Miltenberg

The large cohort fort, the so-called "Old Town fort", is located somewhat downstream from Miltenberg. It takes its name from Miltenberg's predecessor settlement, the town of Wallhausen. It literally stood on the ruins of the Roman fort.
Of the "Old Town fort", which was designed for 480 men - cavalrymen and infantrymen - only the remains of walls and parts of the bath as well as traces of the medieval use of the area in the form of a church ruin are visibly preserved. An inscription on a votivE altar from the sanctuary of Mercury, which existed on the Greinberg, shows that the Cohors I Sequanorum et Rauracorum equitata was quartered in this fort. The troops had built the fort first as a wood-and-earth camp and then extended it in stone.
Outside the fort, directly at the west gate, the Victoria Column was found, which is now on display in the Museum Stadt Miltenberg.

The remains of the Roman baths are located not far from the present-day Kneipp facility near the "Parkhof" restaurant between Miltenberg and Kleinheubach. It is remarkable that the Romans already had hot and cold running water here, a sewage system and heated floors and walls, so-called hypocausts - a standard of hygiene and comfort that was only achieved again in the 20th century. The Romans also brought the practise to write to the region; after the Romans left (around 250 AD), it took several centuries before writing was practised here again.

Upstream, 2.3 km as the crow flies from the Old Town fort, is the numerus fort Miltenberg Ost/Bürgstadt, the Eastern fort (86 m x 74 m, for 160 men), which secured the beginning of the Limes on the river bank. The 0.6 ha fort, discovered in 1912, is today completely covered by residential buildings. The fortification had four gates and was surrounded by a Spitzgraben (a type of ditch); the porta praetoria led to the Main river.

The "garrison" of the eastern fort, Numerus exploratorum Seiopensium, is also known from the votive stone from the Mercury shrine on the Greinberg. On the Greinberg, directly above Miltenberg, there was a temple district. Some of the votive stones are now in the Miltenberg Museum. There was already a wooden sanctuary at this site in Celtic times.

Auxiliary troops from the Roman provinces were stationed in the forts and were granted Roman citizenship upon honourable discharge after 25 years of service. Women and children, craftsmen and former soldiers lived in the camp villages in front of the forts. From the civilian settlement of the numerus fort Miltenberg Ost/Bürgstadt, which is not visible, an excavated pottery kiln was preserved during construction work, was restored and is accessible in the Maria Regina House (Caritas retirement home). There, information boards and a film provide additional information. Explanations of the history of the Romans in the Miltenberg area are provided by information boards at the "Parkhof", at the Old Folk High School (between the Main and St. James), in Bürgstadt (Am Stadtweg) and at the watchtowers.

Would you like to learn more about the Romans in and around Miltenberg? Ask for guided tours with historian Wilhelm Otto Keller or Limes Cicerona Dorothea Zöller.