Aliso was a military and civilian colony in ancient Germany, built by the emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

near present-day

Haltern am See Haltern am See (''Haltern at the lake'', before December 2001 only Haltern) is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the Lippe and the Wesel–Datteln Canal, approx. nor ...

, when he wanted to create the Roman province of

Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...

. After the

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster () by Ancient Rome, Roman historians, took place at modern Kalkriese in AD 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius ...

in 9 AD, Aliso was the last point of resistance of the Roman troops in Germania. Besieged by the Germans under

Arminius Arminius ( 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of ge ...

, the garrison commanded by the prefect Lucius Caedicius put up a fierce resistance before managing to escape and regain the Roman lines.

Location

The location of Aliso is the subject of various hypotheses. In 2010, the Archaeological Commission of Westphalia published a summary of excavations and discoveries near Haltern and concluded that the site corresponds to that described in ancient literature under the name of Aliso. At the southern and eastern gates of the main Roman camp at Haltern, palisades to reinforce the enclosure were discovered as well as remains of defensive armament and a mass grave which could indicate that an attack was repulsed.

Necropolis

Over the years, more than 100 tombs have been unearthed that had contained or did contain a funeral urn in which the ashes of the deceased were found. The Roman soldiers had been buried where they died.

''Terra sigillata''

This fortress is a "type site" for certain forms of ''

terra sigillata Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of t ...

'' ceramics of the Italian type, defined by the ceramologist Siegfried Loeschcke (son of

Georg Loeschcke Georg Loeschcke (28 June 1852 – 26 November 1915) was a German archaeologist born in Penig, Saxony. He studied archaeology under Johannes Overbeck at Leipzig, afterwards continuing his education at the University of Bonn, where he was a stude ...

) and entered into the typological system of the sigillata under the name of "Haltern" or HA.". The type name remained, although between 1966 and 1990 a chemical analysis of the pottery in question showed that 50% of this lot came from the workshop of La Muette in Lyon, 30% from Pisa and only 10% from Arezzo. File:Haltern. Curle 1917, p. 135 fig.4.jpg, ''

Terra sigillata Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of t ...

'' cup found in the site of the encampment It is also the first time that matched sigillata services have been described, that is to say sets of dishes paired by their shapes and profiles. S. Loeschcke identifies four types of service at Haltern, numbered I to IV - types III and IV being variants of the first two.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aliso Roman towns and cities in Germany