Aventicum, modern Avenches at the south end of the Murtensee, was one of the most important cities in Roman Switzerland and has yielded a wealth of finds. Ruins and finds were reported as early as the 16th century. Drawings and descriptions started to appear, especially by Aegidius Tschudi, and for example the "Recueil d'antiquités trouvées a Avenches, a Culm, et en d'autres lieux de la Suisse" by Friedrich Samuel von Schmidt, published in 1760. This book includes drawings of a large mosaic with Bacchus and Ariadne, unfortunately lost. The ruins were not always treated with due respect. Systematic investigations began at the end of the 19th century, but often excavations of buildings were partial only. Aventicum has not become an archaeological park, and building activity continued even quite recently. Only a few remains can still be seen: part of the city wall, the theatre, the amphitheatre, the Baths of the Forum, the Cigognier sanctuary (named after a column that was used as a stork's nest), and the Grange des Dîmes sanctuary (named after a tithe barn in the area, where taxes in kind were collected). There is a small museum in a mediaeval tower that was built in the eleventh century above the entrance to the amphitheatre. The city deserves its own website. Here a brief outline must suffice.
View from the amphitheatre. Photo: Wikimedia, Nfriedli.
View of the facade of the amphitheatre and the mediaeval tower with the museum. Photo: Wikimedia, Twen.A few remains from the Late Iron Age have been found. The development of a settlement is documented archaeologically from the reign of Augustus. Tacitus, describing events taking place in 68 AD, refers to the city as "Aventicum, the capital of the people (of the Helvetii)" (Aventicum gentis (Helvetiorum) caput; Histories 1,68). It was given the status of colonia by a Flavian Emperor, witness the full name of the colony, documented in two inscriptions: Colonia Pia Flavia Constans Emerita Helvetiorum Foederata (other inscriptions have the abbreviated form colonia Helvetiorum, but also civitas Helvetiorum). Emerita might point to the settling of veterans, foederata suggests the existence of a treaty (foedus) between Rome and the Helvetians. According to the Chronicle of Fredegar from the seventh century the colony was founded by Vespasian: "He ordered the building of the city of Aventicum" (Aventicum civitatem aedificare praecepit). On historical grounds the year 71 AD has been suggested, which finds confirmation in the date of construction of the city wall: oak trees used as underpinning piles were felled between 72 and 77 AD. As a child Vespasian had lived for some time in the city. His father, Titus Flavius Sabinus, had been a banker apud Helvetios, "amongst the Helvetians", presumably in Aventicum. Sabinus died there, survived by his wife, Vespasia Polla, and their children, the future Emperor and his brother Sabinus (Suetonius, Vespasianus 1,3).
View of the city wall. Photo: Wikimedia, Nursangaion.In the second century the geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus lists Aventicum in his Geography (he seems to use Forum Tiberii as a second name; Geography 2,9,20-21). In the Itinerarium Antonini the city is called, with a diminutive, Aventiculum Helvetiorum. On the Tabula Peutingeriana it is called, with an obvious error, Aventicum Heletiorum. The city probably fell victim to Alemannic attacks around 275 AD. At the end of the fourth century Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of "Aventicum, a city now abandoned, to be sure, but once of no slight importance, as is even yet evident from its half-ruined buildings" (Aventicum, desertam quidem civitatem sed non ignobilem quondam, ut aedificia semiruta nunc quoque demonstrant; Res Gestae 15,11,12; translation J.C. Rolfe). Dea Aventia was the protective deity of the city, documented in inscriptions.
DEAE AVENT(iae)
T(itus) TERTIVS
SEVERVS
CVR(ator) COLON(iae)
IDEMQVE ALL(ector)
CVI INCOLAE
AVENTICENS(es)
PRIM(o) OMNIVM
OB EIVS ERGA
SE MERITA
TABVLAM ARG(enteam)
P(ondo) [---]L POSVER(unt)
DONVM D(e) S(uis) P(ecuniis)
EX HS VCC L(ocus) D(atus) A D(ecurionibus)For the goddess Aventia
Titus Tertius
Severus,
curator of the colony
and also tax collector,
to whom the inhabitants
of Aventicum,
as first of all,
because of his
merits towards them,
set up a silver tablet
weighing 40 (?) pounds,
donated (this statue) at own cost,
worth 5200 sesterces. Place assigned by the city councillors.Limestone statue base.
W. 0.595, h. 1.10, d. 045.
Seen since 1515 in Münchenwiler (BE).
EDCS-10800475; Kolb et al. 2022, nr. 141.
Photo: Wikimedia, Fanny Schertzer.
Simplified plan of the city and its environs (1998). De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 1.
Literature
Stähelin 1931, 559-565; Von Gonzenbach 1961, 39-79; Frei 1969; Bögli 1972; Drack 1980(2); Drack 1981; Kaenel-Von Kaenel 1983; Tuor 1983; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 337-348; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 53-64; Herzig - Hochuli-Gysel 1998; Nelis-Clement - Hochuli-Gysel 2001; Fuchs 2002; Jakob - Hochuli-Gysel 2002; Castella-Meylan Krause 2006; Grezet 2006; De Pury-Gysel 2008; Castella - De Pury-Gysel et al. 2010; Blanc-Castella 2011; De Pury-Gysel 2011; De Pury-Gysel 2012(1); De Pury-Gysel 2012(2); Spühler et al. 2012; Le Bec et al. 2015; De Pury-Gysel 2017, 108-116; Hufschmid 2017; Daniaux 2019; Flück 2020(1,2).
Overviews of recent research:
- Anne De Pury-Gysel, Aventicum (Avenches), Capital of the Helvetii: A History of Research, 1985-2010. Part I. Early Roman Aventicum and its Origins, Journal of Roman Archaeology 24 (2011), 7-46.
- Anne De Pury-Gysel, Aventicum (Avenches), Capital of the Helvetii: A History of Research, 1985-2010. Part II. Urban Development after A.D. 100, Crafts, and Finds, Journal of Roman Archaeology 25 (2012), 259-296.
See also the website of the excavations.
[1-May-2024]
