Kumpfmuhl Fort
About
A roughly 2.1-hectare cohort fort built in timber and earth around 80 CE under Vespasian or Titus, sited on a spur south of the Danube overlooking the river's bend and the mouths of the Naab and Regen — decades before the famous stone legionary fortress of Legio III Italica was founded 700 meters north of here, in 179 CE, well after this map's snapshot. A vicus with a bathhouse grew up around it. The garrison unit at 117 CE isn't securely identified: Cohors III Britannorum equitata is only epigraphically attested from 153 CE, so an earlier unit (possibly Cohors II Aquitanorum) is a plausible but unconfirmed occupant under Trajan and Hadrian. Sources also disagree on whether the defenses had already been rebuilt in stone by 117 or were still timber-and-earth, though continuous occupation through that date is well established. The fort and its vicus were destroyed in the Marcomannic Wars, c. 170-175 CE.
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 →