TRAIECTUM
(Utrecht) Netherlands.
One of
the forts in the Limes Germanicus Inferior was in the
center of the Utrecht (
It. Ant. 368). In A.D. 47 Claudius
made the Rhine below Bonna the frontier of the empire;
the legions beyond the river were retired and the line
fortified. In the Netherlands, where there were three or
more branches of the river, the military authorities chose
the one that Pliny (
HN 4.101) called a modicus alveus,
which kept the name of Old or Crooked Rhine. The fort
was rebuilt in 818 after devastation by the Vikings. A
mediaeval town grew up around it which became an
episcopal see.
Remains of the fort of A.D. 47 have been found 3.8 m
below the cathedral square. It was rebuilt four times, and
each time fill was brought in to reach a higher level,
from ca. 1.5 to 3 m + NAP Dutch Datum Level = sea
level. In periods I-IV it was built of wood with ramparts
of earth and wood (110 x 130 m), but in period v it was
rebuilt in stone (125 x 150 m); in all periods the fort was
surrounded by a ditch (fossa fastigata). Periods I-II: 47-69; III-IV: 70 to end of 2d c.; v: end of 2d c. to middle of
3d. Two of the four gates have been found, the porta principalis dextra and the porta decumana; the stone gates of
period v were flanked by towers with semicircular bastions
on the outside. Some remains of the barracks of successive
periods have come to light, but the principia has been
completely excavated; in all periods it was a building ca.
27 x 27 m, with an atrium, a cross hall, and a series of
five rooms. The middle room was the sacellum, or shrine
of the standards, and in period v it had a stone altar. The
foundations of an altar were found also in the center of the atrium.
The destruction caused by the revolt of Iulius Civilis
in A.D. 69-70 is indicated by a heavy burnt layer, dated
by a treasure of 50 aurei (the two latest coins were
struck in 68). The fort seems to have been destroyed
some decades before the invasion of the Franci in A.D.
270; some sherds of 4th c. pottery perhaps show some
patrol activity by the Roman army, but the limes forts
were not reconstructed. The finds are in the Central Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. E. van Giffen et al.,
Wetenschappelijke verslagen der opgravingen op het Domplein te Utrecht, I-IV (1934-38).
H. BRUNSTING