Roman Switzerland
Nyon, Augst, Avenches, Windisch, Kaiseraugst, Great St Bernard
Key figures: Augustus, Tiberius, Drusus, Vespasian
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (German): Roman Empire, Aventicum
Before the conquest (2nd century–44 BC). Rome arrives from several directions. The Sottoceneri, home of the Gallic Insubres, becomes part of Cisalpine Gaul as early as the 2nd century BC and is annexed to Italy in 49 BC. Geneva, the northernmost oppidum of the Allobroges, belongs to the province of Gallia Narbonensis from the end of the 2nd century BC. After their defeat at Bibracte (58 BC) the Helvetii return to the Plateau, perhaps bound to Rome by a treaty. In 45/44 BC Caesar founds the Colonia Iulia Equestris, present-day Nyon, on land confiscated from the Helvetii, to bar their way to southern Gaul; in 44 BC Lucius Munatius Plancus founds the colony of Raurica, which Augustus will refound as Augusta Raurica, near present-day Augst.
The conquest of the Alps (15 BC). Augustus entrusts the conquest of the Alps to his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus. After years of preparation, in 15 BC the campaign starts with a pincer attack: Tiberius advances from Lyon, Drusus moves up the Adige valley, other troops push into the Grisons. Traces remain on the cathedral hill in Basel, on the Lindenhof in Zurich and in three watchtowers above the Walensee. The Lepontii of the upper Ticino and the four peoples of the Valais also submit. The Plateau becomes part of the province of Gallia Belgica and then, around AD 85, of Upper Germany; the Alpine valleys belong to Raetia and, in the case of the Valais, to the province of the Graian and Pennine Alps.
Vindonissa, the legion (AD 14–101). After the defeat of Varus in the Teutoburg Forest (AD 9), Rome gives up its offensives in Germany and defends the Rhine with a chain of camps. Under Tiberius the military post of Vindonissa, present-day Windisch, at the confluence of the Aare, Reuss and Limmat, becomes a legionary fortress: the XIII Gemina, the XXI Rapax and the XI Claudia are stationed there in turn, some six thousand men on about twenty hectares. Around the camp grows a civilian settlement of perhaps ten thousand people, with an amphitheatre, baths and temples. In the rubbish dump in front of the northern walls more than a hundred wooden writing tablets have survived, telling of the soldiers’ daily life. In 101, with the frontier now more than 250 km further north, Trajan transfers the legion to the Danube.
Aventicum, capital of the Helvetii. At the beginning of our era the Helvetii acquire a new capital, built from scratch near Lake Murten: Aventicum, present-day Avenches, which Tacitus calls gentis caput, the head of the people. The harbour mole dates from AD 5; the town has a grid plan with the forum at its centre. Around 70 Vespasian, who had ties to the Helvetii, not least because his son Titus had spent part of his youth in Avenches, makes it a colony: Colonia Pia Flavia Constans Emerita Helvetiorum Foederata. The town is surrounded by walls more than 5.2 km long with 73 towers; from 98 the great sanctuary of the Cigognier rises, of which one column survives, with the theatre opposite, and an amphitheatre on the side of the hill. On 19 April 1939 a gold bust, usually identified as the emperor Marcus Aurelius, is found in the drain of the Cigognier: a sign of the imperial cult imposed by Rome.
Roads, villas and Romanisation. The landscape is different from today’s: valley floors are marshy, whole regions are covered by forest, and the main route is not the Gotthard but the Great St Bernard, the quickest way between the Rhine and Rome, which the emperor Claudius has widened, founding the Forum Claudii Vallensium at Martigny. Towns, villages and markets grow along the roads. The second century is a time of peace: in Augusta Raurica, which has some twenty thousand inhabitants around 200, baths, a third theatre and houses decorated with mosaics are built; in the countryside luxurious villas rise, such as those of Orbe-Boscéaz, Pully and Colombier. In 212 all free inhabitants of the Empire become Roman citizens. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland describes Romanisation not as a simple imposition but as an encounter in which the Celtic and Raetian elites took an active part: the result is Gallo-Roman civilisation, stronger around Lake Geneva than in the Alpine valleys.
The crisis of the third century and the Rhine. From 213 the Alamanni press on the frontier. Around the middle of the century the Empire is shaken by civil wars and usurpers; in 260 the Alamanni break into the frontier provinces and the emperor Gallienus fortifies Vindonissa. In the second half of the century the territories beyond the Rhine are abandoned and the river once again becomes the frontier of the Empire. Augst is destroyed around 273/274 and takes refuge on the fortified hill of Kastelen; according to the Historical Dictionary, however, the effects of the Alamannic raids on Avenches should not be overstated. Diocletian and Constantine strengthen the frontier with forts at Oberwinterthur, Stein am Rhein and above all Kaiseraugst, the Castrum Rauracense, base of the legion I Martia. Around 352 the Kaiseraugst silver treasure is buried there. Valentinian I builds watchtowers along the Rhine, but in 401/402 Stilicho withdraws many troops to defend Italy. From then on Rome entrusts its defence to allied peoples: in 443 the Burgundians are settled in Sapaudia.
The Roman amphitheatre of Avenches
Photo: Odrade123, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Switzerland in the 1st–3rd centuries AD, with the boundaries of the Roman provinces from about 90 to 284 (modern map, German labels)
Marco Zanoli, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Roman columns of Nyon, the ancient Colonia Iulia Equestris, on the shore of Lake Geneva
Photo Jurate Daugelaite, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The only column still standing of the Cigognier sanctuary in Avenches, built from AD 98
Photo Odrade123, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Roman theatre of Augusta Raurica, Augst
Photo: Jan Hazevoet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
A stretch of the walls of the Castrum Rauracense, the late Roman fortress of Kaiseraugst, 4th century
Photo Roland Zumbuehl, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
The Biberlikopf above the Walensee: a First World War emplacement stands on the remains of one of the Roman watchtowers of the conquest of 15 BC
Photo Bobo11, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The amphitheatre of Vindonissa, Windisch, built next to the legionary fortress
Photo Roland zh, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The gold bust of Marcus Aurelius found in Avenches in 1939: the copy on display at the Roman Museum of Avenches
Photo Fanny Schertzer, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Roman road cut into the rock at the Great St Bernard; in the background the hospice
Photo Phylog, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Kaiseraugst silver treasure, 4th century, Roman Museum of Augusta Raurica
Photo: Codrinb, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0