Tulln Roman Fort
About
Emperor Domitian's army built Comagena as an earth-and-timber camp for a full cavalry wing of 500 riders, the ala I Commagenorum, guarding a militarily vital Danube ford. Engineers replaced the ramparts with stone in the early 2nd century, right as Trajan's reign was ending. The fort covered five to six hectares and controlled river traffic and the lowlands for miles in both directions along the valley. Tulln's Roman Museum now sits on the town's main square directly above the old camp, and the fort later even hosted a Roman river fleet.
What happened here
Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.
Sources
Nearby
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