From the time of Augustus the city had an orthogonal street grid with rectangular residential blocks (insulae, "islands"). The main streets were the Decumanus Maximus and the Cardo Maximus, 9.50 m. wide and with a surface of gravel. The secondary streets, also with a surface of gravel, were 5 m. wide. Below the streets were drainage channels. The size of the blocks was 75 x 110 m., measured between the centres of the surrounding streets.
Click on the image to enlarge. Detailed plan of the city (2010).
The city wall, with a moat, was built during the reign of Vespasian in the 170's. With the building of the wall the area of the city was enlarged. The wall was made of limestone, 2.40 m. thick and 5565 m. long. It had 73 horseshoe shaped towers on the inside, which is an unusual position, also documented in Castra Vetera (Xanten, Germany). There were probably four main gates, two of which have been excavated, the east and west gates. These main gates (28 x 26 m.) had a circular interior space (diam. 11.60 m.) and two polygonal towers reached via interior stairwells. There were two passages for wagons, 3 m. wide, flanked by passages for pedestrians, 2.10 m. wide. The Porte de Rome in Forum Iulii (Fréjus, France), also from the Flavian period, had a similar design. Aventicum was far away from the borders of the Empire, so the wall will not have been built for defensive purposes (it is not clear whether troops were ever stationed in the city). A stretch of 200 meters has been restored, including a tower known as Tornallaz and the east gate.
View of the remains of the east gate. Photo: Wikimedia, Chris ALC.
Reconstruction of the east gate.The first established date, through dendrochronology, for residential buildings from the Imperial period is 6-7 AD. At first the houses were half-timbered, so with walls made of timber and loam. Stone was used from the middle of the first century. These later houses had porticoes along the street and rooms grouped around courtyards. Many houses had heated rooms, some also gardens and private baths. Many wells and fountains have been discovered. The largest fountain was in the porticus on the Decumanus of block 19.
Reconstruction of a house in block 13. Morel 2001, Abb. 60.
Reconstruction of paintings in private baths. Spühler et al. 2012, fig. 67.
Reconstruction of the fountain in block 19. De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 26.
[1-May-2024]
