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Carnuntum is mentioned in 6 A.D. as the site of the winter camp of Tiberius during his field campaign against the Marcomanni king Marbod. At that date, the region still belonged to Noricum. A continuous Roman settlement must only have come into being decades later, at some point after the mid-1st c. A.D. At that time, at the latest, a legion was permanently stationed in Carnuntum, and the site became the seat of the governor for Pannonia.
Important fortified settlements of the Celtic Boii lay, until their destruction shortly after the mid-1st c. A.D., in the region of Devin – Bratislava in what is today Slovakia, and also on the ‘Braunsberg’ near Hainburg, located within view of Carnuntum downstream on the Danube. Not much ‘late La Tène’ material has yet been found from the later Roman settlement region itself. The strategic importance of Carnuntum lay in its guarding of the crossing of the Amber Route over the Danube, a route which continued along the course of the river through the heavily settled March regions to the north.
During the reign of Hadrian a municipium was founded, which was based on a vicus which already existed during the Flavian period. Around the legionary camp extensive canabae were already developed by the later 1st c. A.D.; these also attained municipal status probably under Septimius Severus, who was acclaimed emperor here in 192 A.D. At this time, the Hadrianic town was elevated to the rank of a colonia.
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The camp of the legio XV Apollinaris, which was constructed in ca. 40/50 A.D., is still little known from an archaeological viewpoint. A phase of expansion during the Flavian period and an extensive new construction phase under the Severans, when the legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix was already stationed here, are the first to be well documented. Approximately 1.2 km. to the west of the legionary camp, an equestrian fort constructed during the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.) has been extensively excavated. Its construction was apparently the result of the presence of the ala I Tungrorum Frontoniana, while later the ala I Pannoniorum Tampiana, an ala III Augusta Thracum Sagittaria and an ala I Thracum Victrix were garrisoned here.
The canabae legionis extended to the west, south and east of the legionary camp. The oldest architectural finds belong to the second half of the 1st c. A.D., while the camp settlement attained its greatest extent in the early to mid- 3rd century, with an extent of over 2 km. in an east-west direction. The street system followed an irregular pattern, with the individual districts oriented according to the limes road and to the main roads leading away from the main gates of the legionary camp. In front of the east side of the camp lay an amphitheatre, to the west – similar to Lauriacum – a Forum which has scarcely been investigated, and to the north of the Forum, the praetorium of the provincial governor.
The city plan of the Hadrianic Municipium and Severan Colonia Carnuntum reveals – at least for the area enclosed within the city walls – an oval shape of hybrid rectangular and elliptical form (dimensions 1,150 m x 525 m; proportions ca. 2:1), with decumani running in part directly east-west and in part curving, and cardines running slightly diagonally and in part bending. One road follows a totally diagonal course from the south-east corner of the Forum in a south-west direction. The Forum itself, only identified on the basis of ground survey, lies approximately in the centre of the town; the decumanus maximus runs past its north side where the Basilica is located, while on the side of the street opposite the Forum is a structure which served as a Macellum (meat market), behind which lay the large bathing complex (the so-called Palace Ruins).
The streets, which were between 4.5 and 12 m. in width, were frequently paved with polygonal flagstones, were equipped with drains, and had in places raised side pavements or accompanying porticoes. The city blocks reveal greatly differing dimensions, from 37.5 x 75 m. (above all in the town centre) up to 100 x 100 m. The settlement, which originated as a vicus in the mid-1st c. A.D., took its orientation from pre-existing highways – in a similar fashion to the neighbouring canabae legionis and the substantially later settlement near the Norican legionary camp of Lauriacum – namely, the road running around the camp, and the routes which led away from the settlement via the town gates. Therefore, by the time of the formal town foundation, the plan was to a great extent already in place.
The city walls have repeatedly been the subject of archaeological investigations; the earlier preferred date in the Severan period – on the occasion of the elevation of the settlement to the status of a colonia in 192 A.D. – is now doubted, and the walls are much more likely to date to late antiquity, since they were built over large residential districts which originally extended to the south up to the amphitheatre, leaving them outside the wall circuit. The walls were between 2 and 2.30 m. wide and were constructed of an outer face of ashlar blocks which covered a ca. 1 m. wide inner core of opus caementicium. A 0.50 m. deep paving of poured concrete served as the foundation. There were at least six city gates, which however have not been fully investigated, and towers were located at least at the corners of the city. The relatively small number of towers compared to the large number of city gates can be contrasted with the situation at other Pannonian towns, making a more detailed investigation and a more secure dating even more desirable.
A small section of a walled aqueduct of uncertain date, leading to the civilian town, was found near a house on the eastern limit of Petronell, and has been conserved. The Forum (150 x 66 m.) has been located exactly at the centre of the settlement, with the aid of georadar and magnetic survey, but it has not yet been excavated. Along its long sides ran a row of rooms located behind a single-aisled porticus. At the north, along the decumanus maximus, lay a basilica. Opposite, the short side of the Forum was taken up by a group of three halls lying behind a common vestibule. The façade of the central room (11.7 x 12.9 m.) extended beyond the vestibule at the front; this probably served as a cult room. The room at the east (9.9 x 13.2 m.) was fitted with under-floor heating, which makes an identification as tabularium (hall for archives) or curia (meeting room) very likely. Behind these three rooms lay smaller rooms and an open porticus allowing entrance to this administrative building from the street.
The amphitheatre, built during the reign of Hadrian or Antoninus Pius, lay at the southern border of the town along a trunk road which led away to the south. Its ground plan reveals a very compact ellipse with an arena measuring 68 x 52 m., with an area of ca. 25 m. in depth for the rows of seats for the audience. Therefore a capacity of 13,000 spectators can be calculated. Flights of steps leading up to the upper rows were located near the entrance gates at the south and north apexes.
Carnuntum possessed public baths covering a built area of ca. 80 x 75 m. The complex, which was constructed in the Severan period and was formerly identified as the ‘Palace Ruins’, contained a large swimming pool in the cold bathing section of the establishment at its eastern end. A large apsidal room in the south most likely functioned as a caldarium. In front of this extended a 2000 m² courtyard, surrounded by walls, where the usual ball games after bathing, walks, and other relaxing activities took place. As yet, no final report of the archaeological excavations carried out between 1939 and 1977 exists; the function and chronological extent of usage for many of the rooms remains unclear.
Along the decumanus maximus adjacent to the baths, and connected to their courtyard via steps, lay a rectangular space (total dimensions: ca. 35 x 13 m.; area of open courtyard: 23.5 x 6.5 m.) with rooms on three of its sides, and therefore interpreted as a macellum (meat market). Based on the evidence of an inscription, one of these rooms functioned as a schola (club house) for the collegium centonariorum (association of firemen). Three central monuments in the court are interpreted as bases for cultic monuments. The entire structure might have already been constructed in the 2nd c. A.D.
Additional small baths belonging to the Block Type were located in the residential area, excavated in 1938 (open-air museum), and in the sanctuary of the Heliopolitan gods (bath building: 19.5 x 20.5 m.) in the canabae legionis which was built up like a town.
Adjacent to the baths to the east in the residential district was located a building which is tentatively identified in the literature either as a horreum (building for grain storage) or as a valetudinarium (hospital), which could be accessed via both of its short sides through small yards and alleyways leading off the main streets. The core of the building, with dimensions of 38 x 12 m., contained seven or eight individual rooms on both sides of an open passageway. As with structures with similar groundplans at Flavia Solva, one may here also think of a workshop or market building.
In the central urban region of Carnuntum, no finds which can securely be connected with public temple structures are preserved. A podium temple oriented to the east lay on the south side of the Forum, although no more detailed or illustrative finds have come to light. In addition, small sanctuaries, integrated into the residential district, dedicated to Silvanus and various oriental divinities are known; these were probably operated by associations and served primarily the residents of the respective town districts as private cult places.
These were mostly integrated into the clubhouses of the associations. In form, they vary from simple single-room structures to larger complexes with temples in antis, meeting halls with podia for reclining, and numerous neighbouring structures in a courtyard or garden area, as for example the sanctuary of Dolichenus.
Indeed, the sanctuary of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the nearby Pfaffenberg, also important for the Imperial cult, must have played a significant role for the civilian town of Carnuntum. This sanctuary was originally laid out by legionaries and the inhabitants of the canabae legionis and controlled by their cult organisation, which was run by four magistri montis. In the later 2nd and the 3rd c., however, decurions of the municipium and of the Colonia Carnuntum were also counted amongst these ‘masters of the mountain.’ On the nearly flat plateau of the mountain, which since the beginning of the 1980s has almost completely fallen victim to industrial quarrying activities, stood at least two temple buildings, a cult theatre, numerous altars and columnar monuments as well as a total of a dozen seated statues of Jupiter or an emperor in the guise of Jupiter. One building which for a long time was identified as the main temple had a wide vestibule, a central room fitted with podia at the sides, and two side rooms, one of which would have been used as a kitchen; recently, however, this has been identified as the banquet building for a cultic community associated with oriental divinities. As a Hadrianic inscription referring to a ‘hundred foot long wall’ suggests, the building complex probably served as a meeting space for the iuventus of Carnuntum, a paramilitary civic youth organisation under the protection of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Dolichenus. This association could have staged games and performances in honour of the emperor and to the glory of Rome, in the theatre which was fitted with a tribunal for spectators and which was enclosed by a ca. 2 m. tall wall.
The background for the festival day of 11th June, dating back at least to the later 2nd c. (oldest preserved inscription from the year 178), is unclear; on this day, Jupiter received dedicatory inscriptions at least as regularly as a Jupiter with the epithet of ‘Teutanus’ from the region around Aquincum (Budapest) in the province of Pannonia Inferior. Scholars have tried to associate this June 11th with the so-called ‘miracle of lightning’ of 172, which struck during the wars of Marcus Aurelius with the Marcomanni and Quadi, and which apparently saved the Roman army. The fact, however, that this theory is based upon untenable restorations of certain inscriptions has resulted in different solutions being proposed: for example, the foundation day of both cities of Carnuntum and Aquincum; the birthdate of the undivided province of Pannonia or similarly the day of their division in the year 106; the day of the dedication of the capitol or of the Imperial altar in Savaria (Szombathely), the former capital city of Pannonia before its division; a summer equinox festival reflecting Celtic influence has even been suggested. Most recently, E. Toth has proposed that the 11th June should be equated with the official foundation day of both sanctuaries, and has carefully argued that this initiative might date back to the Governorship of Aelius Caesar in the year 137. Aelius Caesar, adoptive son and designated successor of Hadrian, was the only Governor of both provinces after the division of Pannonia into two provinces.
Nevertheless, one piece of evidence argues against this theory, namely, that the oldest – although very fragmentary – dedicatory altar from Pfaffenberg was erected in honour of Victory by a dependent of the legio XV Apollinaris, and therefore must have been already set up at the very latest by 62 A.D., the year of the withdrawal of the legion. Therefore the temple region seems to be only a little more recent than the stationing of the first legion at Carnuntum around the mid-1st c. A.D., while on the other hand the recognition of 11th June as a festival day, and the worship of a ‘Jupiter K(arnuntinus?)’, were added only later to the cult activities at the site. Following this, and on the basis of the sparse remains of a building inscription, one of the two temples might have been constructed by Aelius Caesar in honour of Antinoos, the youthful lover of Hadrian who drowned in the Nile.
In the canabae legionis of Carnuntum, three sacred areas lay in close proximity to each other: one was dedicated to Liber and Libera and had a small podium temple (9.60 x 6.60 m.) open to the east and standing in a court (21 x 24 m.) fitted with two colonnades, the second was a sanctuary until now identified as dedicated to Isis and Serapis only via a fragment from a building inscription from a temple, while the third was an extensive area for the divine triad of the city of Heliopolis-Baalbek.
With a combined area of 90 x 110 m., the sanctuary of I(uppiter) O(ptimus) M(aximus) H(eliopolitanus) was the largest known building complex in the canabae. The temple was built in the east of a central courtyard, and had to be reconstructed at a different location at least once. The older Temple A (9.50 x 4.80 m.), according to the remains of the architectural facing from the façade, might have already been constructed in the Hadrianic period as a simple rectangular building with pilasters at the façade; the younger Temple B, built in ca. 200 A.D., stood on a podium and contained a cella and vestibule. In the south-east corner lay a bathing complex with an area of ca. 400 m², which, according to an altar inscription found already in excavations of 1872, was erected by the legionary tribune Cornelius Vitalis in the 3rd c. A.D. in honour of Jupiter Heliopolitanus. To the west, extensive colonnades were attached to the bathing building; behind these, two cult rooms with podia for reclining could be accessed via a communal entrance hall. The smaller of the two rooms was equipped with a hypocaust heating system. The podia only ran along the long walls. A base for a cult image was located on the side opposite the entrance. In the larger room (13 x 25 m.), the podia ran along three of the side walls, while against the fourth wall a base for an altar or a cult image was found. Two of the small rooms which were built into the colonnades which lay in front probably functioned as kitchens or storage rooms for the equipment and tableware necessary for the communal cult banquets. One section of the complex, suitable as a residence perhaps for priests or pilgrims, could not until now be completely excavated. All of the four inscriptions excavated from the religious sanctuary – two altars and two metal votive plaques – were dedicated only to Jupiter Heliopolitanus. Venus Victrix and Mercury have not been identified here. Therefore it is even more difficult to identify more particularly the function of both cult rooms and to determine who their audience was.
Excavations in the canabae legionis as well as in the open-air region in the municipium have revealed that all of the known Roman housing types, for example the long and narrow row-house, the court-yard house with numerous wings, and the peristyle house, were present at Carnuntum; in the majority of cases, however, the ground plans and construction dates are not well-enough known or cannot be reliably adduced.
One residential district of the civilian town was already excavated in 1938 during the course of the ‘Führer Excavations’; the restored ground plans (in the open-air region) and the datings assigned to them, however, can no longer be maintained today. House I (as the ‘House of Lucius’ accessible today to the public) was recently re-studied between 2001-2002. On top of remains of Wooden Phase I, dating to the late 1st or early 2nd c., around the mid-2nd c. there followed a stone(socle) structure with a maximum 60 cm. gravel foundation conforming to the Central Corridor type. On both sides of a central passageway, with forward-leaning porch at the north, lay apparently two rooms each. The built-upon area (excluding the porch) covered ca. 18 x 15 m.
In Period II, dating to the Severan period, the house was transferred further to the south and moved away from the street. Its built area of 16.5 x 15 m. again revealed a central corridor, to the east of which lay two rooms and to the east four; all of these rooms, with the exception of one with an internal area of 60 m², only measured between 10 and 16 m² in area. To the south, in the direction of the street, a square garden, enclosed by a wall, measuring 16.5 m. along a side and with a usable area of a good 270 m², was laid out.
The Archaeological Park Carnuntum (APC) is Austria’s largest archaeological touristic area. In addition to the Museum Carnuntinum in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, the Open-Air Area in Petronell (the residential district of the civilian town), the late ancient ‘Heathen Gate’, and the two amphitheatres (of the Legionary camp and the civilian town) can all be visited. Additional buildings such as the large bathing complex (the so-called Palace Ruins) in Petronell are being readied for conservation and for visitation by the public. The Legionary camp, which has to a great extent been excavated, has been filled in again; its walls, however, are clearly recognisable as characteristic features of the area. Furthermore, in Petronell the private museum of the association ‘Auxiliarkastell Carnuntum’ (Auxiliary Camp Carnuntum) can be found, in the basement of which is preserved an intersection of the aqueduct with a drainage canal; temporary exhibitions are also mounted here.
M. Buora – W. Jobst (Hrsg.), Roma sul Danubio. Da Aquileia a Carnuntum lunga la via dell’ambra, Cataloghi e monografie archeologiche dei civici musei di Udine 6 (2002).
G. Dembski, Die antiken Gemmen und Kameen aus Carnuntum (2005).
Ch. Ertel, Römische Architektur in Carnuntum, Der Römische Limes in Österreich 38 (1991).
Ch. Ertel – V. Gassner et al., Untersuchungen zu den Gräberfeldern in Carnuntum, Der Römische Limes in Österreich 40 (1999).
V. Gassner, Kulträume mit seitlichen Podien in Carnuntum. Überlegungen zum Tempel II im Iuppiterheiligtum auf dem Pfaffenberg, in: Vis Imaginum. Festschrift für Elisabeth Walde zum 65. Geburtstag (2005) 79–90.
F. Humer, Malereireste aus einem Wohnhaus der colonia Septimia Aurelia Antoniniana Karnuntum, in: Orbis Antiquus. Studia in honorem Ioannis Pisonis, (Cluj-Napoca 2004) 256–268, 11 Abb.
F. Humer (Hrsg.), Legionsadler und Druidenstab. Vom Legionslager zur Donaumetropole, Sonderausstellung aus Anlass des Jubiläums "2000 Jahre Carnuntum" (Horn 2006) 2 Bde.
W. Jobst, Provinzhauptstadt Carnuntum. Österreichs größte archäologische Landschaft (1983).
W. Jobst (Hrsg.), Carnuntum. Das Erbe Roms an der Donau. Katalog der Ausstellung des Archäologischen Museums Carnuntinum in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg AMC (1992).
W. Jobst, Carnuntum. Führer / Guide / Guide / Guida. Deutsch, English, Francais, Italiano (1998).
W. Jobst, Das Heidentor von Carnuntum. Ein spätantikes Triumphalmonument (1998).
M. Kandler, Liber und Libera in Carnuntum, in: Carinthia Romana und die Römische Welt. Festschrift für Gernot Piccottini zum 60. Geburtstag, hrsg. von F.W. Leitner, Aus Forschung und Kunst 34 (2001) 63–77.
M. Kandler, Carnuntum (mit Beiträgen von F. Humer und H. Zabehlicky), in, M. Šašel Kos — P. Scherrer (Hrsg.), The Autonomous Towns in Noricum and Pannonia – Die autonomen Städte in Noricum und Pannonien: Pannonia II, Situla 42 (2004) 11–66.
M. Kandler, Zur Deutung des Tempels II auf dem Pfaffenberg bei Carnuntum, in: Orbis Antiquus. Studia in honorem Ioannis Pionis (2004) 269–282.
G. Kremer, Das Heiligtum des Jupiter Optimus Maximus auf dem Pfaffenberg/Carnuntum 1. Die Skulpturen, Der Römische Limes in Österreich 41, Sonderband 2 (2005).
M. Mosser, Datierungskriterien für Stelen der legio XV Apollinaris in Carnuntum, in: Die Maastrichter Akten des 5. Internat. Kolloquiums über das provinzialrömische Kunstschaffen. Typologie, Ikonographie und sozialer Hintergrund der provinzialen Grabdenkmäler und Wege der ikonographischen Einwirkung. Maastricht 29. 5 bis 1. 6. 1997, hrsg. v. T.A.S.M Panhuysen (2001) 187–203.
I. Piso, Das Heiligtum des Jupiter Optimus Maximus auf dem Pfaffenberg/Carnuntum 1. Die Inschriften, Der Römische Limes in Österreich 41, Sonderband 1 (2003).
E. Vorbeck, Militärinschriften aus Carnuntum2 (1980).
E. Vorbeck, Zivilinschriften aus Carnuntum2 (1980).
Excavation reports and reports of archaeological finds, as well as individual studies, regularly appear in: Carnuntum Jahrbuch; Fundberichte aus Österreich; Römisches Österreich