NIGRUMPULLUM
(Zwammerdam) S Holland, Netherlands.
Roman castellum on the Old Rhine
ca. 20 km E of Leiden. Three periods are to be distinguished in its development. Little remains of the oldest
settlement, which was built, judging from the pottery, in
the middle of the 1st c. A.D. as part of the reorganization
of frontier defenses by Corbulo (Tac.
Ann. 11.20). A
thick burnt layer, however, recalls its violent end during
the rebellion of the Bataves in A.D. 69 (Tac.
Hist. 4.15).
In Flavian times the castellum was rebuilt (134.4 x
76.4 m); the wall, portae principales, and two ditches
have been found. The broad facade of this fortress is
striking. The material for bricks was supplied by Legio X
stationed at Nijmegen and Legio XXII Primigenia stationed at Xanten. In 2d c. repairs, however, roof tiles
produced by vexillarii of the army of Lower Germany
were used. At this time a civilian settlement developed to
the SW; the houses lie on a road parallel to the wall of
the fort.
About A.D. 175 the castellum was rebuilt in stone
(140.6 x 86 m). Most of its roof tiles were made by the
exercitus Germanicus inferior on the Holdeurn near Nijmegen. A few pieces bear the names of the later emperor
Didius Iulianus, governor of Germania inferior ca. A.D.
178, and of the unknown consularis Iunius Macr. Some
time afterwards the principia was replaced by a stone
building (42 x 27 m), distinguished from the standard
type of headquarters by a facade with columns. The stone
wall of the fort, four gates, and three ditches have been
found, and the two main roads intersecting at right angles,
the via principalis and the via praetoria. Outside the fort
are the foundations of a bath house (?).
On the N the castellum was protected by the Rhine,
following a course now silted up. Here several embankments were found, which appear to correspond to the
building phases of the fort. In part of the last embankments were six remarkably well-preserved ships showing
different types of boats evolved from the simple dug-out canoe.
The garrison probably consisted of all or part of a
cohors equitata. The latest known coin dates from Severus Alexander or perhaps Tacitus (275-276), and the
pottery of the last period is very similar to that from
Niederbieber (A.D. 190-260). A final date after the 2d
quarter of the 3d c. therefore seems likely.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H. K. de Raaf, “De Romeinse nederzetting bij Zwammerdam,”
Ber. Rijksdienst Oud. Bod. 8
(1957-58) 31-81; W. Glasbergen & J. K. Haalebos,
“Zwammerdam,”
Nieuwsbull. Kon. Ned. Cud. Bond
(1968) 94-97; (1970) 53-55; (1971) 20-21; Haalebos, “Opgravingen te Zwammerdam,”
Jb. Geschiedenis en Cudheidkunde van Leiden en Omstreken (1969) 175-80; id. &
J. E. Bogaers, “Een schildknop uit Zwammerdam-Nigrum
Pullum, Gem. Alphen (Z.H.),”
Helinium 10 (1970) 242-49 and 11 (1971) 34-47; id.,
De Romeinse castellate
Zwammerdam (diss. 1973); id., “Enkele opmerkingen
over de versierde Trierse terra sigillata uit Zwammerdam, Gem. Alphen (Z.H.),”
Westerheem 22 (1973) 178-84; L. H. van Wijngaarden-Bakker, “Dierenresten uit
het castellum te Zwammerdam,”
Helinium 10 (1970)
274-78; M. D. de Weerd & J. K. Haalebos, “Schepen
voor het opscheppen,”
Spiegel Historiael 8 (1973) 386;
J. E. Bogaers & C. B. Rüger,
Der Niedergermanische
Limes (1974) 49-52.
J. K. HAALEBOS
