ARAE FLAVIAE
(Rottweil) Baden-Württemburg, Germany.
On either side of the Neckar, 2 km E of
the town of Rottweil. Its ancient name is found in early
sources (Ptol.
Geog. 2.11.15;
Tab. Peut. 2.5; 4.1). In
addition, the text on a wooden tablet found in 1950 documents the incorporation of the town “actum municipio
Aris.” The tablet dates from the 5th consulship of the
emperor Commodus, A.D. 186, and describes the place
as municipium, but we have as yet no exact conception
of its legal status. The Roman city lay at the crossroads
of two military routes that were important in the Roman
conquest of SW Germany. The one road led from the
legionary camp Argentorate to Raetia, the other from
the legionary camp Vindonissa into the central Neckar
area.
The settlement began in the early years of Vespasian,
probably in A.D. 73, in which year the legatus augusti
pro praetore Cn. Pinarius Cornelius Clemens carried
out a border realignment. To secure this new cross connection from the upper Rhine to the Danube, Roman
citadels were built. The four thus far identified had the
immediate function of protecting this road and later
served as supply bases for posts farther E. With the establishment of the oldest permanent camp on the R side
of the Neckar, there developed a small civilian settlement, out of which grew, probably in the Flavian period,
the municipium Arae Flaviae. The settlement lasted until
A.D. 260 at the latest. As excavations carried out since
1967 have shown, the city consisted of sprawling buildings of stone and wood. Among public buildings, thus
far three large baths are known, the largest of which
has been preserved since 1971 as an outdoor museum; a
Gailo-Roman temple precinct, a large civilian warehouse, and various quarters for artisans. The finds from
the city area are in the city museum of Rottweil.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. Goessler,
Arae Flaviae. Führer durch
die Altertumshalle der Stadt Rottweil (1928); W. Schleiermacher,
ORL Abt. B no. 62 (1936); W. Schleiermacher,
“Municipium Arae Flaviae,”
Gymnasium Beihefte 1 I
(1962) 59ff; D. Planck,
Arae Flaviae. Neue Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des römischen Rottweil (erscheint
Ende 1974 in der Reihe Forachungen und Berichte zur
Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg, herausgeg. vom Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg); id.,
Bd. 6
Das römische Bad von Rottweil. Ein Führer (1972).
D. PLANCK
