Faimingen Roman Fort
About
A cohort fort went up at Faimingen in AD 90 to hold the Danube line and protect a crossing point that grew into a real trading settlement. Soldiers here still manned the ramparts on the day Trajan died in August 117, though the garrison would abandon the post within three years as troop dispositions shifted. The vicus that formed around the fort outlived the military presence and later became home to a substantial temple to Apollo Grannus, drawing pilgrims from across the region. A second, larger cavalry fort rose on the same ground more than a century later, in 233, after the original site had sat quiet for decades.
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
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →