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Colonia Agrippina
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Colonia Agrippina
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Modern-day Cologne, the city founded by Augustus as a major port on the great river Rhenus (Rhine) became one of Germania's most important imperial cities.
 Following the battles of Julius Caesar against the Ubii tribes, the city was founded on the left bank of the Rhine by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, great colleague of the Emperor Augustus, in 19 BC, Agrippa built on the site of an oppidum, or settlement, of the Ubii tribe: hence its early name, Oppidum Ubiorum. The site bore traces of Neolithic and Iron Age settlements. Nearby was a camp for two legions, I and XX and, up to AD 9, probably the XIX and XVII legions as well. Towards the end of Tiberius' reign the legions were transferred to Neuss and Bonn, but the Rhine fleet (the Classis Germanica) remained near Colonia Agrippinensis, where its camp has been excavated. It was, and remained, the northernmost of all cities in the Roman Empire. The history of Colonia Agrippina (also known as Colonia Agrippinensis) began probably in 38 BC (or perhaps as late as 19 BC) when the Germanic Ubii tribe asked for, and were granted, permission from Augustus to move from the eastern bank of the Rhine to the (Romanizing) west bank. The settlement they built here was simply know as oppidum Ubiorum, the “fortified town of the Ubii”. The operation was overseen by Augustus’ great general, Agrippa. The Ubii – post-Julius Caesar – had been “friends and allies” of the Roman people. One of their first acts was to build an altar for the Imperial Cult of Rome and the Emperor. The original Roman fortress was part of the town and became the base, over the following decades, for three or four different Germanic “frontier” legions. After the Roman disaster in 9 BC, and the destruction of three legions in the Germanic forests, only the legions XX Valeria Victrix and 1 Germania appeared to have remained there on garrison duty. The Julio-Claudian Emperors, defending a vast Germanic frontier, saw the importance of developing garrison towns in upper Gaul and Germania; they favored cities such as Colonia Trianae (Treveris) and Colonia Agrippina. In particular, two things worked as a catalyst in developing Colonia Agrippina: the founding of the Ara Ubiorum, a Germanic Sanctuary,and the trade that the legions and Roman administration brought with them. Eventually, Colonia Agrippina became the capital of a Romanized Germania Inferior. Both Drusus, his brother, the Emperor Tiberius, and the legendary Germanicus, served on this portion of the Rhine frontier. Germanicus – step-grandson of Augustus - took up residence in the town at 13 AD, with his wife, Agrippina, and young children (including the future Emperor, Caligula, and his sister, Agrippina, who was born in the oppidum). After Germanicus’ mysterious death and a restructuring of the Germanic military, after 28 AD. oppidum Ubiorum was no longer used as a military town. However, in AD 50, the city was refounded in the honor of Agrippina, daughter of the long-dead Germanicus and spouse of the Emperor Claudius. Claudius granted the oppidum Ubiorum the important civic status of a “colonia,” increasing its status and creating a need for imperial administration. From then on. it bore the name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, i.e., “the Claudian colony of the Agrippinensi,” and site of the imperial altar. Agrippina – mother of the future Emperor, Nero – traveled to the colonia to perform the first rituals by the alter herself, showing her fondness for the place she was born and grew up. To this day, an abbreviated version of the Roman name – CCAA – are still visible carved in stone on the great Roman north gate. The only fortress involved in the Batavian revolt under Civilis, it was the seat of the governor of Germania Inferior, and the residence of the Gallic emperor in the 3d c. A.D., as well as a center of trade and industry (glass, pottery, goldsmiths' work, the minting of coins). The area of the city by now was about 3˝ hectares and must have been one of the largest in Germania Inferior. Because it was a colonia, it was somewhat looked upon as being a “miniature-Rome”. It even had a copy of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Roman engineering provided an extremely ingenious and efficient water system (including aqueduct, and advanced sewers). Many important Romansn resided in Colonia Agrippina - two of the most prominent were Vitellius and Trajan, the later emperors. Both were stationed in the “Colonia” as its military governors. Often wealthy patrons took it up themselves to invest in the city, and the Romans expected no less of those who wanted to hold important offices: for example, an inscription that was found on a nomument in the city, during the restoration of the Praetorium, that lay in the district “Vico Burgorum, ” reads:
VATORIB Q TAR QVITIVS CATVL VS LEG. AVG CIV CVRA PRAETOR IVM IN RVINVM CO NLAPSVM ADNO VAM FAVIEM EST RESTITVTVM
For the “Di Conservatores” The Roman governors of Germania often played an important role in the succession of emperors, because they had several legions at their disposal. Several Emperors – or would-be emperors – were proclaimed Caesar by their legions, and then marched on Rome to receive the ratification of the Senate. In 69 AD, the legate at Colonia Agrippina, Vitellius, was practically dragged from his bedroom by his troops when they learned the previous Emperor had died. They gave him the sword of Julius Caesar, that had been kept in Colonia Agrippina, and encouraged Vitellius to march on Rome. Moving south, Vitellius defeated his rival for the throne, Otho, in 69 AD; afterwards, Otho committed suicide and the dagger he used was sent to Colonia Agrippina. However, Vitellius would, in his turn, be destroyed by Vespasian, who successfully won the purple. In 83 or 84 AD, the region around Colonia Agrippina had become a normal Roman province with all its cultural and civic accoutrements, instead of just a military fortress. However, unrest in the region never entirely disappeared. The town walls of Colonia Agrippina were some 2˝ meters wide and about eight meters high. Even in peacetime, these fortifications must have impressed any visitor, most especially visitors from the free Germanic tribes. In the second century the number of inhabitants in Colonia Agrippina grew to over 50,000 people, and the town kept gaining in importance. In the political disruptions and economic declines of the third and fourth centuries, Colonia Agrippina was one of the few towns in Germania Inferior that maintained its vitality. Because of raids by the wilder Germanic tribes, the countryside became depopulated and many in the surrounding region moved into the fortified city. Industries had grown up, first initiated by the legions, and later developed as a market by locals – Colonia Agrippina was famous for its pottery and sigillata, which they exported throughout the Empire. In 310, the Emperor Constantine (the Great) had built a castellum called Castra Divitia on the East bank of the river to guard against invasions from the Germanic tribes. The German tribes did manage to capture the city for some while, but in the year 355 . Julian the Apostate was able to reconquer the city for Rome. But the incursions of the barbarian Germanic tribes could not be defended forever - between 475-478 A.D., the Germanic tribes captured much of the lands in these Roman territories, including (despite the defense of the Roman general Aegidus) Colonia Agrippina. At all there were only 3 coloniae in present-day Germany: Colonia Agrippina and Treveris, or Trier, were granted there rights by Claudius, Colonia Traiana or Xanten was given Roman rights by the Emperor Trajan. There are many Roman things still to be found in Colonia Agrippina, like the 80-kilometre-long aqueduct supplied the city with fresh spring water from the nearby Eifel Hills, other things are parts of the city walls, the praetorium,, and the remains of the once-wealthy Roman homes of the colonia.
After a peristyle house with a mosaic of Dionysus was discovered in the NE corner of the colony, at the Cathedral, further excavations revealed the entire area: streets, houses, a Mithraeum, subterranean shrines to the Matrones (indigenous female idols of mother goddess type), a temple of Mercury-Augustus, and finally the Roman and Frankish Bishop's Church beneath the cathedral. A great Roman temple stood in the southwest corner of the colony, built shortly after 50 A.D.The praetorium was located roughly in the middle of the riverfront. Excavations of the praetorium reveal dedications by the Emperor Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius. Adjoining it to the S is a large hall with a hypocaust and great apse on its long E side. This structure, which is being included in the ruins preserved underground, corresponds in size and purpose to the Palastaula (known as the Basilica) at Trier, but is ca. 100 years older (early 3d c. A.D.). The baths in the center of the city include a semicircular caldarium with a diameter of 25 m, and date from the 1st c. A.D. One monument remaining from the period of the Ubii is a high pedestal, 9 by 9 m, that originally supported a column. It may have served as a lighthouse at the harbor entrance, and is the earliest example of ashlar technique N of the Alps. In A.D. 50 it was included in the SW corner of the city wall.
The Articles of Colonia Agrippina:
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