DUEL
Austria.
A hill on the S bank of the
Drau between the towns of Villach and Spittal, near
Feistritz-PaterniOn (Carinthia, Austria). In antiquity it
belonged to the territory of Teurnia (Noricum). It is an
elongated, isolated hill (240 x 110 m).
A strong circular wall surrounded the plateau, attached
towers and pillars strengthened the fortification. A gate
flanked by towers stood midway on the N front. Heated
barracks for living and unheated rooms for storage were
added to the interior side of the wall. The larger part
of the plateau was not built up. At the S edge, where
the ground rises to form a small mound, are a few
isolated buildings. At the highest point is a church (21 x
14.5 m) whose unusual plan is determined by the rocky
subsoil. It could be described as having a nave and two
aisles, but the aisles with their varying width and height
are really lateral corridors each of which connected with
the nave through two passages. The apse is the full
width of the nave (7.15 m); it contains a semicircular
bench for the clergy and in front of that, marking the
location of the altar, a trough-shaped reliquary carved
out of the rock. The floor was covered with a simple layer
of mortar, and the partition between the sanctuary and
the rest of the church was supposedly made of wood.
A building to the E, perhaps the home of the priest,
contained a square baptismal font built upon a quadrifoliate ground plan. A smaller building is interpreted as
the house of the commanding officer.
The spolia used as building material (e.g. a votivara
for Jupiter Depulsor, a statuette of Kybele) indicate a
settlement of late antiquity. The complex doubtless originated between the 5th and 6th c. and existed for some
time, as indicated by two building periods of the fortification wall. The hill of Duel is an instructive example of
the resourcefulness of the population in the restless
times of the migrations when the Roman Empire could
not muster enough military strength against enemy attacks. The peasants in the low country withdrew to an
adjacent hill they had fortified, and took with them their
belongings and cattle. There was ample space in the
walled area, which had been kept unobstructed for that
purpose. For such fortifications a small church is characteristic. The Fliehburg on the hill of Duel can serve
as an illustration for the castella of the diocese Tiburnia
which are mentioned once in the biography of St. Severin
(Eugippius c. 25). Architecturally, the complex consisting of fortification and a church prefigures the mediaeval
castle with its chapel.
When the Goths moved through the Drau valley and
laid siege to Teurnia ca. 472, this site was probably
destroyed as a refuge. It was still in use in the 6th c.,
as indicated by an Ostrogoth fibula; final destruction can
be attributed to the Slavs ca. 600.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Egger, “Ausgrabungen in Feistritz
a.d. Drau, Oberkärnten. Der Hülgel bei Duel,”
JOAIBeibl 25 (1929) 189ff
MPI; id.,
Teurnia. Die römischen und frühchristlichen Altertümer Oberkärntens (7th ed. 1973); R. Noll,
Frühes Christentum in Österreich (1954) 100ff
P.
R. NOLL
