IUVAVUM
(Salzburg) Austria.
One of the
five oldest towns of Noricum, it was, according to
Pliny (
HN 3.146), founded during the reign of Claudius
(A.D. 41-54) as Municipium Claudium Iuvavum. The
name is pre-Roman but it is uncertain to which prehistoric population it should be ascribed. It should be
noted that of these five towns, Iuvavum was situated
farthest N, in the foothills of the Alps, yet still behind
the frontier, ca. 90 km from the Danube. This is evidence that Roman rule extended beyond the Alps
around the middle of the 1st c. A.D.
Iuvavum was on the Salzach river (Isonta, Ivarus)
at the point where it enters the plain (Flachgau), and
on the Salzach road which led N from Teurnia or Virunum across the Radstädter Tauern Alps. It was an important traffic junction a) for the continuation of the
Salzach road N in the direction of Castra Regina (Regensburg) and b) for the Noric road in the direction of
Ovilava (Wels) and Launiacum (Lorch-Enns) on the
Danube limes.
The territory of the settlement was circumscribed by
the island mountains of the Salzburg basin: the Mönchsberg, Festungsberg, and Nonnberg on the left bank, and
the Kapuzinerberg on the right bank of the Salzach. The
steep slope of the mountains offered ideal possibilities
for defense, increased by the formerly divided river
which was forced into a narrow trough at the foot of
the Kapuzinerberg. Here was the best place for crossing
the river or building a bridge. The swampy plain offered
added security as did the extensive moors (Untersberger
moor in the W, Schall moor in the E). The center of
the prehistoric (Celtic) settlement was located on the
Rainberg, as evidenced by a concentration of finds there.
The Roman settlers, as usual preferring the plain, chose
the area confined by the Salzach and the arc of the Stadtberg.
Almost nothing is known of the history of the town.
Whether it suffered in the Marcomannic wars is debatable. Iuvavum never was a garrison and did not have
walls, but it must have been a flourishing and prosperous
town. This is indicated by the finds, which are more
numerous and impressive here than in many other
municipia of Noricum. Roman pulchra habitacula were
still known around A.D. 700 when the Franconian bishop
Rupert took up residence there. Excavation of Iuvavum
has been hampered by the fact that the mediaeval town
completely covered the center of the municipium and
the deep cellars largely destroyed the Roman ruins. The
center of the Roman settlement was situated on the left
bank of the Salzach, in the bay formed by Mönchsberg,
Festungsberg, and Nonnberg. From the 1st c. A.D. On,
a larger section of the town developed on the right bank,
its lesser density indicating a suburban character. Both
parts were connected by a bridge at the narrowest part
of the river. On the right bank large necropoleis were
located, as usual, on roads leading out of the town
(Bürglstein, N rim of the Kapuzinerberg).
The plan of the site cannot be reconstructed as only
occasional remains of buildings have been found. The
exact location of the town center (with forum and
capitol) is not known but can be assumed to have been
in the area of the cathedral. This is suggested by fragments of inscriptions in the medineval cathedral, referring to a building erected in honor of Septimius Severus,
of which possible remains were discovered during the
1958 excavations in the Residenzplatz. These remains
have been interpreted as the foundations of a Roman
triumphal arch (quadrifrons). This would establish the
first public civilian structure. The discovery on the Residenzplatz of an altar to Jupiter and all the gods, and of
remains of large buildings in the interior of the cathedral
argues for locating the forum on this site. Nearby a block
was found with a fragment of an inscription which also
points to a monumental structure from the time of
Septimius Severus. At what probably was the E edge
of the forum, the foundations of a large temple (29.6 x
45.4 m) were recently excavated which may have been
a Temple of Asklepios since many pertinent sculptures
have been found in this area (statuettes of Asklepios, of
Hygieia, a votive altar for Asklepios Augustus, a Serapis head). An inscription in honor of a mayor also indicates that the area was part of the public center of the
municipium, a place for official tributes to emperors
and other persons of merit.
Building remains found in many parts of the town
indicate residential dwellings. Their luxurious appointments and beautiful mosaic floors are characteristic of
Iuvavum. They confirm the prosperity of the town as
does the quantity of sculptures, whose stone came partly
from the marble quarries, already used by the Romans,
of the nearby Untersberg. Also at the edge of the town
notable building remains exist: e.g. a small native
peripteral temple in Salzburg-Gnigl, and in Salzburg-Liefering the first Roman country estate known in this
area. Also in the Loig fields SW of the town there is
a Roman villa with a well-known Theseus mosaic (now
in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).
Hardly anything is known of the Late Roman period
of Iuvavum. We know from Eugippius (
Vita Sancti
Severini 13 and 14) that there existed in the second half
of the 5th c. a monastery with a basilica. However, the
Christian character of architectural finds in the town
section on the right bank, attributed to a hypothetical
church, is as questionable as the Christian origin of the
so-called catacombs in the Mönchsberg.
The numerous finds from Iuvavum are primarily in
the Museum Carolino Augusteum in Salzburg, which
was reopened in 1967.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Synopses: O. Klose & M. Silber,
Iuvavum (1929); L. Eckhart in
EAA 4 (1961) 278ff; Cathedral area excavations: H. Vetters in
Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte und Archäologie . . . (Akten zum VII.
Internationalen Kongress für Frühmittelalterforschung,
21-28 Sept. 1958) (1962) 217ff; Temple of Asklepios; M.
Hell,
Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Salzburger Landeskunde 100 (1960) 29ff; “Basilica”: id., ibid. 107
(1967) 71ff; Catacombs: R. Noll,
Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege 10 (1956) 13ff.
R. NOLL
