Cities, villages, fortresses - Aargau - Baden (Aquae Helveticae) - Houses and workshops

Introduction Houses and workshops Baths Religion The silver hoard

In the last decade of the 19th century a building complex was excavated that has been called a military hospital or the house of a physician, based on the discovery of bronze medical and cosmetic instruments. However, only a single scalpel holder and a tube referred to as a catheter can be safely attributed to medical use. All other instruments (probes, ear spoons, tweezers and spoons) may also have been cosmetic tools.

Drawing from 1897 of the remains of the "military hospital". Holliger-Holliger 1989, Abb. 3.

In a pottery workshop vessels were found with the names of several potters: Reginus, Caius Valerius Albanus, Iulius Albanus, and Silvinus. A man named Gemellianus operated a large bronze foundry. His fittings for knife sheaths, with his name and that of the town, were widely exported.

A bronze fitting of Gemellianus with the text AQVIS HE(lveticis) GEMELLIANVS F(ecit) ("Gemellianus made it in Aquae Helveticae").
Found in Mandeure, France (Epomanduodurum). Photo: Wikimedia, Sacamol.

In 1897, in the remains of a large house, an elaborate bronze support for three oil lamps was found. It was decorated with the figure of a Satyr, companion of Bacchus-Dionysus. In his left hand is a cup of wine, into which he sprinkles spices with his right hand.

The bronze lamp support, found in 1897. H. 0.46. Photo: Bürge et al. 2013, Abb. 21.

Introduction Houses and workshops Baths Religion The silver hoard

[31-Aug-2023]