New Research into Roman Stone Architecture in Bavaria

Abstract

According to the present state of research the early Roman settlements in Bavaria, Kempten and Augsburg, consisted exclusively of timber buildings and supposedly remained so until the middle of the century in the case of Kempten, and into the 2nd half of the 1st cent. A.D. in Augsburg’s case. Referring to a Corinthian capital from Augsburg and an anthemion from Kempten, this article shows however that the settlements’ timber-dominated urban fabric did feature a few stone, even marble buildings from the early Imperial period onwards. How rapidly newly established settlements north of the Alps were endowed with fine architecture has been increasingly observed of late in the neighbouring provinces; the objects presented here now provide the first evidence of comparable efforts in the early settlements of Roman Bavaria too. Marble deposits near Sterzing appear to have been exploited for this purpose soon after the arrival of Roman troops. The stone-working expertise seems to have come from the Regio X in Upper Italy.