Castellum Kapersburg
About
Kapersburg sheltered a mounted scout unit on the Taunus limes, in front of a hill the locals called the Sow's Head. While a Roman military presence in this sector goes back to the first century, the numerus fort whose stone walls are visible today belongs to the limes reinforcement of the later second century, after Trajan's death, so it is excluded from this 117 CE snapshot pending firmer dating of an earlier phase.
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
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 →