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36-574: Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium was the Roman colony in the Rhineland from which the city of Cologne , now in Germany, developed. It was usually called Colonia (colony) and was the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior and the headquarters of the military in the region. With administrative reforms under Diocletian it became the capital of Germania Secunda . Many artefacts from

72-474: A Protestant church, might be related to the "oldest known library in Germany", dating back to the 2nd century. The library, which has characteristics similar to those of the Library of Celsus in the ancient city of Ephesus , might have contained more than 20,000 scrolls. 50°56′17″N 6°57′25″E  /  50.93806°N 6.95694°E  / 50.93806; 6.95694 Roman colony Under

108-507: A large scale until the inception of the Principate. Augustus , who needed to settle over a hundred thousand of his veterans after the end of his civil wars , began a massive colony creation program throughout his empire. However, not all colonies were new cities. Many were created from already-occupied settlements and the process of colonization just expanded them. Some of these colonies would later grow into large cities (modern day Cologne

144-496: A potential reserve of veterans which could be called upon during times of emergency. However, these colonies more importantly served to produce future Roman citizens and therefore recruits to the Roman army . Roman colonies played a major role in the spread of the Latin language within the central and southern Italian peninsula during the early empire. The colonies showed surrounding native populations an example of Roman life. Since

180-535: A tentative "Germania provincia". From AD 70 on the city had a strong city wall that was c. 8 meters in height and 2.5 meters wide. However, the remains of the Roman city wall that can still be seen today are from the 3rd century AD. The unwalled portions of the city were equal to a square kilometer. Its most important steles and grave goods are preserved in the Romano-Germanic Museum. In AD 68,

216-591: The Cherusci . After Arminius' victory over Publius Quinctilius Varus in the same year at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest , the plans for a greater German province were largely set aside. However, the altar itself retained some of its importance as the city is mentioned as “Ara Ubiorum” in many inscriptions. Between 9 and AD 30 the area of present-day Cologne was mainly a garrison. Legio I Germanica and

252-544: The Diocese of Gaul . Up to the end of Roman control, it was an intensely garrisoned province that was inhabited by Romans and Ripuarian Franks in the 5th century. Its capital remained at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, which also became the seat of a Christian bishopric , which was in charge of an ecclesiastical province that survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire . After the final abandonment of

288-698: The Legio XX Valeria Victrix were stationed nearby. The place of the initial Roman Castra was known as Apud Aram Ubiorum (At the Altar of the Ubii). The headquarters of Germanicus were located in Cologne from AD 13 to 17, when he was recalled by Tiberius . After the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Germanicus made efforts to stabilize the border region and to plan and carry out new offensives against

324-873: The Magister Militum of the Western half of the Empire, in the name of the emperor Eugenius renewed an unspecified public building. The city finally fell to the Ripuarian Franks in AD 459. Two lavish burial sites near the Cathedral date from this period of late antiquity. In Summer 2018, archaeologists declared that the foundations (located at 50°56′09.6″N 6°57′12.8″E  /  50.936000°N 6.953556°E  / 50.936000; 6.953556 ) that they discovered in 2017 during excavations to build

360-759: The North Sea . The capital of the province was Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern-day Cologne ). According to Ptolemy (2.9), Germania Inferior included the Rhine from its mouth up to the mouth of the Obringa , a river identified with either the Aar or the Moselle . The territory included modern-day Luxembourg , the southern Netherlands , part of Belgium , and part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany , west of

396-585: The Roman Republic , which had no standing army , their own citizens were planted in conquered towns as a kind of garrison. There were two types: After 133 BC tribunes introduced reforms to support the urban poor to become farmers again in new colonies as agricultural settlements (e.g. Tarentum in 122 BC). Under Caesar and in the Imperial era starting from Augustus , thousands of Roman legionary veterans were granted lands in many coloniae in

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432-537: The Tungri ) increased during Roman times, leading to the assimilation of all Celtic peoples in the area. In fact, Germania Inferior had Roman settlements since around 50 BC and was at first part of Gallia Belgica . It was only under Domitian (r. AD 81 – 96) that new territories were acquired, between the high valleys of the Rhine and the Danube, following the campaigns conducted by his generals in AD 83 – 85, which led to

468-477: The Agrippinians). This gave Colonia the status of 'city' under Roman law and a Roman colony had many more imperial rights than an oppidum. At this time the city became the administrative capital of Germania Inferior . Before this time the area was not an official province, but an occupied area controlled and administered initially by the military (exercitus Germaniae inferioris) and later temporarily defined as

504-709: The Alps. Colonia had to be temporarily abandoned in December 355 following a lengthy siege by the Franks. The archaeological strata of that time indicate that conquest and looting had catastrophic effects and the city lay in ruins. The Praetorium was reconstructed and enlarged circa 375 A.D. as seen in the model of the Roman-German Museum in Cologne The last dated reconstruction is from 392/393, when Arbogast ,

540-618: The Batavians. However, when the Batavians demanded that the city wall be torn down, the inhabitants of Colonia again sided with the Roman Empire. Vitellius was overthrown eight months later by Titus Flavius Vespasianus , whose troops feared reprisals for having previously recognized Otho as emperor. Vitellius was killed and his body thrown into the Tiber . With the founding of the province of Germania Inferior under Domitian in AD 89,

576-523: The Germanic tribes located on the right bank of the Rhine. With the death of Augustus in AD 14 the legions garrisoned in Cologne mutinied with the aim of establishing Germanicus as emperor. These legions probably united in mutiny with those from Vetera stationed at their summer garrison in Castrum Novasium . Germanicus however remained loyal to Tiberius, who was heir to the throne. He dissuaded

612-754: The Rhine, were resettled by the Roman General Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in the lands in the Cologne Lowland vacated by the Eburones. This brought the Ubii within Roman-occupied territory. The Ubii chose an island in the Rhine as the central location of their settlement area. The island was a natural rise that was protected from flooding. The location of the settlement no longer exists today but it roughly comprises

648-401: The Rhine. The principal settlements of the province were Castra Vetera and Colonia Ulpia Traiana (both near Xanten ), Coriovallum ( Heerlen ), Albaniana ( Alphen aan den Rijn ), Lugdunum Batavorum ( Katwijk ), Forum Hadriani ( Voorburg ), Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum ( Nijmegen ), Traiectum (Utrecht) , Atuatuca Tungrorum ( Tongeren ), Bona ( Bonn ), and Colonia Agrippinensis ( Cologne ),

684-593: The ancient city survive, including the arch of the former city gate with the inscription 'CCAA', which is today housed in the Romano-Germanic Museum . A Germanic tribe known as the Eburones had originally inhabited the present-day Cologne Lowland . But they were wiped out in a war of reprisal carried out by Julius Caesar . In 38 BC, the Germanic tribe known as the Ubii , who inhabited the right bank of

720-558: The area between the areas of the Heumarkt and the Alter Markt sections of the old city of Cologne. The settlement can be dated by archeological finds to the first half of the 1st century AD. By this time the typical Roman grid-style street plan was already in use. The settlement's assumed name is probably Oppidum Ubiorum (Settlement of the Ubii). The Roman epoch of the history of the city of Cologne begins with this oppidum . During

756-487: The capital of Germania Inferior. The first confrontations between a Roman army and the peoples of Germania Inferior occurred during Julius Caesar 's Gallic Wars . Caesar invaded the region in 57 BC and in the next three years annihilated several tribes, including the Eburones and the Menapii , whom Caesar called "Germanic" but who probably were Celtic or at least mixed Celtic-Germanic. Germanic influence (mainly through

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792-489: The city varied in usage over time. In the 4th century AD it was known as Colonia Agrippina , which was shortened to Colonia sometime after the 5th century. In AD 260 Postumus made Cologne the capital of the Gallic Empire , which included the Germanic and Gallic provinces, Britannia and the provinces of Hispania. The Gallic Empire lasted only fourteen years. By the 3rd century, only 20,000 people lived in and around

828-621: The commander of the Legions of Lower Germania Colonia became the provincial governor, based in Colonia. In AD 80 a water supply was built, the Eifel Aqueduct , one of the longest aqueducts of the Roman Empire, which delivered 20,000 cubic metres of water to the city every day. Ten years later, the colonia became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Germany, Germania Inferior, with a total population of 20,000 people. The Rhine fleet

864-702: The creation of two new imperial provinces, lower and upper Germany. Although this region had been occupied since the reign of Augustus , it wasn't formally established as a Roman province until around AD 85, with its capital at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern-day Cologne ). It later became an imperial province . It lay north of Germania Superior ; these two together made up Lesser Germania . The adjective Inferior refers to its downstream position. The army of Germania Inferior, typically shown on inscriptions as EX.GER.INF. ( Exercitus Germaniae Inferioris ), included several legions at various times: of these, Legions I Minervia and XXX Ulpia Victrix were

900-575: The death of Emperor Nero caused a succession crisis in Rome . This led to a civil war throughout the empire. The Roman Senate installed Servius Sulpicius Galba as emperor, but he was quickly murdered by another contender for the throne, Marcus Salvius Otho , who had the backing of the Praetorian Guard . Meanwhile, the legions stationed in Colonia called for their commander Aulus Vitellius to be crowned as emperor. Vitellius marched on Italy at

936-559: The empire and were responsible for the Romanization of many territories (mainly in the spread of Latin language and of Roman laws and customs ). According to Livy , Rome's first colonies were established in about 752 BC at Antemnae and Crustumerium , both in Latium . Other early colonies were established at Signia in the 6th century BC, Velitrae and Norba in the 5th century BC, and Ostia , Antium , and Tarracina in

972-534: The head of the better part of the Rhine legions, and defeated Otho's troops at the First Battle of Bedriacum , in which Otho himself was killed. A power vacuum occurred on the now undefended Rhine border. The Batavians rose and advanced on the empire from the Northeast of Germania Inferior. The majority of the inhabitants of Colonia remained Ubii, as they had not been fully romanised. They quickly sided with

1008-599: The late 4th century. In this first period of colonisation, which lasted down to the end of the Punic Wars , colonies were primarily military in purpose, being intended to defend Roman territory. The first Roman colony outside Italy was probably Italica in Hispania founded in 206 BC by Publius Cornelius Scipio during the Second Carthaginian War . In the Empire colonies became large centres for

1044-653: The legions from declaring him emperor and at the same time placated the mutineers through generous concessions. Legio I was later stationed in Bonna (present-day Bonn ) and Legio XX garrisoned Castrum Novaesium near present-day Neuss . Agrippina the younger was born in AD 15 in Cologne. She was the daughter of Germanicus and the wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius . She succeeded in convincing Claudius around 50 AD to elevate her birthplace to Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Colony of Claudius and Altar of

1080-479: The most permanent. The Roman Navy's Classis Germanica (Germanic fleet), charged with patrolling the Rhine and the North Sea coast, were based at Castra Vetera and later at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis. As attested in the early 5th century document Notitia Dignitatum , the province was renamed Germania Secunda ( Germania II ) in the 4th century. It was administered by a consularis and formed part of

1116-537: The rule of Augustus (30 BC to AD 14), the Ara Ubiorum (Altar of the Ubii) was constructed within the city limits. This altar was possibly foreseen as the central place of worship for a greater Germanic province, which would comprise lands across the Rhine, which remained unconquered at this point. The noble Segimundus is mentioned as the priest of the Ara in the year AD 9. He was from the family of Arminius , leader of

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1152-986: The settlement of army veterans, especially in Roman north Africa which had the largest density of Roman colonies per region in the Roman Empire, where the Italic population constituted more than one third of the total population during the second century AD. New bilateral defence contracts with Falerii, Tarquinii (Etruria) Caere (again), Pomptina and Poplilia tribus (tribes) formed in territories of Antium New Roman municipia made from small towns around Rome: Aricia, Lanuvium, Nomentum, Pedum , Tusculum. Latin ius contracts made with Tibur , Praeneste, Lavinium , Cora (Latium) Ius comercii contracts made with Circei , Notba, Setia , Signia , Nepi , Ardea , Gabii Ius migrationi and ius connubii Ufentina tribus established (on territories of Volscus city Antium), Privernum , Velitrae , Terracia , Fondi and Fotmiae made contract with Rome (cives sine suffragio) Colonies were not founded on

1188-468: The town as the city was badly affected by the crisis of the 3rd century. In AD 310, Emperor Constantine I had a bridge over the Rhine constructed; this was guarded by the castellum Divitia (nowadays "Deutz"). In AD 321 Jews are documented in Cologne; when exactly the first Jews arrived in the Rhineland area cannot be established any more, but Cologne's Jewish community claims to be the oldest north of

1224-400: The veterans settled there were usually single until discharge and married local women, colonies tended to become culturally integrated in their surroundings within a few generations. Germania Inferior Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering

1260-528: Was first founded as a Roman colony). During this time, provincial cities can gain the rank of colony, gaining certain rights and privileges. After the era of the Severan emperors the new "colonies" were only cities that were granted a status (often of tax exemption), and in most cases during the Late Imperial times there was no more settlement of retired legionaries. Roman colonies sometimes served as

1296-574: Was stationed south of the city at Alteburg. The fortress itself was destroyed in attacks by the Franks in AD 276. This area was later named Alte Burg, from which come the present day names " Alteburger Wall " and " Alteburger Platz ". With the elevation to provincial capital, Colonia was no longer a military base. The legions of the province were stationed in Vetera II near Colonia Ulpia Traiana (near present-day Xanten), Novaesium and Bonna. The name of

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