Roman Castle Grinario

The fort is situated on the left bank of the Neckar, opposite the Lauter estuary, on a hillside terrace in the "Burgfeld" area. The plateau rises about 30 m above the river level. The Vicus extends north and south of the camp over a total distance of well over a kilometer.

In ancient times, the fortification was located here at a strategically important point in terms of traffic geography. The Roman long-distance road from Mogontiacum (Mainz) to Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg) ran here, and the Lautertal-Limes, the so-called "Sybillenspur", branched off from the Neckar-Odenwald-Limes here, connecting it via the small forts of Dettingen unter Teck and Clarenna (Römerstein-Donnstetten) with the Alblimes.

The place Grinario is already listed on the Tabula Peutingeriana. First excavations in the area of the Vicus, on the plot called "Burgfeld", took place by Oberamtmann Friedrich Karl Roser as early as 1783/84, further ones followed in 1843/44 and 1882 by Konrad Miller. Components of the Roman road system, building fragments of the Vicus and the cemetery on the northern edge of the settlement were discovered. The military camp itself was only found in 1885 by General Eduard von Kallee and systematically investigated and documented in 1896 by the Reichs-Limes-Kommission (RLK).

Following the major excavations of the 19th century, the southern corner of the camp, including the defensive tower, was reconstructed on the original foundations by the Esslingen Antiquarian Friends and the Swabian Alb Association. The final completion of this reconstruction only took place in 1911, with the builders orienting themselves on the Saalburg reconstruction. Contrary to the wide spacing of battlements of Roman military buildings, which was already known to archaeology at the time, Emperor Wilhelm had demanded a historically incorrect implementation of the battlements at the Saalburg, oriented towards medieval models. This imperial directive was adopted not only in Köngen, but in most structurally implemented reconstructions at home and abroad well into the 20th century.

As early as 1910, the ancient name Grinario had been verified by the discovery of two inscribed stones.

Due to construction activities, further excavations were carried out by the State Monuments Office of Baden-Württemberg in the second half of the 20th century. Most of these were smaller emergency and rescue excavations. Since 1974, Kastell Köngen has been a registered cultural monument. In 1987/88, the "Römerpark Köngen" was established as an archaeological open-air museum on the fort grounds.

The fort was probably built under Domitian, around 85/90 AD, initially as a wood-and-earth camp. The conversion to a stone fort took place in early Hadrianic times, shortly after 120 AD. An auxiliary unit of around 500 men, consisting of infantry and cavalry, a cohors quingenaria equitata (partially mounted cohort) whose name is currently unknown, was stationed in the fortification. With the advance of the Limes, most likely in 159 AD, the camp was abandoned and its garrison probably moved to Kastell Lorch. A bronze votive pendant was found there, which in its punched inscription mentions a Cohors equitata, unfortunately not specified further.

In its stone construction phase, the fort covered an almost square area of about 2.4 hectares, with side lengths of 151.8/150.3 m by 161.4/159.6 m. It was surrounded by a stone wall with an average thickness of 1.10 to 1.20 m. The rounded corners of the wall were fortified with towers, and the four gates were flanked by double towers. In addition, there were a total of ten intermediate towers, four in the area of the Praetentura (front camp area) and six in the Retentura (rear camp area). With its Porta Praetoria (main gate), the fort was oriented to the southeast, towards the Neckar.

Of the interior buildings, the centrally located, partially destroyed Principia (headquarters building) with the flag sanctuary (Sacellum or Aedes) were excavated and investigated. Their Sacellum, in contrast to the usual fort scheme, was not cellared. Furthermore, a larger building of unknown purpose was uncovered in the northern Retentura. The remaining interior buildings can be inferred from comparative findings. Praetorium (commander's residence), Valetudinarium (hospital) and Horreum (granary) can therefore be assumed as a matter of course, as well as stables and workshops in the Retentura area. The Praetentura should therefore have been built on the right and left of the Via Praetoria (main road) by three barracks each. In each of these barracks there were ten Contubernia (room communities) for eight men each. Together, the Contubernia of each barracks formed a centuria.

After the withdrawal of the garrison by 159 AD at the latest, but probably a few years earlier, the abandoned fort area was integrated into the Vicus and used for civilian purposes. The bathhouse, whose floor plan is reconstructed within the fort area today, is a testament to this later use.

The emergence of Grinario, the Vicus of Köngen, according to the findings, may not be dated concurrently with the construction of the fort, but rather with a slight delay, roughly between 90 and 100 AD.

The camp village, where initially military personnel, then traders, craftsmen and innkeepers, and later also discharged soldiers settled, extends west, but especially southwest and north of the fort. Here, the civil settlement's buildings were oriented towards the roads leading to the neighboring forts in Sumelocenna (Rottenburg) and Cannstatt. Overall, along this traffic axis, Grinario is estimated to have extended over a good kilometer. In the west-east direction, however, its width at its most extensive points was probably no more than 200 m, so that the place had roughly the shape of a street village. Its total size was slightly more than ten hectares, making it one of the more significant Vici in Southwest Germany.

Administratively, Grinario was initially under the command of the fort, then under the neighboring Roman city of Sumelocenna Rottenburg, the main town of the Civitas of the same name.

The center of the Vicus was located immediately south and west of the fort. A Beneficiarius station was also located here. The Beneficiarii were a type of road police with customs authority, responsible for safety on public roads. Just under 200 m to the south was a small temple dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus. Within the abandoned fort grounds itself, a public bathhouse of almost 740 square meters was built, which featured a Frigidarium (cold bath) with two cold water basins, a Caldarium (warm bath) with two warm water basins, a Tepidarium (lukewarm bath), and a Sudatorium (sweat bath). Other public buildings are also likely to have been housed in the former fort area.

Most residential and commercial buildings were arranged in strips slightly oblique to the passing streets; excavations show a wide variety of house forms. In addition to stone buildings, there are houses built using various wood and half-timbered techniques. Trade, metalworking, and pottery formed the economic basis of the place, with the potteries producing a wide range of products.

At the northern end of the settlement was the walled cemetery, of which 250 graves could still be examined. These were exclusively cremation burials.

At the end of the 2nd century, Grinario was hit by a fire catastrophe, but soon recovered and flourished again at the beginning of the 3rd century. However, this phase ended abruptly sometime in the middle of the 3rd century during the Alamannic expansion of the years 233 to 260 (Limesfall). Grinario was violently and definitively destroyed and abandoned by the surviving inhabitants. An impressive legacy of this turbulent time is a hoard of 615 silver coins discovered in 1967.

In the fort area, a smooth, bowl-shaped Terra Sigillata plate dating from around 150 AD was recovered, bearing a roughly incised owner's mark: Cont(ubernium) signiferi Lupi ("Property of the room community of the standard-bearer Lupus"). The plate was made by a potter named Reginus. The Contubernium, the room community, was the smallest unit of the Roman army and had a common living area in the barracks of the forts where they also cooked together.

Terra Sigillata

In addition to the previously mentioned plate by the manufacturer Reginus, who had his workshops either in Heiligenberg in Alsace or in Rheinzabern (Tabernae), 319 fragments of decorated bowls were already available in 1962, all of which could be reliably attributed to Rheinzabern. In the latter location, for example, the manufacturers Primitivus (Group II c) and Julius II–Julianus I (Group III a) are verifiable, who supplied not only Köngen but also the Raetian fort of Pfünz. 19 of Primitivus's mold bowl stamps were copied in Schwabegg, on the long-distance road from Augusta Vindelicum (Augsburg) to Cambodunum (Kempten). Since Pfünz was probably definitively destroyed in 233 AD according to current knowledge, both Sigillata manufacturers Primitivus and Julius II–Julianus I probably started their production in the first third of the 3rd century. Hans-Günther Simon noted in 1962 that the articles of the two manufacturers were probably produced beyond the time of the destruction of Pfünz. This provides an approximate dating specifically for these Köngen Sigillatas, especially since the probable general end of Rheinzabern production took place in the years 260/270 AD. It was also determined in 1962 that Rheinzabern goods by Victor I, as found in Pfünz, do not occur in Köngen.

Wood Paneling

Using dendrochronology, the paneling of a well in Köngen could be dated to a felling date of 140 +/- 10 AD.

Everyday Objects

Hans-Jürgen Eggers classified a ladle, found together with a kettle in a Vicus well, as Eggers C 1 or C 2. A bucket also discovered in the camp village is assigned to stage C 1.

After a small museum with an adjoining open-air area had already been set up in the reconstructed southwestern corner tower of the fort in 1978 by the State Monuments Office in cooperation with the Swabian Alb Association, a larger project was initiated after the acquisition of the entire fort area by the state, the municipality and the Alb Association in 1985 and finally realized by 1988. The entire fort area was transformed into an archaeological zone, and the floor plans of the excavated buildings as well as the fort roads were marked on the ground. Numerous copies of Roman stone monuments were erected here; the originals can be seen in the adjoining new Roman Museum. Here, further exhibits from the Roman era and the history of Roman Köngen are also presented.

Further finds were included in the magazines of the archaeological collection of the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart.

The archaeological monument Kastell Köngen is protected as a registered cultural monument within the meaning of the Monument Protection Act of the State of Baden-Württemberg (DSchG). Research and targeted collection of finds require permission; accidental finds must be reported to the monument authorities.