MAASTRICHT
Limburg, Netherlands.
In the
Meuse valley N of the foothills of the Ardennes, where
the Roman highway from Boulogne-sur-Mer via Bavai
and Tongeren to Cologne crossed the Meuse. The Roman
name is not known. Gregory of Tours (6th c.) speaks
of the urbs Trajectensis, and names such as Trajectum
Superius, Trajectum ad Mosam, and Mosaetrajectum occur in later sources. Although it might be expected that
the origin of Maastricht, like that of Tongeren en Heerlen, went back to Augustan times, the oldest material
yet found dates from the Claudian period.
The settlement lay on both sides of the river, but
mainly on the W bank. Various Roman cellars and hypocausts are known, but the plan of the town is by no
means complete. The only construction certainly identified is a complex of baths of the 2d and 3d c. A.D. Where
and how the river was crossed in this period is not certain; possibly at a ford N of the 4th c. bridge. At that
time the center of the inhabited area (Stokstraat quarter) was fortified by a wall, three round towers of which
have been recovered. The bridge which crossed the river
from the city center incorporated many fragments of
grave monuments and buildings. S. Servatius, who died
at Maastricht in 384, is said to be buried nearby; his
church lies W of the Roman settlement and just S of
the Roman road. Its cemetery has been used ever since
the 3d c. Farther W, near the road, was found a sarcophagus for two persons with rich grave goods (2d c. A.D.).
The Roman government abandoned the area in the early
5th c.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
To 1961: J.J.M. Timmers, “Romeins
Maastricht,”
Bull. Kon. Ned. Oud. Bond 14 (1961) 97-108; excavations 1963-65: Stokstraat quarter,
Nieuwsbull.
Kon. Ned. Oud. Bond (1963) 158-61, 210-14, 233-34;
(1964) 33-34; 104-5; 140; (1965) 76, 122; bridge, ibid.
(1963) 161-64, 182; (1964) 102-4 (1965) 44; sarcophagus (1964) 63-66, 105-10, 138-39; J.H.F. Bloemers,
“Twenty-five Years ROB Research in Roman Limburg,”
Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig
Bodemonderzoek. Proceedings of the State Service for
Archaeological Investigations in the Netherlands 23
(1973).
J.H.F. BLOEMERS
