NOVAESIUM
(Neuss) Germany.
The legionary camp and civilian settlement were on the left bank
of the Rhine. Camp A, more than 6.5 ha in area, seems
to have been built at the beginning of Augustus' campaign against Germania (12 B.C.). Camp B (ca. 40 ha) seems not to have been of great importance to judge
from the inside buildings. Only after Varus' defeat and
under Germanicus was a very large camp (C) established with substantial buildings inside and with a capacity possibly of several legions. Under Claudius the Legio XVI was transferred to Novaesium, defeated in the fighting against Civilis, and disbanded after the suppression
of the revolt of the Batavi (A.D. 70). The camp, which
had been burned down in the Batavi revolt, was rebuilt
by the Legio VI victrix, and existed until after A.D. 104
as a legionary camp. An auxiliary camp was maintained
within the area of the closed legionary camp in the 2d
and 3d c. The camp was possibly used once again in the
4th c. Novaesium is mentioned for the last time in 388.
So far, 10 chronologically successive camps have been
investigated (A-F, H1-3, and I), also small remnants
of the settlement outside the fortifications, parts of the
civilian settlement N of the military area, and numerous
graves. Camps A to H2 had walls made of wood and
earth. Inside, wooden buildings occur in Camp C, stone
buildings probably no sooner than in Camp H2. The
camp of the Legio VI victrix (H3) has been excavated
fairly completely. Its stone ramparts surrounded a rectangle 432 by 570 m (24.7 ha). The most important
streets had colonnades. In the middle of the camp was
the forum, behind it the praetorium or the quaestorium.
The baths W of it seem to have been a later addition.
A valetudinarium is situated SW of the principia. Other
buildings (a fabrica, horrea, schola) were in the praetentura, another horreum in the retentura. The billets
accommodated ten legionary cohorts and one auxiliary
unit. North of the main street were quarters for the
tribuni militum, N of these barracks for an auxiliary unit.
West of Camp H3 traces of the Canabae legionis were
found, including a sacred area. In late Constantinian
times a cult cellar was constructed here for the taurobolium of the cult of Kybele. West of the settlement, outside the fortifications, was a civilian settlement, which is now under the old part of modern Neuss. Adjoining
it to the W was the necropolis of the civilian town,
which extended to the modern railroad station. On the
E border of the necropolis was a mausoleum, probably
of the 3d c. A.D. and more likely pagan than Christian.
The finds are either at the Clemens Sels-Museum in
Neuss, or at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
C. Koenen et al., “Novaesium,”
BonnJbb 111-12 (1904); H. v. Petrikovits,
Novaesium. Das
römische Neuss (1957); id.,
Das römische Rheinland
(1960) 17ff, 129ff; id. & G. Müller, “Die Ausgrabungen
in Neuss,”
BonnJbb 161 (1961) 449-85
MPI; G. Müller, in
Das Clemens-Sels-Museum Neuss (1962) 8-13; H.
Borger, “Die Ausgrabungen an St. Quinn zu Neuss,”
Rheinische Ausgrabungen 1 (1968) 192-95, 204-6.
On the troops: E. Ritterling & E. Stein,
Die kaiserlichen Beamten und Truppenkörper im römischen
Deutschland (1932); G. Alföldy,
Die Hilfstruppen der
römischen Provinz Germania inferior (1968). On the
finds:
Novaesium I-IV (=
Limesforschungen, hrsg.
Römisch-Germanische Kommission 6ff [1967ff] in press).
H. v. Petrikovits,
Die Innenbauten römischer Legionslager in der Prinzipatszeit (1975).
H. VON PETRIKOVITS