CASTELLUM
CASTELLUM (MORINORUM).
There are many routes which end at or branch from a place called Castellum, in the northern part of Gallia. On the inscription of the column of Tongern, a road leads from Castellum, through Fines Atrebatum, to Nemetacum (
Arras). Another route in the Antonine Itin. runs from Castellum, through Minariacum, to Turnacum (
Tournay); and another from Castellum, through Nemetacum, to Bagacum (
Bavay). The Table has a route through Taruenna (
Teronenne) to Castellum Menapiorum, which, as the rest of the route shows, is not the Castellum on the
Maas, but the Castellum of the Itinerary.
This place must be the hill of
Cassel, in the department of Nord, south of
Dunkerque, which rises above the flat country, and commands a view of immense extent.
It was certainly a Roman station. Many medals have been dug up there. (Bast,
Recueil d'Antiquités, &c.
trouvées dans la Flandre.) There appears to be no authority for the name Morinorum; but this place would be within the limits of the Morini.
The name Castellum Menapiorum in the Table cannot be right; for if we were to admit that the Menapii extended as far as
Cassel, which is improbable, we should not expect to find their Castellum there; and it is just the place where we might expect to find the Castellum of the Morini.
[
G.L]
