During the Roman wars with the Celtic tribes of ancient Europe, when they won new lands, they built fortresses, defensive walls and temples. Now, a team of archaeologists in Germany has made the unique discovery of two cult temples, a circular ditch and a sacrificial pit at the former Roman camp Haltern in northwestern Germany. The discovery marks the “first time” temple ruins have been identified at a Roman military site.
Unprecedented archaeological discovery at Haltern Roman Camp
In 16 to 13 AD, the Roman Commander Drusus reorganized the Rhine borders and invaded the country on the east bank. His main goal was to conquer Sugarmbri in the Lippe valley, near the Roman stronghold at Xanten. While this invasion is considered retaliation for an earlier Sugarmbrian invasion, most historians agree that he probably aimed to protect the fertile and corn-rich Lippe valley.
Drusus created one of the most important Roman military camps in Germania, located on the right bank of the Rhine. Now known as the Haltern Roman camp, the camp covers an area of 19 hectares, containing approximately 5,300 soldiers and auxiliary forces from the Nineteenth Legion. According to the discovery team’s statement, the two floor plans of the former building belonged to “rectangular cult buildings made of clay frames, with a small porch made of two columns.”
At the excavation site of the former military camp, known as the Faltern Roman camp, the foundations of the temples can still be seen as faint soil discolorations (LWL/C. Hentzelt)
Misunderstanding of the “Surprising Discovery” at Haltern Roman Camp
This Roman camp was previously excavated in 1928, after which the site was filled in to preserve the ruins. Known as the “twin temples,” the two sacred rectangular structures found at the Roman Haltern camp were attached to a larger building complex covering an area of about 2,000 meters square (21,500 square feet).
Not expecting to unearth any Roman temple in a military camp, archaeologists initially assumed that one of the buildings was a Roman academy, or meeting space for military officials. Furthermore, the discovery of the tools has led to the misapprehension that the meeting room was later reused as a workshop.
Researchers say the two sacred spaces excavated in the Haltern Roman camp were “temples with large stone platforms,” similar to examples in many contemporary Roman cities during the reign of the Emperor Emperor Augustus during the period from 31 BC to 14 AD. Between the two temples, the team found “a shallow, circular sacrificial pit,” said lead archaeologist Bettina Tremmel, from the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL) in Germany.
Tremmel described the pit as “a surprising find” because Roman law prohibited the burial of graves in camps and cities. Michael Rind, director of archeology at LWL, explains that the two small temples and the building suitable for the burn pit are “a unique group of structures within a Roman camp.”
Dive deep into the Augustinian Temple
The word “temple” comes from the Latin word templum, which originally meant a sacred space rather than a physical building. In ancient Rome, temples were carefully planned and measured sacred areas, created by skilled geometers. These experts used calibrated ropes and wooden poles to ensure precise alignment.
Roman temples were designed with aesthetic principles and followed the cosmic rules outlined by Vitruvius, a famous Roman author, architect and military engineer. According to Vitruvius, the architecture of Roman temples was based on symmetry and proportion, following a general rule. He emphasized the importance of the components having a correct relationship to the whole.
Augustinian style temples often have double square bases, in accordance with musical principles, in which halving the length of a string results in a note one octave higher due to a doubling of the vibrational frequency .
Only time will tell, but I’ve put my money on the double temple discovered at the Roman Haltern camp that has a double square foundation. This is entirely consistent with Augustine’s classical constructive impulse.
