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TONGEREN (Town) BELGIUM
Atuatuca Tungrorum (Tongeren or Tongres) Belgium.
Capital of the civitas Tungrorum. The name is written Aduaca in the Antonine Itinerary
(378), Atuaca on the Peutinger Table, Atouatoukon by Ptolemy (2.9.4-6). Ammianus
Marcellinus (15.11.7; 17.8.3) and the Notitia Galliarum (8) refer to the civitas
Tungrorum, Julius Honorius (Cosmographia Occidentis 18-19) to Tungri oppidum,
and the Notitia Dignitatum (occ. 42) to Tungri. The town is on the right bank
of the Jeker, on the hilltop dominating the entire neighboring region.
At the time of the Roman conquest, Atuatuca was a fortress of the
Atuatuci (the descendants of the Cimbri and the Teutones) in the heart of the
territory of their tributaries, the Eburones. Caesar established a winter camp
there (BGall. 6.32,35); it was occupied by a legion and a half, commanded by Sabinus
and Cotta. In 54 B.C. the Eburones, led by Ambiorix, attacked the camp and massacred
the Roman troops. The identification of this Atuatuca Eburonum with the Atuatuca
Tungrorum of the Imperial period is still not entirely certain. The pre-Roman
remains found at Tongres are very few. The Eburones were exterminated by Caesar
and replaced under Augustus by the Tungri, a tribe probably from beyond the Rhine.
The newcomers established their main settlement on the site of the fortress of
the Atuatuci and retained its name.
Only in the excavations of recent years have there begun to appear
some remains dating to before the revolt of the Batavi in A.D. 69-70. It seems
more and more likely that under Augustus there was at Tongres a military camp,
since remains of the W side of such an establishment have been found. A V-section
ditch with a palisade has been excavated a little to the W of the 2d c. walls.
A little farther E, wooden hutting of elongated plan belonged either to this camp
or to the canabae. A considerable quantity of sherds of Italic terra sigillata
and a large number of Gallic coins with the legend AVAUCIA attest that the civilian
vicus already had a certain economic importance. Even at this time Tongres became
an important nexus from which roads went out to Bavai, Cassel, Antwerp, Nijmegen,
Cologne, Trier, and Arlon. Tongres is situated in the fertile alluvial region
of central Belgium with many rich villas whose produce was destined for the Roman
armies stationed along the Rhine frontier; it became a very important commercial
center. The abandonment of the military camp at the end of the reign of Augustus
in no way jeopardized this vitality.
The checkerboard network of streets dates to the reign of Claudius.
The streets were bordered by elongated wooden houses, some of which have been
excavated. The large aqueduct dates to the same period. Massive foundations have
been found and can be followed for 2.5 km. The revolt of the Batavi under Julius
Civilis in A.D. 69-70 had fatal consequences for Tongres; thick burning layers
testify to its complete destruction. During the period of the Pax Romana the town
was quickly rebuilt and it flourished. It certainly had the rank of municipium
and may have been destined to become a colony. Trajan or Hadrian had an impressive
enceinte built around the town with a perimeter of 4544 m, ca. 500 m longer than
the walls of Cologne. This enclosed the built-up area and an undeveloped district
as well, but the project of establishing colonists at Tongres was abandoned. The
enclosing wall (2.1 to 2.15 m thick) rested on a foundation of dry masonry and
was composed of a core of flint nodules bound by mortar. The wall was furnished
with large round towers, 9 m in diameter. The approach to the fortifications was
defended by a system of V-section ditches. Several gates passed through the fortifications.
At least one had a double arcade and was flanked by two rectangular towers. Four
other gates have been located, but there certainly were more.
The network of streets was composed of seven parallel streets running
E-W, with an average width of 5.5 m, cut at right angles by at least seven other
streets. The location of the forum is not known for certain. On the forum must
have been placed the eight-sided itinerary milestone which mentioned the road
network for all N Gaul and lower Germany (CIL XIII, 9158). Unfortunately, only
three sides of this black limestone monument have been preserved, and those only
partially. One side enumerates the localities between Cologne and Worms along
the Rhine, the second those along the Metz-Reims-Amiens road, and the third those
along the road from Cassel to the frontier of the Atrebates. The distances are
given in Celtic leugne (2.22 km) instead of in Roman miles.
The most monumental remains excavated to date are those of an impressive
sanctuary, located in the N part of the town, near the ramparts. In order to compensate
for the slope of the ground an artificial terrace was constructed. This esplanade
was surrounded by a portico (112 x 71.5 m wide). A temple with a podium stood
in the middle; it had a rectangular cella (13 x 10 m) a pronaos, and a peristyle
(about 24 x 29 m). The temple seems to date, in its first stage, to the end of
the 1st c. It is exceptional in Gaul, for it differs greatly from sanctuaries
in the indigenous tradition, with their square cellae; strong Roman influence
is indicated. The temple was remodeled and enlarged during the 2d c. (possibly
when the ramparts were built). Of the other remains of a religious character found
at Tongres, the following are of note: the torso of a snake-footed giant; the
capital of a column, depicting a rider trampling a double snake-footed giant under
the hoofs of his horse; a stone with four deities; and a putative statue of Jupiter
and Juno which, by certain details, shows that it really depicts the Celtic god
Taranis and his cult associate.
Three large necropoleis extended to the W, N, and E of the town, along
the roads going out from it. Thousands of tombs of the Early Empire have been
found. Most are cremation burials, but there are also inhumations, beginning as
early as the end of the 1st c. The artifacts found as grave goods form the basis
of the rich collections in the archaeological museum at Tongres: pottery, glassware,
fibulas, jewelry.
From the middle of the 3d c., the period of the Pax Romana was disturbed
by the first barbarian invasions. The town of Tongres was taken and pillaged by
the Franks around 275-76. Once the barbarians were pushed back, the defenses of
the town were restored by the construction of a new but smaller enceinte. This
wall was thicker than the earlier one. It was furnished with a larger number of
towers, possibly more than 100, placed only 20 m apart. They served as magazines
for ammunition and communicated with the inside of the town by a narrow door.
The new wall no longer had ditches in front of it. The facing presents on the
outer side a projection surmounted by two rows of tiles and consists of regular
ashlar of various kinds of stone. The funerary monuments in the necropoleis were
reutilized in the foundations. This new enceinte may date to the last years of
the 3d c. or the beginning of the 4th c.
The civitas Tungrorum, which in the Early Empire had formed part of
the province of Belgica, was henceforth attached to Germania secunda and the region
took on more and more of a military character. Germanic peoples were authorized
to establish themselves in the region and were enrolled in the military. These
are the Laeti Lagenses prope Tungros mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum. The
town itself never again knew its former prosperity in spite of a long period of
relative tranquillity. A certain number of 4th c. tombs are known, all inhumations.
Some must be graves of Germanic Laeti and often contain bronze accessories (belt
trimmings, etc.) with “excised” geometric (Kerbschnitt) or animal-style decoration.
Some tombs show that a part of the population had been converted to Christianity:
for example, a funerary cellar with walls decorated with frescos of garlands and
doves. Tongres was even the seat of a bishop. However, the center of economic
and political gravity of the region shifted to the region of the Meuse. The seat
of the bishop was moved to Maastricht. It is even possible that Maastricht also
replaced Tongres as the capital of the civitas. We know very little about the
end of the Roman period, only that the fall of Cologne in 457-58 also meant the
end of the Roman period at Tongres.
S.J. De Laet, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Feb 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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