Alta Ripa
About
Alta Ripa, 'the high bank,' held a link position in the chain of forts running down the Ripa Pannonica between Lussonium and Alisca. Its name described the site's raised position over the Danube floodplain. Centuries of river erosion have since swallowed most of its remains. It survives today chiefly through its listing in Roman itineraries as a fixed station on the frontier road.
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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