GELDUBA
(Krefeld-Gellep) Germany.
An
auxiliary castellum of the lower Germanic limes. Pliny
(
HN 19.90) mentions Gelduba as a castellum Rheno
impositum in an agriculturally rich area. The legate
Vocula constructed a camp here during the uprising of
the Batavi. It was occupied a short time and surrendered
under pressure from Civilis (Tac.
Hist. 4.26, 32, 35, 36,
58). After A.D. 70 an auxiliary castellum was built (
It.
Ant. 255.3) of which so far the principia have been excavated. There was a vicus SE of the auxiliary castellum.
There are traces of ditches, possibly of a camp, and
areas surrounded by strong fences where Roman weapons
have been found. From Flavian times until the 3d c.
A.D. Gelduba seems to have been the garrison of an ala;
in Late Roman times, perhaps of limitanei. The graves
date from Neronic to Merovingian times.
Most of the finds are at the Niederrheinisches Landschaftsmuseum in Krefeld-Linn; some at the Rheinisches
Landesmuseum in Bonn.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Pining,
Das römisch-fränkische
Gräberjeld von Krefeld-Gellep (1966) 2 vols.; K.-H.
Knörzer, “Über die Gelleper Rüben,”
Niederrheinisches
Jahrbuch 10 (1967) 48-51; G. Alföldy,
Die Hilfstruppen der römischen Provinz Germania inferior (=
Epigraphische Studien 6) (1968) 152ff; W. Piepers & D.
Haupt, “Gelduba,”
Rheinische Ausgrabungen 3 (1968)
213-315; I. Paar & C. Rüger, “Kastell Gelduba,”
Rheinische Ausgrabungen 20 (1970) 30.
H. VON PETRIKOVITS
