Forum Hadriani, in the modern town of

Voorburg Voorburg is a town and former municipality in the west part of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Together with Leidschendam and Stompwijk, it makes up the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg. It has a population of about 39,000 peopl ...

, was the northernmost

Roman 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 lett ...

city on the European continent and the second oldest city of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It was located in the

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 ...

Germania Inferior and is mentioned on the Tabula Peutingeriana, a Roman road map. Established probably between 69-70, soon after or during the

Batavian Revolt The Revolt of the Batavi took place in the Roman province of Germania Inferior between AD 69 and 70. It was an uprising against the Roman Empire started by the Batavi, a small but militarily powerful Germanic tribe that inhabited Batavia, on ...

, and initially called Municipium Cananefatium (Town of the Cananefates), the site Forum Hadriani formed the nucleus of the

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

of the Cananefates, who lived west of the Batavians. It was situated along the '' Fossa Corbulonis'' or ''Corbulo-canal'' (largely following the route of today's Vliet). This waterway was established about 47 AD by the Roman general

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo ( Peltuinum c. AD 7 – 67) was a popular Roman general, brother-in-law of the emperor Caligula and father-in-law of Domitian. The emperor Nero, highly fearful of Corbulo's reputation, ordered him to commit suicide, which ...

, forming an important shortcut between the rivers

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

and

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...

. After the

Batavian Rebellion The Revolt of the Batavi took place in the Roman province of Germania Inferior between AD 69 and 70. It was an uprising against the Roman Empire started by the Batavi, a small but militarily powerful Germanic tribe that inhabited Batavia, on ...

, in which they participated, the Cananefates became loyal allies of the Romans. In 121, emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

made a long voyage along the northwestern border of the empire, during which he probably visited the Cananefate town. It is theorized that during this period, the town adopted the name Forum Hadriani to honor the ruler, a common practice at the time. As a regional capital, the town would have already had the right to organize markets before Hadrian's reign. An alternate name, maybe the only official name, was Municipium Aelium Cananefatium (Aelius being the family name of Hadrian). The shortened version of this name, MAC, has been found engraved in a couple of Roman milestones found in the neighbourhood. Yet, the old name of the town was still in use during the reign of

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procl ...

(249-251). About 270 AD, after several plagues and attacks by

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

pirates and the reconquering of the region from the

Gallic Empire The Gallic Empire or the Gallic Roman Empire are names used in modern historiography for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned ''de facto'' as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century, ...

, the Romans abandoned Forum Hadriani. In 1771 a bronze right hand was excavated during garden work on the Arentsburg estate. This hand was used by Étienne Maurice Falconet as model for the equestrian statue of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

, ''The Bronze Horseman''. The first scientific excavations at the site of Forum Hadriani were carried out by Caspar Reuvens, between 1827 and 1833. Reuvens held the world's first professorship of archaeology. Reuvens died before he could publish his findings. More excavations were done between 1908 and 1915 by

Jan Hendrik Holwerda Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...

, who published the results of Reuvens together with his own discoveries in a comprehensive monograph in 1923. The park Arentsburgh in modern Voorburg roughly corresponds with the site of the ancient town, but further excavations cannot currently be undertaken due to it being part of a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. File:Bronze Roman hand excavated in Voorburg, The Netherlands in 1771.gif, Drawing (1800) of a bronze hand found in 1771 File:Fragments of a monumental statue found in Forum Hadriani, bronze, 2nd-3rd century AD, Voorburg, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden (9549210648).jpg, Same hand on display in the Museum van Oudheden in Leiden

References

External links

Photos

Livius.org: Forum Hadriani
{{Coord, 52.0601, 4.3494, type:landmark_region:NL, display=title 40s establishments in the Roman Empire 1st-century establishments Archaeology of the Netherlands Former populated places in the Netherlands Roman archaeology Roman towns and cities in the Netherlands 19th-century archaeological discoveries Roman towns in Germania Leidschendam-Voorburg

See also

References

External links