HALTERN
Kr.Recklinghausen, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Several Roman fortifications
dating to the earliest period of the occupation under
Augustus: 1) the so-called field camp (
Feldlager), 2) the
great camp (
Grosses Lager), 3) the fortlet St. Annaberg, 4) the fortified harbor installations (
Uferkastelle).
They lie on the NW bank of the Lippe, just over 50 km
from the main legionary base at Xanten (Birten)—
Vetera on the Rhine. All the installations at Haltern had
defenses of earth and timber and wooden buildings
inside.
The field camp was probably the earliest. Its area of
36 ha could probably accommodate two legions, but it
was in use for only a short time. It was soon replaced by
a permanent fortress of 20 ha, large enough to accommodate a legion. Over the years much of the interior of
this fortress has been stripped and examined, but by no
means all of it. The principia and praetorium, a valetudinarium, and various barrack blocks are known. As
at Oberaden, one must assume that this fortress was in
use for many years. From time to time a complete legion
(which was otherwise on duty on the Rhine) may have
been stationed here. But sometimes only large detachments of legions or auxiliary units were in occupation
and changed often according to the needs of the military
situation. It is not known whether the small fortlet on
the St. Annaberg belongs to the same period as the field
camp. Measuring 6.7 ha in extent, it lies ca. 1.5 km SW
of the field camp and the great camp on a hill that governed the plan of its defenses. Its purpose is not at all
clear. The harbor installations lie not far E of the field
camp and the great camp on an old tributary of the
Lippe. They show evidence of several building phases, of
which the majority can be dated to the same period as
the great camp.
The finds from Haltern—particularly the “Italian”
terra sigillata—suggest that the military installations
were erected later than those at Oberaden. It is possible
that they were built a few years after the death of Drusus
(9 B.C.) when Oberaden, as a result of military reorganization, had already been given up. To judge from the
coins, which shed some light on the end of the occupation, Haltern was evacuated at the time of the reoccupation of the key sites on the right bank of the Rhine after
the defeat of Varus in A.D. 9. Haltern cannot, therefore,
be the Aliso mentioned by Tacitus (
Ann. 2.7).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mitteilungen der Altertumskommission
für Westfalen 5 (1909);
Bodenaltertümer Westfalens 6
(1943); K. Kraft, “Das Enddatum des Legionslagers
Haltern,”
BonnJbb 155-56 (1955-56) 95ff; H. Aschemeyer in
Germania: Anzeiger der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 37 (1957) 287ff; S. v. Schnurbein,
“Die römischen Militäranlagen bei Haltern,”
Bodenaltertümer Westfalens 14 (1974).
For an area plan see
Saalburg-Jahrbuch 19 (1961)
5,2; in general see H. Schönberger, “The Roman Frontier
in Germany: an Archaeological Survey,”
JRS 59 (1969)
144ff with
Map A. H. SCHÖNBERGER
