Ad Flexum
About
A castrum and vicus stood at a sharp bend of the Danube's Moson branch, giving the post its name meaning 'at the bend.' It guarded the limes road between Carnuntum and Arrabona for over 300 years, into the 5th century. Local trade grew up behind its walls as craftsmen settled near the garrison. Its foundations lie today beneath the town's historic castle grounds.
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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