TASGAETIUM
(Untersechenz and Stein am Rhein）
Thurgau and Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
Vicus
and fort on the Rhine just below the SW end of Lake
Constance, mentioned by Ptolemy (2.12.3) and inscriptions (
CIL XIII, 5254, 5256-57 = Howald-Meyer nos.
368-370). Tasgaetium was immediately E of the frontier
of Germania Superior, where the roads from Ad Fines
and Vitudurum crossed the Rhine.
In the early 1st c. A.D. a military post was built on
Werd, an island in midstream which also supported a
bridge. The earth and timber fort, which must have
stood on the left bank of the river during the 1st c., has
not been found, but is tentatively located at In Höfen.
The vicus developed under its protection in the early 1st
c. A.D., and by the 2d c. had extended to both sides of
the river. During the 2d and 3d c. there was probably
a statio of beneficiarii. Under Diocletian a fort was built
on the left bank, on an elevation called “Burg” 1.5 km
downstream. It was probably abandoned in A.D. 401.
Little is known of the vicus, built over today, except
for the baths, a rectangular building (21 x 13.2 m; 6
rooms) built in the 1st c. A.D., probably by the garrison.
On each side of Werd island four wooden piles to carry
the bridge (6.4 m wide) have been found. Off the left
bank to the right of the bridge was a boat landing. The
bridgehead on the right bank has been washed away.
The Late Roman fortress was almost square (ca. 90 m
on a side; area 8000 sq. in), with circular towers at the
corners. Regularly spaced on each side were two towers, with rounded foundations and polygonal walls. The
main entrance in the middle of the S wall was flanked
by two more towers. The walls were 2.85 m thick, and
faced with hewn blocks. The N wall has collapsed but
the others are visible, as well as a tower at the S corner
and the main gate. A ditch 10 m wide ran 43 m outside
the S wall. Inside the fortress, where there is now a
church and its appendages, a few traces of Roman installations have been found, including a rectangular structure (32 x 12 m).
The Klostermuseum St. Georgen is in Stein am Rhein
and the Heimatmuseum am Untersee in Steckborn.
(See also Limes, Rhine.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Staehelin,
Die Schweiz in römischer
Zeit (3d ed. 1948) 184-85, 272-74, 622
P; H. Urner-Astholz, “Ur- und Frühgeschichte,”
Gesch. der Stadt
Stein am Rhein (1957) 20-41
P; bridge:
AnzSchweiz 2
(1900) 166-70
P; 4 (1902-3) 121-37
P; bath: V. von
Gonzenbach,
Die römischen Mosaiken der Schweiz
(1961) 105-6; summaries:
Jb. Schweiz. Gesell. f. Urgeschichte 43 (1953) 84-85; 94 (1962) 84.
V. VON GONZENBACH
