‘Pompeii at the Gates of Vienna’: Romans on the Danube

Avery R. Springer (John Burroughs School)

One of the accomplishments of which Augustus boasts in his Res Gestae is his expansion of the empire to the Danube River in his campaign in Ilyricum (RG 30).  This area of what is now southern Germany, Austria and Hungary eventually became the provinces of Raetia, Noricum, and upper and lower Pannonia and established the northern frontier of the empire (with the exception of Trajan’s expansion further east into Dacia).  Together with the Rhine River to the west, the Danube stood as the border between the German tribes and the Roman provinces in these trans-alpine regions.

Though one does not usually associate Bavaria, Austria or Hungary with Roman ruins, the establishment of a fortified limes led to the rise of prosperous towns along the Danube and has left an abiding mark on the landscape.  The ancient towns and provincial capitols, including Ratisbona (Regensburg) Vindobona (Vienna), Carnuntum (Petronell), and Aquincum (Budapest), where such notables as Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius spent time, reveal their share of Roman ruins to the curious visitor.  Ranging from mere foundations, hidden beneath the pavement of a modern Viennese platz, to the looming ruin of a quadrifontic arch rising from the cornfields, these sites offer an intriguing view of life on the frontier.

Thanks to a generous grant this summer, I was able to make an exploration of the Danube limes.  Though more a travel guide than site analysis, this presentation will seek to acquaint its listeners through photographs and narrative with the Roman archeological sites of this area and hope to inspire other visitors to seek out places such as Carnuntum, the archeological park which the Austrians dub ‘Pompeii at the gates of Vienna’.