica (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Italy.
Ostia may have been Rome's first colony. According to legend, Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome, was the first to destroy Ficana, an ancient town that was only 17 km (11 mi) from Rome and had a small harbour on the Tiber, and then proceeded with establishing the new colony 10 km (6 mi) further west and closer to the sea coast. An inscription seems to confirm the establishment of the old castrum (military camp) of Ostia in the 7th century BC. The oldest archaeological remains so far discovered date back to only the 4th century BC. The most ancient buildings currently visible are from the 3rd century BC, notably the Castrum; of a slightly later date is the Capitolium (temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva).
The republican castrum at the core of the settlement had a typical rectangular plan built on two main roads that crossed at right angles in the centre: the cardo and the decumanus maximus, the latter on the route of the Via Ostiense coming from Rome. The cardo and the decumanus exited the walls of the castrum through four gates. Its walls are just over 1.5 m thick in square blocks of Fidene tuff arranged irregularly. Sections of the walls have been reused on the eastern side as a back wall of a building with taverns (I,I,4) and inside the Small Market (I,VIII,1), the Horrea epagathiana (I,VIII,3) and the building at (I,VIII,10).
The remains were used over the centuries as a quarry for marble for the palazzi built in Rome.
The Papacy started organising its own digs for sculptures with Pope Pius VII.
Under Benito Mussolini massive excavations were undertaken from 1939 to 1942 during which several remains, particularly from the Republican Period, were brought to light. These were interrupted when Italy became a major battlefield of World War II.
In the post-war period, the first volume of the official series Scavi di Ostia appeared in 1954; it was devoted to a topography of the town by Italo Gismondi and after a hiatus the research still continues today.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Ostia Antica (CC BY-SA 4.0).
| Established | 7th century BCE |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata Q1012797 (CC0).
Fortified River Frontier Garrison · Syria
Dura-Europos is an fortified river frontier garrison in the ancient province of Syria (Euphrates Limes), known in antiquity as Europos. Recorded occupation spans 303 BCE – 256 CE. 'Pompeii of the Syrian Desert' above the Euphrates; mud-brick ramparts preserved the world's oldest intact house-church and synchrotron wall frescoes.
Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman border city built on an escarpment 90 metres (300 feet) above the southwestern bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Salhiyé, in present-day Syria. Dura-Europos was founded around 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, who founded the Seleucid Empire as one of the Diadochi of Alexander the Great.
In 113 BC, the Parthians conquered the city, and held it, with one brief Roman intermission (114 AD), until 165 AD. Under Parthian rule, it became an important provincial administrative centre. The Romans decisively captured Dura-Europos in 165 AD and greatly enlarged it as their easternmost stronghold in Mesopotamia, until it was captured by the Sasanian Empire after a siege in 256–257 AD. Its population was deported, and the abandoned city eventually became covered by sand and mud and disappeared from sight.
Dura-Europos is of extreme archaeological importance, and was called the "Pompeii of the Desert". As it was abandoned after its conquest in 256–57 AD, nothing was built over it and no later building programs obscured the architectural features of the ancient city.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Dura-Europos (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Syria.
Originally a fortress, the city was founded around 300 BC as Dura ("fortress" in Aramaic) at the intersection of an east–west trade route and the trade route along the Euphrates. The city was called Europos by Greeks in honor of the origin of Seleucus Nikator, who founded it and was born in Europos in Macedonia. In ancient times, either designation stood alone; the combination of "Dura-Europos" is modern and was coined by Franz Cumont in 1922.
The city was probably built on the site of a previous town; a clay tablet dating to King Hammurabi of Hana's times, 1900 BC, refers to the place as Da-ma-ra. It is the only cuneiform writing found at Dura; no other evidence has been found. The ancient settlement had probably been deserted for a long time when Dura was founded.
The existence of Dura-Europos was long known through literary sources. Its actual location was rediscovered by the American "Wolfe Expedition" in 1885, when the Palmyrene Gate was photographed by John Henry Haynes.
British troops under Captain Murphy, in the aftermath of World War I and the Arab Revolt, also explored the ruins. On March 30, 1920, a soldier digging a trench uncovered brilliantly fresh wall-paintings in the Temple of Bel. The American archeologist James Henry Breasted, then at Baghdad, was alerted. Major excavations were carried out in the 1920s and 1930s by French and American teams.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Dura-Europos (CC BY-SA 4.0).
| Established | 300 BCE |
|---|---|
| Heritage status | Tentative World Heritage Site |
Facts from Wikidata Q464266 (CC0).
Hellenistic City in Central Asia · Afghanistan
Ai-Khanoum (Alexandria on the Oxus) is an hellenistic city in central asia in the ancient province of Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, known in antiquity as Alexandria Oxiana. Recorded occupation spans 300 BCE – 145 BCE. Fully realized Hellenistic polis discovered on the confluence of the Oxus (Amu Darya) and Kokcha rivers in Afghanistan, complete with gymnasium, theater, and Corinthian columns.
Ai-Khanoum (, meaning 'Lady Moon'; Uzbek: Oyxonim) is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The city, whose original name is unknown, was likely founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire and served as a military and economic centre for the rulers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom until its destruction c. 145 BC. Rediscovered in 1961, the ruins of the city were excavated by a French team of archaeologists until the outbreak of conflict in Afghanistan in the late 1970s.
The city was probably founded between 300 and 285 BC by an official acting on the orders of Seleucus I Nicator or his son Antiochus I Soter, the first two rulers of the Seleucid dynasty. There is a possibility that the site was known to the earlier Achaemenid Empire, who established a small fort nearby. Ai-Khanoum was originally thought to have been a foundation of Alexander the Great, perhaps as Alexandria Oxiana, but this theory is now considered unlikely. Located at the confluence of the Amu Darya (a.k.a. Oxus) and Kokcha rivers, surrounded by well-irrigated farmland, the city itself was divided between a lower town and a 60-metre-high (200 ft) acropolis.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Ai-Khanoum (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Afghanistan.
The precise date of Ai-Khanoum's founding is unknown. The northernmost outpost of the Indus Valley Civilization had been established at Shortugai, around 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Ai-Khanoum, during the late third millennium BC. Shortugai, which existed for several centuries, traded with its southern neighbours and constructed the first irrigation systems in the area. A thousand years later, the area fell under the control of the Persian Achaemenids, who established a satrapy (administrative province) centred on Bactra (present-day Balkh) and expanded eastwards by conquering the Indus Valley. To assert control over the local region, they founded a fort named Kohna Qala on a ford of the Oxus, around 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of the later city.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Ai-Khanoum (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Decapolis Classical City · Jordan
Jerash (Gerasa of the Decapolis) is an decapolis classical city in the ancient province of Syria / Arabia Petraea, known in antiquity as Gerasa. Recorded occupation spans 175 BCE – 749 CE. One of the best-preserved Greco-Roman provincial cities in the Levant, featuring Hadrian's Arch, the Colonnaded Cardo Maximus, and the unique Oval Forum.
Jerash or Jarash (Arabic: جرش, romanized: Ǧaraš [dʒaraʃ]; Greek: Γέρασα, romanized: Gérasa, Koine Greek pronunciation: [ˈɡerasa]) is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located 30.0 miles (48.3 kms) north of the capital city Amman.
The earliest evidence of settlement in Jerash is in a Neolithic site known as Tal Abu Sowan, where rare human remains dating to around 7500 BC were uncovered. Jerash flourished during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, when it was known as Gerasa. It was one of the cities of the Hellenistic cities of the Decapolis. It was an important city in early Christian times and its early churches, some of which were formerly temples, include notable examples of the evolution of church architecture. In the mid-eighth century the 749 Galilee earthquake destroyed large parts of it, and subsequent earthquakes contributed to additional destruction.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Jerash (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Jordan.
Archaeologists have found ruins of settlements dating back to the Neolithic Age. Moreover, in August 2015, an archaeological excavation team from the University of Jordan unearthed two human skulls that date back to the Neolithic period (7500–5500 BC) at a site in Jerash. This forms solid evidence of inhabitance of Jordan in that period, especially in connection with the existence of 'Ain Ghazal Neolithic settlement in Amman. The importance of the discovery lies in the rarity of the skulls, as archaeologists estimate that a maximum of 12 sites across the world contain similar human remains.
Evidence of settlements dating to the Bronze Age (3200–1200 BC) have been found in the region.
Jerash is considered one of the largest and most well-preserved sites of Greek and Roman architecture in the world outside Italy.
Most of these monuments were built by donations of the city's wealthy citizens. The south theatre has a focus in the center of the pit in front of the stage, marked by a distinct stone, and from which normal speaking can be heard easily throughout the auditorium. In 2018, at least 14 marble sculptures were discovered in the excavation of the Eastern Baths of Gerasa, including images of Aphrodite and Zeus.
A large Christian community lived in Jerash. A large cathedral was built in the city in the 4th century, the first of at least 14 churches built between the 4th and the 7th-century, many with superb mosaic floors.
The number of tourists who visited the ancient city of Jerash reached 214,000 during 2005. The number of non-Jordanian tourists was 182,000 last year, and the sum of entry charges reached JD900,000. The Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts is an annual celebration of Arabic and international culture during the summer months. Jerash is located 48 km north of the capital city of Amman. The festival site is located within the ancient ruins of Jerash, some of which date to the Roman age (63 BC). The Jerash Festival is a festival which features poetry recitals, theatrical performances, concerts and other forms of art. In 2008, authorities launched the Jordan Festival, a nationwide theme-oriented event under which the Jerash Festival became a component.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Jerash (CC BY-SA 4.0).
| Heritage status | Tentative World Heritage Site |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata Q31565 (CC0).
Imperial Capital on the Tigris · Iraq
Ctesiphon & Taq Kasra is an imperial capital on the tigris in the ancient province of Mesopotamia (Parthian/Sasanian), known in antiquity as Tyspwn / Ctesiphon. Recorded occupation spans 120 BCE – 637 CE. Winter capital of the Parthian and Sasanian Empires on the Tigris; home to the Arch of Ctesiphon (Taq Kasra), the largest single-span unreinforced brick vault in the world.
Ctesiphon ( TESS-if-on; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭, Tyspwn or Tysfwn; Persian: تیسفون; Ancient Greek: Κτησιφῶν, Attic Greek: [ktɛːsipʰɔ̂ːn]; Syriac: ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ) was an ancient city in modern Iraq, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) (22 mi) southeast of Baghdad. Ctesiphon served as a royal capital of the Iranian empires for over eight hundred years, in the Parthian and Sasanian periods. It fell in 637, during the Muslim conquest of Persia.
Ctesiphon developed into a rich commercial metropolis, merging with the surrounding cities along both shores of the river, including the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. Ctesiphon and its environs were therefore sometimes referred to as "The Cities" (Mahuza, Arabic: المدائن, romanized: al-Mada'in). In the late 6th and early 7th century, it was listed as the largest city in the world by some accounts.
During the Roman–Parthian Wars, Ctesiphon fell three times to the Romans, and later fell once during Sasanian rule. It was also the site of the Battle of Ctesiphon in 363 AD.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Ctesiphon (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Iraq.
Ctesiphon was founded in the late 120s BC. It was built on the site of a military camp established across from Seleucia by Mithridates I of Parthia. The reign of Gotarzes I saw Ctesiphon reach a peak as a political and commercial center. The city became the Empire's capital circa 58 BC during the reign of Orodes II. Gradually, the city merged with the old Hellenistic capital of Seleucia and other nearby settlements to form a cosmopolitan metropolis.
The reason for this westward relocation of the capital could have been in part due to the proximity of the previous capitals (Mithradatkirt, and Hecatompylos at Hyrcania) to the Scythian incursions.
In ancient times Babylon was the metropolis of Assyria; but now Seleucia is the metropolis, I mean the Seleucia on the Tigris, as it is called.
A German Oriental Society expedition led by Oscar Reuther excavated at Ctesiphon in 1928–29 mainly at Qasr bint al-Qadi on the western part of the site. In winter of 1931–1932 a joint expedition of the German State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art continued excavations at the site, focusing on the areas of Ma'aridh, Tell Dheheb, the Taq-i Kisra, Selman Pak and Umm ez-Za'tir under the direction of Ernst Kühnel.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, an Italian team from the University of Turin directed by Antonio Invernizzi and Giorgio Gullini worked at the part of the site on the other side of the Tigris, which they identified as Veh Ardashir. Work mainly concentrated on restoration at the palace of Khosrow II.
Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Mada'in, 35 km (22 mi) southeast of the modern city of Baghdad, Iraq, along the river Tigris. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers, more than twice the surface of a 13.7-square-kilometer fourth-century imperial Rome.
The Taq Kasra was once a part of the royal palace in Ctesiphon and is estimated to date between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD. It is located in what is now the Iraqi town of Salman Pak.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Ctesiphon (CC BY-SA 4.0).
| Established | 120s BCE |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata Q192541 (CC0).
Sebastos Deep-Sea Harbor · Israel
Caesarea Maritima is an sebastos deep-sea harbor in the ancient province of Judaea / Syria Palaestina, known in antiquity as Caesarea Palaestinae. Recorded occupation spans 22 BCE – 640 CE. Herod the Great's monumental artificial harbor using underwater hydraulic pozzolana concrete; administrative seat of Roman prefects including Pontius Pilate.
Caesarea (), also Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Palaestinae or Caesarea Stratonis, was an ancient and medieval port city on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and later a small fishing village. It was the capital of Roman Judaea, Syria Palaestina and Palaestina Prima, successively, for a period of c. 650 years and a major intellectual hub of the Mediterranean. Today, the site is part of the Caesarea National Park, on the western edge of the Sharon plain in Israel.
The site was first settled in the 4th century BCE as a Phoenician colony and trading village known as Straton's Tower after the ruler of Sidon. It was enlarged in the 1st century BCE under Hasmonean rule, becoming a Jewish village; and in 63 BCE, when the Roman Republic annexed the region, it was declared an autonomous city. It was then significantly enlarged in the Roman period by the Judaean client King Herod the Great, who established a harbour and dedicated the town and its port to Caesar Augustus as Caesarea.
During the early Roman period, Caesarea became the seat of the Roman procurators in the region.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Caesarea Maritima (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Israel.
Stratonos pyrgos (Straton's Tower) was founded in the 4th century BCE by Abdashtart I, or Straton I king of Sidon. It was first established as a Phoenician colony and trading village. In 90 BCE, Jewish ruler Alexander Jannaeus captured Straton's Tower as part of his policy of developing the shipbuilding industry and enlarging the Hasmonean kingdom. Straton's Tower remained a Jewish settlement for two more generations, until the area became dominated by the Romans in 63 BCE, when they declared it an autonomous city.
Caesarea was built in Roman Judea under the Jewish client King Herod the Great during c. 22-10/9 BCE near the ruins of the small naval station of Straton's Tower. The site, along with all of Judea, was awarded by Rome to Herod in 30 BCE.
Large-scale archaeological excavations began in the 1950s and 1960s and continue to this day, conducted by volunteers working under the supervision of archaeologists. The majority of the archaeological excavations are done by the United States and Israel. Remains from many periods have been uncovered, in particular from the large city of the Roman and Byzantine periods and from the fortified town of the Crusaders.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Caesarea Maritima (CC BY-SA 4.0).
| Established | 13 BCE |
|---|---|
| Heritage status | Tentative World Heritage Site |
Facts from Wikidata Q319242 (CC0).
Imperial Tetrarchic Capital · Germany
Porta Nigra & Augusta Treverorum is an imperial tetrarchic capital in the ancient province of Gallia Belgica, known in antiquity as Augusta Treverorum (Trier). Recorded occupation spans 16 BCE – 476 CE. Massive blackened sandstone city gate and seat of the Western Roman Caesar Constantius Chlorus and Constantine the Great along the Moselle.
Augusta Treverorum (Latin for "City of Augustus in the Land of the Treveri") was a Roman city on the Moselle River, from which modern Trier emerged.
The date of the city's founding is placed between the construction of the first Roman bridge in Trier (18/17 BC) and the late reign of Augustus († 14 AD). In the Roman Empire, Trier formed the main town of the civitas of the Treverians, where several ten thousand people lived, and belonged to the province of Gallia Belgica. Roman Trier gained particular importance in late antiquity: between the late 3rd and late 4th centuries several rulers, including Constantine the Great, used the city as one of the western imperial residences, sponsoring monumental buildings such as the Trier Imperial Baths and the Basilica of Constantine. With a high five-digit population in 300, Augusta Treverorum, now sometimes called Treveris, was the largest city north of the Alps and thus had the status of a global city.
The Roman buildings, which have survived to the present day, were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Roman Monuments, Cathedral and Church of Our Lady in Trier in 1986.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Augusta Treverorum (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Germany. Beside the World Heritage Site Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 1986), 1 km away.
The earliest settlements on Trier city territory have been proven near the later Roman potteries on the banks of the Pacelli River. These are finds of the Linear Pottery Culture. Already in the pre-Roman Iron Age, the Trier valley may have been largely cleared and settled. Before the first verifiable Roman bridge over the Moselle was built in 17 B.C., there was probably already a ford at the site. In the late Latène period, settlement seems to have been scattered along the right bank of the Moselle. A concentration of settlement features could be found during an area excavation between the Moselle, St. Irminen, Ostallee and Gilbertstraße.
The important centers of this time are not assumed to be in such valley settlements.
Unlike almost all other Roman cities in today's Germany, Augusta Treverorum did not belong to one of the two Germanic provinces, but to Gaul. The city is located in a wide bend of the Moselle River, where a wide, flood-free valley plain lies between the river and the surrounding heights of the Hunsrück. Between the confluence of the Saar and the entrance to the entrenched meanders of the Middle and Lower Moselle, the Trier valley width between Konz and Schweich is the largest settlement chamber in the region. The location of the river is not likely to have shifted significantly since the last ice age. The deeply incised stream courses of Olewiger Bach/Altbach, Aulbach and Aveler Bach provided both fresh water and easy access to the surrounding heights.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Augusta Treverorum (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Danubian Castra & Amber Depot · Austria
Carnuntum Legionary Fortress is an danubian castra & amber depot in the ancient province of Pannonia Superior, known in antiquity as Carnuntum. Recorded occupation spans 6 CE – 400 CE. Headquarters of the Legio XIV Gemina on the Danube; headquarters where Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote parts of his Meditations during the Marcomannic Wars.
Carnuntum (from Ancient Greek Καρνοῦς (Carnous) according to Ptolemy) was a Roman legionary fortress (Latin: castra legionis) and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of approximately 50,000 inhabitants.
Its impressive remains are situated on the Danube in Lower Austria halfway between Vienna and Bratislava in the Carnuntum Archaeological Park extending over an area of 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) near today's villages of Petronell-Carnuntum and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Carnuntum (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of Austria.
Carnuntum first occurs in history during the reign of Augustus (6 AD), when Tiberius made it his base of operations as a Roman fort (castrum) in the campaigns against Maroboduus (Marbod).
Significant Romanisation happened when the town was selected as the garrison of the Legio XV Apollinaris before 14 AD. A few years later, it became the centre of the Roman fortifications along the Danube from Vindobona (now Vienna) to Brigetio (Ó-Szőny). According to Tacitus, the emperor Claudius ordered the governor of Pannonia "to have a legion with an auxiliary on the bank of the Danube" to protect the losers of a dispute between Germanic tribes (the Quadi and Marcomanni) and deter the victors from the temptation to invade Pannonia.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Carnuntum (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Frontier Legionary Fort · United Kingdom
Hadrian's Wall & Vindolanda is an frontier legionary fort in the ancient province of Britannia Inferior, known in antiquity as Vallum Aelium / Vindolanda. Recorded occupation spans 122 CE – 410 CE. Northern stone defensive frontier of the Roman Empire stretching 117 km across northern Britain; Vindolanda yielded the famous wooden ink writing tablets.
Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. It is noted for the Vindolanda tablets, a set of wooden leaf-tablets that were, at the time of their discovery, the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Vindolanda (CC BY-SA 4.0).
On the map of United Kingdom.
The site is a hill on the Stanegate road, with steep slopes on the north, east, and south sides. It originally had a deep dip running north-south through the centre of the hill, which was gradually filled up by successive layers of occupation. There is currently no evidence for settlement on the fortress site before the Roman period, but there was an iron-age hillfort at Barcombe Hill, 3⁄4 mile (1.3 km) to the northeast (which served as a quarry and signal station in the Roman period). Two pre-Roman farmsteads have been found in the area and two standing stones called the Mare and Foal, about 3 miles (5 km) to the west, are the remnants of a stone circle, which might have been the local religious centre. The name "Vindolanda" is probably Celtic, meaning "white lawn" or similar.
The site consists of a series of fortresses built one on top of the other, which have been divided by archaeologists into nine periods. The first five periods are successive forts built of wood and turf with different footprints (Periods I–V). They are buried as much as 13 feet (4 m) deep in the anoxic waterlogged soil and are covered by the remains of later periods, which makes excavation difficult, but has also led to the preservation of large amounts of organic matter. The fifth fort was converted to stone in period VIa, replaced with a new stone fort (the Severan complex) in Period VIb, and replaced with a second stone fort (Periods VII-IX), which accounts for most of the remains visible on the site today.
The first post-Roman record of the ruins at Vindolanda was made by the antiquarian William Camden, in his Britannia (1586). Occasional travellers reached the site over the next two hundred years, and the accounts they left predate much of the stone-stealing that has damaged the site. The military Thermae (bath-house) was still partly roofed when Christopher Hunter visited the site in 1702. In about 1715 an excise officer named John Warburton found an altar there, which he removed.
In 1814 the first real archaeological work was begun, by the Rev. Anthony Hedley, but he died in 1835, without writing up his discoveries.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Vindolanda (CC BY-SA 4.0).
| Established | 85 CE |
|---|---|
| Heritage status | part of a Scheduled Monument |
Facts from Wikidata Q1233131 (CC0).
