Argentoratum or Argentorate was the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

name of the city of

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

. The name was first mentioned in 12 BC, when it was a Roman military outpost established 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 ...

. From 90 AD the

Legio VIII Augusta Legio VIII Augusta ("Augustus' Eighth Legion") was one of the oldest legions of the Imperial Roman army. In republican service They were ordered to Cisalpine Gaul around 58 BC by Julius Caesar and marched with him throughout the entirety of t ...

was permanently stationed there.

History

The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

under

established a military outpost belonging to the

Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio ...

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

close to a

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

village near the banks of the

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

, at the current location of

, and named it Argentoratum. Its name was first mentioned in 12 BC but "Argentorate" is the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

of the Gaulish settlement that preceded it before being

latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

ised, though it is not known by how long. Musée historique de Strasbourg-Brique 8e Légion Auguste

From 90 AD the

permanently stationed in Argentoratum. The Roman camp of Argentoratum then included a

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

section and covered an area of approximately , from approximately in Tiberian times. Other Roman legions temporarily stationed in Argentoratum were the

Legio XIV Gemina Legio XIV Gemina ("The Twinned Fourteenth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army, levied by Julius Caesar in 57 BC. The cognomen ''Gemina'' (Twinned) was added when the legion was combined with another understrength legion after the B ...

and the

Legio XXI Rapax Legio XXI Rapax ("Predator, Twenty-First Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was founded in 31 BC by the emperor Augustus (), probably from men previously enlisted in other legions. The XXI ''Rapax'' was destroyed in 92 by the S ...

, the latter during the reign of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

. The

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

fought a

Battle of Argentoratum The Battle of Strasbourg, also known as the Battle of Argentoratum, was fought in 357 between the Western Roman army under the ''Caesar'' (deputy emperor) Julian and the Alamanni tribal confederation led by the joint paramount King Chnodomar. ...

against Rome in 357 AD. They were defeated by Julian, later Emperor of Rome, and their king Chnodomar was taken prisoner. On 2 January 366 the Alemanni crossed the frozen

in large numbers, to invade the Roman Empire. From the 4th century, Strasbourg was the seat of the

Bishopric of Strasbourg The Prince-Bishopric of Strasburg (german: Fürstbistum Straßburg; gsw-FR, Fìrschtbischofsìtz Strossburi(g)) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the 13th century until 1803. During the late 17th century, most of ...

(made an Archbishopric in 1988). Early in the 5th century the Alemanni appear to have crossed the Rhine, conquered, and then settled what is today Alsace and a large part of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. From this period on Argentoratum disappears from historical records and is replaced by the

"Stratisburgum".

The site

The centre of the camp of Argentoratum proper was situated on the Grande Île, with the

cardo A cardo (plural ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The cardo maximus, or most often the ''cardo'', was the main or central north–south-oriented street. ...

being the current Rue du Dôme and the decumanus, the current

Rue des Hallebardes ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bl ...

Musée archéologique de Strasbourg-Argentorate

As systematic archaeological studies between 1947 and 1953, conducted by Jean-Jacques Hatt, archaeologist and director of the Musée archéologique de Strasbourg, have shown, Argentoratum was destroyed by fire and rebuilt six times between the first and the 5th century AD: in 70, 97, 235, 355, in the last quarter of the 4th century, and in the early years of the 5th century. It was under

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

and after the fire of 97 that Argentoratum received its most extended and fortified shape. Many Roman artifacts have also been found along the current Route des Romains in the suburb of Koenigshoffen, on the road that lead to it, such as the stele of

Caius Largennius Caius Largennius (died c. AD 50) was a legionary of the Legio II Augusta. A scion of the gens Fabia, he was born in Lucca and stationed in Argentoratum. His funerary stele, discovered in 1878 in the Strasbourg district of Koenigshoffen, has been m ...

. This was where the largest burial places (

necropoleis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually i ...

) were situated as well as the densest concentration of civilian dwelling places (

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

) and commerces next to the camp. Among the most outstanding finds in Koenigshoffen were (found in 1911–12 by Robert Forrer, Hatt's predecessor at the head of the Musée archéologique) the fragments of a grand

Mithraeum A Mithraeum , sometimes spelled Mithreum and Mithraion ( grc, Μιθραίον), is a Mithraic temple, erected in classical antiquity by the worshippers of Mithras. Most Mithraea can be dated between 100 BC and 300 AD, mostly in the Roman Em ...

that had been shattered by

early Christians Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

in the 4th century. Archaeological digs by J.-J. Hatt below the current Saint Stephen's Church in 1948 and 1956 have unearthed the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

of a church dating back to the late 4th century or early 5th century, and considered the oldest church in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. It is supposed that this was the first seat of the Catholic Diocese of Strasbourg.Fouilles romaines sous l'église Saint-Étienne à Strasbourg

References

External links

Argentoratum (Strasbourg)
on Livius.org
www.argentoratum.com

Histoire de Strasbourg : quand Strasbourg était Argentorate

Argentorate, Strasbourg
by Jean-Jacques Hatt {{coord, 48.5827, 7.7510, type:city_region:FR, display=title History of Strasbourg 12 BC Roman legionary fortresses in France Roman fortifications in Germania Superior Roman towns in Germania Nero Claudius Drusus