LAURIACUM
(Lorch) Austria.
In Roman
times in Noricum. The Celtic name (documented A.D.
791 as Lorahha) continues in the modern name. There
was possibly an earlier settlement, but it has not yet
been discovered. As the name of a station, Lauriacum
is mentioned several times in the
Peutinger Table (4.4;
misspelled as Blaboriciaco), in the
Notitia Dignitatum,
and also in several other sources (Ammianus Marcellinus,
Vita Sancti Severini, Passio Floriani).
The geopolitical significance of the place is characterized by its location: a) on the important Danube road
parallel to the Noric-Pannonic limes (Carnuntum-Vin-dobona-Castra Batava); b) at the terminal of the Noric
Trans-Alpine Road leading from the Adriatic area
(Aquileia) via Virunum-Ovilava to the Danube; c) at
the mouth of the Enns, which paralleled an important
commercial road; d) opposite the Aist valley (Freistädter Steig) which approaches the Danube on the
left bank and constitutes an advantageous gate for invasions from the N.
The history of Lauriacum can be reconstructed only
partially, primarily on the basis of finds. Soon after the
occupation of Noricum (15 B.C.) the border at the
Danube and mouth of the Enns was secured by a small
fortification. There were earthworks (71.4 x 124.3 m)
surrounded by a double trench. Because of its small size
the castellum can have had only a small garrison (Alen-Centuria?). It was probably constructed in the first half
of the 1st c. A.D. South of it were located the canabae.
This first military installation was destroyed during the
Marcomannic wars (170-71), necessitating the transfer
of legionary troops to Noricum. Under Marcus Aurelius
the Legio II Italica was stationed at the Danube frontier,
at first at Albing, E of the mouth of the Enns. Since
the terrain there was unsuitable (danger of floods),
Albing was soon abandoned, and W of the Enns a new
legionary camp was erected under Commodus (191)
or, more likely, under Septimius Severus (205).
Lauriacum is in the corner formed by the Danube and
the left bank of the Enns, on a terrace of the Enns Stadtberg. Since 1904 about four-fifths of the camp has been
excavated. Its ground plan is a rhomboid (ca. 539 x
398 m) and therefore larger than the camp at Carnuntum. The reason for the oblique angle is not clear. The
surrounding wall with trenches was ca. 2 m thick and
had four pairs of gate towers, four corner towers, and
24 towers interspersed on the inside of the wall. In the
interior the via principalis with principia and sacellum,
numerous barracks, scamnum tribunorum, camp baths,
and valetudinarium are known. A few areas which were
not built up might have been intended to harbor civilian
refugees, making this the first Roman camp designed
to serve as a refuge.
Until the end of the Roman rule, the Legio II Italica
remained as its garrison. About later times the
Notitia
Dignitatum reports: praefectus legionis secundae Italicae
(34.39), praefectus classis Lauriacensis (34.43), lanciarii
Lauriacenses (5.259 = 5.109 = 7.58) fabrica Lauriacensis scutaria (9.21). The transfer of legionary troops to
Noricum also caused a change in the provincial status,
for the legion commander became the governor of the
province. At the time of the construction of the camp a
civilian town 200 m W (for security reasons) was planned
and built. Large parts of it have been systematically excavated from 1951 to 1960, including the adjoining
cemeteries; publication is still incomplete. The town
plan is regular and directed toward the camp. Streets
at right angles form insulae 90 m square; the total builtup area is ca. 500 m square. The original dwellings were
of timber; the public buildings were of stone. At the E
edge was a large square surrounded by pillared halls,
the forum venale, headquarters of Lauriacum s commercial companies. Adjoining on the W side stood a one-nave
basilica, equipped for heating. In the S part of the town
large baths have been discovered, in the W mainly private dwellings. The forum is considered to have been
in the area of St. Laurenz church and its surrounding
cemetery; years ago an altar for the Capitoline gods was
found there. The first great building period of the town
was from the time of Septimius Severus to about the
time of Alexander Severus, but almost all buildings were
rebuilt several times. The cemeteries were in a large
surrounding area; more than 20 have been found so far.
Graves containing ashes exist in an uninterrupted sequence to mid Imperial times. Graves of Late Classical
times contain skeletal remains and are occasionally richly
decorated. Some show Christian origin.
The civilian town must have developed rapidly, for
under Caracalla (212) it became a municipium. It was
the last town founded by the Romans in Noricum.
Some fragments of a bronze tablet inscribed with the
town law constitute a valuable memento of this historic
occasion. Lauriacum suffered repeatedly after the time
of Alexander Severus from Allemannic invasions and
was burned down several times, e.g. under Gallienus and
Aurelianus. Three strata reflecting the destruction and
subsequent rebuilding have been ascertained. Under the
Constantinian dynasty the town experienced a brief
renaissance, evidenced by increased building activity.
In the 4th c. the emperors Constantius II (341) and
Gratian (378) stayed within its walls. Perhaps also
Valentinian I (374) was there when the defense of the
limes was reorganized. Literature and finds give evidence
of Christianity in Lauriacum in this same century. Florianus, the former head clerk of the chancery under the
governor of riparian Noricum, is a well-documented
figure who died a martyr's death (the only one known
in Austria Romana) during Diocletian's persecutions of
the Christians ca. 304. Architecturally, Christianity is
represented by a small church which was discovered in
1936 on a tract of the valetudinarium.
Eugippius gives a lively description of conditions in
the 5th c. in his
Vita Sancti Severini (c. 18,27,28,30,31);
this is the latest available information. The vita does
not mention any military function for the town but
reports it as a bishopric. The camp was already a refuge
for the population which was always threatened by attack. Because of the continuing invasions of the Alemanni and other Germanic tribes into the urban settlements
on the upper Danube, this area had to be evacuated, and
Lauriacum at first served as a refuge. But it could not
resist the superior strength of the enemy. Under the
leadership of St. Severinus, the town was given up and
the population was evacuated to Favianis farther down
the Danube and was put under the protection of the king
of the Rugii. Thus Lauriacum fell without a struggle
into the hands of the Germanic aggressors. Germanic
huts and graves document a resettlement of the place
after Roman rule.
Finds from Lauriacum are mostly in the museum of
the town of Enns, finds from earlier decades are also in
the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum in Linz.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Gaheis, Lauriacum.
Führer durch
die Altertümer von Enns (1937)
MPI; R. Noll,
Römische Siedlungen und Strassen im Limesgebiet zwischen Inn
und Enns (1958) 46ff; H. Vetters in
EAA 4 (1961)
506ff
P.
R. NOLL
