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On the Jakobsberg above the old town of Mainz rises a strange building: a slightly cylindrical, more than 20 meters high tower made of ashlars and rubble stones, which medieval chroniclers compared to a pyre.
In the 16th century, the massive block was inserted into the fortification of the city citadel and stood the test of time as a watchtower.
Amazingly, the origin of this structure can be determined very precisely.
After the Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus after an unfortunate fall from his horse in 9 BC.
He was given numerous honors.
One of them was a cenotaph on the Rhine that his army built for him.
This cenotaph was identified in good time with the tower above the ancient Moguntiacum, which Drusus had built as a deployment camp.
Now the "acorn" or "Drusus stone", as it is called, has been extensively restored.
The "Drususstein" on the citadel in Mainz
Source: picture alliance / akg / Bildarc
Before the cleaning, the monument, which is one of the most important and oldest evidence of Roman times in Germany, was extensively examined.
Boreholes showed that its base is four meters below today's ground level, so the tower does not measure 24, but 28 meters, says the head of the building management in Mainz, Gilbert Korte.
In order to stabilize the core made of cast masonry, the Roman mortar was analyzed in the laboratory and reproduced in a lime mortar formulation.
Their hardening is still ongoing so that parts of the building are still covered.
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When that's done, an installation in one place should give an idea of what this cenotaph might originally have looked like.
Its builders are likely to have taken similar works as a model, as they were not imperial architects, but engineers of the Roman field army, who wanted to use it as a memorial to their esteemed general and almost staged a mutiny for it.
Nero Claudius Drusus (38-9) was the stepson and adopted son of the emperor Augustus
Source: Wikipedia / Siren-Com / CC BY-SA 3.0
The man who lived in 12 BC
BC five legions including auxiliary troops, perhaps 50,000 men, led to a major offensive across the Rhine, was just 26 years old.
But his origins, his rank and not least his military talent and personal charisma made him a hero of the legionaries.
Drusus came from the marriage of Senator Tiberius Claudius Nero to Livia, but was only born when she was the heir to Caesar Octavian 39 BC.
Had married.
After his victory in the civil war and his rise to “Princeps” Augustus, he grew up in the imperial household and - like his older brother, who later became Emperor Tiberius - was adopted by it.
Another family bond was Drusus 'marriage to Antonia Minor, who was a daughter of Augustus' sister Octavia to Marcus Antonius.
While Augustus promoted Tiberius mainly for dynastic reasons and “against his inclination”, according to the historian Cassius Dio, Drusus seems to have been the favorite of his imperial adoptive father.
He was barely 19 years old that the Senate allowed him to run through the Roman official career ahead of time.
The princes Drusus and Tiberius present Augustus with the laurels of victory for the conquest of the Alpine foothills
Source: picture-alliance / akg-images
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So it happened that Drusus had already been quaestor and praetor when he was entrusted with the supreme command of the German army.
Like Tiberius, with whom he had already undertaken a campaign in the Alpine region, the prince was to be given the opportunity to demonstrate his military authority, which would distinguish him as a possible successor in the leadership of the Roman military monarchy.
Because it was victories that legitimized rule.
But why the wild Germania?
To this day, historians argue what made Augustus undertake this feat.
Did he want to follow Caesar, who had crossed the Rhine several times during his conquests in Gaul?
Was it about pushing Roman rule to the edge of the North Sea?
Or did he just want to improve the protection of Gaul, which only existed in 17 or 16 BC?
By Germanic tribes, who not only defeated the governor Marcus Lollius, but also captured one of his legionary eagles?
Drusus opened the Roman offensive with 50,000 men
Source: picture-alliance / Mary Evans Pi
The previous peace agreement with the Parthians gave Augustus the opportunity to provide the empire's forces for the offensive in the north, which Drusus was preparing as governor of the Gallic provinces.
The Germans of the Sugambrer tribe would hardly have been aware of what was brewing.
When they were 12 BC
BC set on a foray across the Rhine, they were cut down by superior forces.
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But Drusus did not stop there.
He built a fleet, drove it down the Rhine and probably reached the mouth of the Weser along the North Sea coast.
In doing so, he opened up completely new possibilities for Roman strategy.
On the one hand, the expedition provided important information about the geography of the forest and swamp-rich country, of which one had at most a rudimentary idea in Rome.
On the other hand, the subjugation of the coastal residents secured the company's northern flank.
Source: WORLD infographic
Also in the years 11 and 10 the Roman troops advanced deep into north-western and central Germania.
The emperor granted his stepson the honorable badge of "ornamenta triumphalia".
But there were no lasting successes.
The ancient historian Dieter Timpe has shown with good arguments that a large-scale forceps operation in the year 9 should ultimately bring the decision.
While an army group was moving east along the Lippe, Drusus attacked from Mainz.
But the Cherusci withdrew, so that Drusus reached the Elbe without having achieved a decisive victory.
There (around Magdeburg) he is said to have toyed with the idea of crossing the river.
But a frightening apparition stopped him.
“For a woman of superhuman height came up to him and said: 'Where in the world are you hurrying, insatiable Drusus?
To see all of this is not fated for you.
Withdraw;
Your deeds and your days are at hand. '”Drusus followed the advice, had signs of victory erected and withdrew.
The Drususstein, attempt at reconstruction by Hans G. Frenz (1985)
Source: Wikipedia / Kamée, upload Bahmann / CC BY-SA 3.0
Link to the original file, usable under license CC BY-SA 3.0
Research recognized in good time that the contemporary sources on which the Roman Senator Cassius Dio relied for his presentation reflected substantial criticism of the warfare of Drusus.
The scene after the return of Alexander the Great in 326 on the Hyphasis River in India is too similar.
There, too, the Macedonian king wanted to follow his “longing” (Greek: “pothos”) and move to the limits of the inhabited world.
But his army mutinied.
Eventually Alexander put up several signs of victory and marched back.
The fact that with Drusus it was apparently the gods who convinced him of the uselessness of his enterprise can be interpreted as a criticism of the costly campaigns in a remote, inhospitable country that would never bring the costs of its conquest.
"Where in the world are you rushing to, insatiable Drusus?" The eerie woman is said to have asked the general
Source: picture alliance / akg-images
Indeed, Drusus had something in common with Alexander.
He was 30 years old when he traveled through India after conquering the Persian Empire.
He was 29 when he stood on the Elbe.
Like the Macedonian, he did not shy away from exposing himself in combat and personally stealing "enemy armor", as the historian Suetonius noted: "Because it was not enough for him to just remain victorious."
The tall woman was proven right, however.
On the march back, Drusus fell so unhappily from his horse that a recovery could no longer be hoped for.
A bewildered Augustus immediately sent Tiberius north, who found the sick man still alive and took over the army after his brother's death.
The suspicion that the emperor doubted the loyalty of his legionaries cannot be completely dismissed.
Arch erected in honor of Drusus on the Via Appia near Rome
Source: picture alliance / Prisma Archive
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Exuberant honors were bestowed on the dead.
Augustus and Tiberius gave the funeral speeches, the Senate granted him a triumphal arch, and the Emperor gave him and his descendants the nickname "Germanicus".
The son who bore this name was supposed to lead the great campaigns of revenge after the collapse of Roman rule in Germania following the catastrophe of the governor Varus in AD 9.
Another son, Claudius, ascended the imperial throne in AD 41.
The legions in Moguntiacum forced a further honor.
When the soldiers opposed the transfer of the dead Drusus to the family grave in Rome and threatened mutiny, Tiberius defused the situation by allowing them to erect a huge memorial to their deceased general, writes the Viennese ancient historian Reinhard Wolters.
Here, in the immediate vicinity of the theater of the garrison, parades of the troops and solemn meetings of dignitaries from the neighboring communities took place year after year in honor of Drusus.
The "Drususstein" in Mainz is commonly identified with this memorial.
The plan is to soon bring the outdoor facilities into a condition that is appropriate for what is probably the oldest Roman building in Germany.
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