IRGENHAUSEN
Zurich, Switzerland.
Best
preserved Late Roman fort in the NE, in a dominant
position on a hill above the Pfäffikersee, 1 km SE of
Pfäffikon. The ancient name may have been Cambodunum, which probably survives in that of nearby Kempten. The fortress was built under Diocletian or more
probably later in the 4th c. under Valentinian I to guard
the military road from Raetia via the Walensee and
Zurichsee to Vitudurum, where it joined the W-E highway
from Vindonissa to Brigantium. The castrum was abandoned probably in A.D. 401, when Stilicho called most
Roman troops N of the Alps back to Italy.
The fort was square (average length of a side 61 m),
with four square towers at the corners and one in the
middle of each side. The walls included much reused
material. The main gate was in the middle tower of the
E wall, and inside are remains of barracks. Beneath the
fort are some remains of a villa of the 1st c. A.D., sacked
during the raids of the Alamanni in 259-60. Finds are
in the Ortsmuseum in Pfaffikon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
O. Schuhthess, “Das römische Kastell
Irgenhausen,”
Mitt. Antiquarischen Gesellschaft Zurich
27, 2 (1911); F. Staehelin,
Die Schweiz in römischer
Zeit (3d ed. 1948) 274-75, 615; H. Lieb & R. Wüthrich,
Lexikon Topographicum der römischen und frühmittelalterlichen Schweiz 1 (1967) 84-88; E. Meyer,
“Das römische Kastell Irgenhausen,”
Arch. Führer der
Schweiz 2 (1969)
MPI; R. M. Swoboda,
Jb. Schweiz.
Gesell. f. Urgeschichte 57 (1972-73) 187.
V. VON GONZENBACH
