The Canals of Drusus ( la, Fossae Drusianae) were Roman canals constructed for military purposes by

Nero Claudius Drusus Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his birth father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the ...

around 12 BC. It is believed to have linked the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sour ...

delta with the

Lake Flevo Lake Flevo was a lake in what is now the Netherlands, which existed in Roman times and the early Middle Ages. Some geographers believe that this lake was not really a single lake, rather a set of several lakes connected to each other. From the ...

, (today's

IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer (; fy, Iselmar, nds-nl, Iesselmeer), also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed off inland bay in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland. It covers an area of with an av ...

). They facilitated troop transport to the north, avoiding the need to cross the open

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegia ...

. This was of strategic importance for attacks on the

Germanic people The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

living on the Frisian coasts and along the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

estuary in the

German Bight The German Bight (german: Deutsche Bucht; da, tyske bugt; nl, Duitse bocht; fry, Dútske bocht; ; sometimes also the German Bay) is the southeastern bight of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark an ...

. Drusus' son

Germanicus Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was an ancient Roman general, known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the patr ...

used the canals dug by his father's army in a military campaign some decades later. The canals are mentioned by Roman historians who lived two centuries later. One of them is Suetonius who is referring to it in his VITA DIVI CLAUDI The exact location of the canals are unknown and it is the subject of debate by modern historians, archaeologists and geologists. It may have been located inland along the valley of the river

IJssel The IJssel (; nds-nl, Iessel(t) ) is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately discharges into the IJsselmeer (before the 1932 completion of the Afsluitdijk known as the Zuiderzee), a North Sea natural harbour. ...

(not yet a distributary of the Rhine branch in Roman times). Alternatively it may have been closer to the coast in the lagoon area north of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

(one of many Roman border posts) connecting lagoon lakes and local branches of the Rhine delta. Another possibility is the Lange Renne just over the border in Germany. It connects two slings of the Rhine and has all characteristics of a canal dug including a 10 meter deep hole in the canal bed where once one of two dams was removed, obviously created by the sudden influx of the water. And a dam on the other side of the canal that is not entirely removed.

References

External links

Entry at livius.org

* German Wikipedia for Lange Renne
Die Lange Renne

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canal Of Drusus Canals in the Netherlands Canals in Germany Roman canals Nero Claudius Drusus

See also

References

External links