display
The news that the general Nero Claudius Drusus fell from his horse in the depths of Germania and was struggling with death must have been reported in the summer of 9 BC.
In Rome caused a real panic.
Emperor Augustus immediately sent Tiberius, the brother of the military, to the camp, which has since been called "the cursed one".
After being violent across Europe, Tiberius met the ailing man before he died.
The show of strength probably had less to do with brotherly love than with the justified concern that a usurper could make use of the mighty military power of at least 60,000 legionnaires and auxiliary troops, which Drusus led with some success through the East Rhenish Germania in the fourth year.
Like his brother, Tiberius was not only a stepson of Augustus, but also an experienced military man whose prestige seemed capable of nipping any mutinies in the bud.
A message from the historian Suetonius shows how explosive the situation was.
While Tiberius was preparing everything for the splendid return of the deceased to Rome - officers and dignitaries of the rural and colonial towns along the way were to accompany the corpse - the soldiers insisted, downright furious, that they should be allowed to commemorate their general appropriately.
Tiberius defused the situation by allowing the army to build "an honorary grave mound around which the soldiers parade on a certain day every year and where the Gallic tribes made sacrifices by the state".
display
Science is to some extent agreed that this cenotaph is the Drususstein in Mainz, which was subjected to a comprehensive restoration in 2020.
The large legionary camp set up by Drusus on the Gallic (left) bank of the Rhine was one of the most important bases of the Roman army during operations in Germania.
However, it had nothing to do with the urban center from which large parts of the Limes were administered 100 years later.
Source: WORLD infographic
The Drususstein is not only one of the few remaining remains of the Roman Mogontiacum, but also one of the few Roman grave structures that have been preserved in place north of the Alps.
Archaeologists have found comparable monumental graves from the Republican era on the Via Appia near Rome.
The 28 meter high building was divided into three parts.
An approximately twelve-meter-long cylindrical main part rested on an approximately cubic base about ten meters high.
The adjoining, presumably dome-shaped end has not been preserved.
The Drusus stone got its current, cubic shape in the Middle Ages and early modern times, when it was used as a quarry and fortress tower.
In the lower part it lost its whitish lime or beige sandstone enclosure, while the “masonry belt” reinforced the middle part.
The core consisted of cast masonry, into which, however, a corridor was driven in modern times in order to integrate the tower, which can be seen from afar, into the fortress and to be able to use it as a viewing platform.
A door and a spiral staircase with 69 steps were built in for this.
The remains of the Drusus stone in Mainz;
on the right a reconstruction by the archaeologist Hans G. Frenz
Source: De Agostini / M. BORCHI via Getty Images;
Wikipedia / Kamée, upload Bahmann / CC BY-SA 3.0
display
From the news of the chronicler Otto von Freising (circa 1112–1158) that the tower resembled a “funeral pyre”, it was concluded that the cenotaph at that time had little in common with its ancient form and was reduced to its ancient building core.
Its bricks turned out to be extremely resistant and could be carefully cleaned and stabilized during the current restoration.
The importance the legionaries attached to the memory of their deceased general is demonstrated by the area around the tomb.
Large open spaces made it possible for several legions to deploy.
One street led to a theater with around 10,000 seats, which was aligned parallel to the front side of the tower and in which the sacrifices in honor of the dead and later also of the emperor were possibly held.
It is here that the displays of loyalty of the Gallic tribes must have taken place.
Augustus recognized what his soldiers expected of him.
He gave the building his blessing in retrospect and even ennobled it with a “funerary motto in verse”, which the emperor himself wrote, as Suetonius notes.
The cenotaph later became the starting point for a grave road that led to the Rhine.
You can also find “World History” on Facebook.
We look forward to a like.