Women in Germania
Research trip on the project
In March 2023, Prof. Dr. Christiane Kunst and Dr. Nicole Diersen took us on a research trip to the hinterland of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (CCAA) in Germania inferior as part of Prof. Dr. Kunst's 'Women in Germania' project. The aim of this trip was to discover traces of the Romans along the Via Belgica and the Via Agrippa (also known as the VIA Roman Road Experience Area). The main aim was to track down further evidence for the project and gain an impression of the landscape and culture (not easy given the open-cast mining). In addition to a well-developed ancient road network, which indicates traffic and trade, there are a number of places of worship to look at, such as the little-noticed but impressive matronly shrine in Pesch/Nöthen near Mechernich.
On March 21, we set off by car from Osnabrück towards the Rhineland and drove straight to our first stop on the Via Belgica: the thermal baths in Übach-Palenberg. For such a small, rather insignificant ancient town, the partially reconstructed Roman baths of a villa rustica (Roman estate) discovered there were quite impressive. Even if we didn't find anything on the scale of the Imperial Baths in Trier, this finding shows that Roman (bathing) culture was important even in the remotest corner of the countryside. Next, we set off in search of the Via Belgica, which was a challenge in the section between Übach-Palenberg and Jülich.
Finally, after some vague guesses in Übach-Palenberg, we reached a stretch of road near Baesweiler, at the foot of the Carl Alexander Park. The road near Aldenhoven was easier to recognize, where, on closer inspection, a Roman road station in a field could be identified from numerous finds. Once we arrived in Jülich, our first stop, we explored the Roman town of Iuliacum. We located the forum, the west gate (witches' tower) and the course of the road in the town and took a look at the Rur crossing, which unfortunately did not allow any further exploration at the moment as the bridge was being renewed.
We then continued towards Elsdorf, again in search of the road. In the village itself, we examined a replica of a milestone. Then we went to a wooded area near Königsdorf. A cut in the road and the road embankment should be visible there. It was not easy to locate the road at first, as there are two theories: the first assumes that the road leads straight from Bergheim to Königsdorf; the second assumes that the road was built around a spring, thus interrupting the straight line. We were more confused than relieved by the markings on various trees with the inscription VIA, which we initially assumed served to mark the road between these trees. However, applying the second theory, this cannot be correct. Whatever the course of the road may have been, we found the embankment, the location of which also contradicted the first assumption, and walked along the road for a while, which was a special feeling.
The road in Königsdorfer Forst, now surrounded by nature, was in stark contrast to the rest of the road. We set off on the now heavily developed Aachener Straße to Colonia, which exactly mirrors the route of the Via Belgica. Due to numerous modern buildings (companies, residential buildings, etc.), nothing of the former burial grounds was visible - with the exception of the Roman grave in Weiden, which we will come back to later. Nevertheless, we drove into the Colonia with a lot of imagination for the depiction of the road in Roman times.
The next day began with a drive south-west on the Via Agrippa. Our first stop was Hürth, again passing the burial grounds that were not visible - apart from the burial chamber in Efferen, which was closed. As the opening hours of the aforementioned Roman tomb in Weiden on the Via Belgica are very limited due to voluntary work, we only had the opportunity to visit the tomb today. This meant that we had to deviate from our original route and drive across from Hürth to Weiden. However, the journey was worth it, as the pictures show. The burial chamber is extremely impressive, not least because of the busts that were found. We then picked up the trail again in the direction of Via Agrippa and headed straight for Erftstadt. There we started looking for the road again and located it in two places: once at the Villa Frauenthal, which is still partly recognizable due to changes in the field; another time in Ahrem, where changes in the field were also recognizable.
We then drove to Zülpich (Tolbiacum) and visited the not-so-small Roman thermal baths (Museum of Bathing Culture); the original replica of a milestone standing at an ancient crossroads can also be seen in the museum. After getting an impression of the thermal baths, our next destination was the partially reconstructed aqueduct in Vussem near Mechernich. It was part of the Eifel aqueduct, whose water was used to supply the Colonia, among other things. Our last stop of the day was the Matron Shrine in Pesch/Nöthen, which was not easy to find. The cult site in the middle of the forest, which still has cultores today, was all the more impressive. We then headed to Nettersheim for our overnight stay.
We started the next day with a walk from a Roman road junction along the Via Agrippa, which has been preserved as a dirt track, towards the Urft crossing and Grüner Pütz. Nettersheim itself bears witness to many Roman traces, such as the well-known matron sanctuary on the Görresburg, another sanctuary in Zingsheim, strip houses and various parts of the Eifel water pipeline such as a Roman well room. Our next stop was the villa rustica in Blankenheim. This villa impressed us with its enormous size, which of course doesn't look the same in the photo as it does in reality. We then left the Germania inferior via Dahlem and extended the VIA route to Trier (Augusta Treverorum) in the Belgica. Passing the Villa Otrang near Bitburg, we visited Bitburg (Beda) itself and located the fort. From Bitburg we got another wonderful impression of the Roman road - the course of the Via Agrippa is clearly visible both to the south and to the north. Once we arrived in Augusta Treverorum, we took a short tour of the already familiar Roman town and refreshed our memories of the last excursion in September 2022.
