CASTRUM RAURACENSE
(Kaiseraugst) Aargau,
Switzerland.
Late Roman fortress on the S
bank of the Rhine adjoining Augusta Raurica, 12 km
upstream from Basel (
Not.Gall. 9.9). The site was fortified under Diocletian or more probably Constantine, ca.
A.D. 300, to protect the bridge at Augusta Raurica. Under
Valentinian I the fort was rebuilt and a bridgehead was
constructed on the N bank at Wylen by the Legio I
Martia (stamped tiles). About the middle of the 4th c.
a church was erected inside the fort. A bishop is recorded
here in 434-44, 615, and 618. In 401, the garrison was
recalled to Italy, and the fortress taken over by the local
population. Cemeteries explored on the Roman highway
along the river to the E indicate that the site was inhabited until well into the 8th c.
The plan of the fort is still reflected in the village and
its main road: trapezoidal with its base (284 m) along
the river to the N (S side 261 m; E 176; W 170; area
3.6 ha). Only one section of the N wall has been found,
but the W and S walls are partly preserved. There were
16 rectangular towers (av. width 7 m) ca. 20 m apart.
Much material from Augusta Raurica was reused in the
foundations. The upper walls were concrete, faced with
small squared masonry; tile bands were used only on the
inside facing. The S gate had three passageways, and the
W gate survives. The berm was 17 m wide, and the moat
outside it 10 m wide. Inside the fort a granary (34.5 x
17.5 m) and probably two drill halls (30 x 15 m), have
been identified. The church (17 x 11 m) had a wide
apse, and a baptistery and a small bath are built against
the N wall of the fortress. The bridgehead at Wylen
(44.5 x 26 m) had three projecting round towers on each
long side.
Finds are in the museum in Augusta Raurica, including a Late Roman silver treasure found in the fort.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
K. Böhner, “Spätrömische Kastelle und alamannische Ansiedlungen in der Schweiz,”
Helvetia
Antiqua, Festschrift Emil Vogt (1966) 307-16
P; R. Laur-Belart,
Führer durch Augusta Raurica (4th ed. 1966)
165-72
MPI; id.,
Der spätrömische Silberschatz von Kaiseraugust (4th ed. 1966)
I; id.,
Die frühchristliche Kirche mit Baptisterium und Bad in Kaiseraugst (1967)
PI;
R.-M. Swoboda, “Neue Ergebnisse zur Geschichte des
Castrum Rauracense,”
Jb. Schweiz. Gesell. f. Urgeschichte 57 (1972-73) 183-91
P.
V. VON GONZENBACH
