VINDOBONA
(Vienna) Austria.
The name
is Celtic and its meaning uncertain. Possibly it was taken
over from a Celtic settlement on the Leopoldsberg. The
name occurs for the first time in Ptolemy (
Geog. 2.14.3),
in the
Peutinger Table (5.1, where it is misspelled as
Vindomana), twice in the
Notitia Dignitatum (34.25;28),
and also in the reports on the death of Marcus Aurelius
(Aur. Vict.
Caes. 16.14;
Epit. de Caes. 16.12). Vindobona
was on the Danube and the limes road, at the E edge
of the Wiener Wald, i.e. the E Alps. At the termination of the W branch of the Amber road, it belonged
in Roman times to the province of Pannonia Superior,
near the Noricum-Pannonia border. Owing to its location, Vindobona controlled the Vienna basin and the
Marchfeld. At the same time it provided, as a military
base, effective flank protection for the legionary camp
Carnuntum (40 km downstream) in case of an outflanking maneuver from the W. The Vindobona area had been fortified relatively early, probably in the first half of the 1st c. A.D. Possibly a castellum for cavalry had existed
here since the time of Domitian (Ala I milliaria Britannica). The legionary camp was not constructed until
about A.D. 100 by the Thirteenth Legion. This unit was
replaced by the Fourteenth Legion, which continued the
construction work. From A.D. 115 until the end of Roman
rule the Tenth Legion was stationed here. Vindobona suffered during the wars with the Marcomanni, as indicated
by traces of destruction and reconstruction. It may have
been at Vindobona that Marcus Aurelius died in A.D. 180.
Otherwise it was little known, overshadowed by Carnuntum, the more important fortification on the Danube.
Correspondingly, as indicated by finds, the standard of
living was more modest. It is uncertain when Vindobona
became a municipium; this elevation seems to have taken
place at the beginning of the 3d c. A.D.
Our knowledge of Vindobona is very fragmentary since
it is impossible to conduct systematic and extensive excavations. The plan of the camp is still partly recognizable
in the modern street plan. It was located on the plateau of
the Hohe Markt, and protected on the N from the
Danube by a dike (12-15 m high). It was similarly
protected on the W and E by steep dikes and was surrounded on all sides by flowing water. Of the circumference the porta principalis sinistra is known, also the porta decumana, three intermediate towers, and parts of
the wall (2-3 m thick) with a trench. A simple gate
without towers led to the military harbor at the N. Hardly
a building in the interior can be identified, although the
general plan is basically recognizable. The area was divided by the via principalis, ca. 20 m wide, lined on both
sides by porticos, the via praetoria, and the via decumana.
Also known are the location of the principia at the S side
of the main camp road, the so-called palace of the legate
nearby, military barracks on both sides of the via decumana, N of the main road six houses for tribunes, the
camp's hospital (valetudinariuin), and the legionary
baths. In general, two building periods can be ascertained:
the camp was rebuilt after destruction around the end of
the 4th c. A.D. Repairs were made for the last time under
Valentinian. Extensive necropoleis are found along all the
roads leading out; nearby to the W were probably the
canabae, farther on the legionary brick works. The civilian town was located SE of the camp, its confines marked
by the Wienfluss, today's Danube canal, and the arsenal.
Its center may have been at the Aspang railway station
where the forum is also supposed to have been. It is, however, impossible to gain an over-all understanding of the
site despite the numerous finds. No amphitheater has been
found, but an aqueduct coming from the Wiener Wald
has been identified.
The end of Vindobona came with the collapse of Roman rule in Pannonia in the 5th c. A.D. Shortly before
its decline, the Danube fleet stationed at Carnuntum was
transferred to Vindobona. A small residual town survived; the mediaeval town grew out of the Roman camp, not the civilian town.
Finds from Vindobona are in the Historisches Museum
der Stadt Wien and in the Kunsthistorisches Museum;
preserved fragments of buildings are in the Römische
Ruinenstätte auf dem Hohen Markt, and in the Feuerwehrzentrale Am Hof.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Neumann, “Vindobona,”
RE IX A 1
(1961) 53ff
MP; id.,
Der Raum von Wien in ur- und
frühgeschichtlicher Zeit (1961)
MPI; id.,
Vindobona, Die
römische Vergangenheit Wiens (1972)
MPI.
R. NOLL
