Lauriacum
Lauriacum was an ancient Roman settlement located in present-day Lorch, Upper Austria, strategically positioned at the junction of the Danube and the Ivesis River (Enns). Originally a Celtic settlement, it came under Roman control when Noricum was occupied in 15 BC. By the mid-first century AD, Lauriacum had developed into a fortified military outpost with civilian quarters, known as canabae. The site saw significant military activity, particularly during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, who constructed a new fortress there around 205 AD. Lauriacum was granted the status of a municipium under Emperor Caracalla but faced destruction during invasions by the Alamanni in the third century.
Despite these hardships, it experienced a revival during the later Roman Empire, with notable visits from emperors such as Constantius II and Valentinian I. By the end of the western Empire, Lauriacum had become a bishopric and ultimately succumbed to Germanic invasions, leading to the relocation of its population downriver. Archaeological findings reveal the layout of the legionary camp and various civilian structures, including a forum, baths, and cemeteries, illustrating the settlement's historical significance. Additionally, Lauriacum's early Christian heritage is marked by a basilica and the original church of St. Lorenz, highlighting its importance in the region's religious history.
Subject Terms
Lauriacum
(Lorch, beside Enns) in Noricum (Upper Austria)
Lauriacum was the terminal of the route leading northward from Aquileia on the Adriatic. It was also strategically placed on the road leading from west to east beside the Danube; and the terrace on which it was built overlooked the junction of the Danube with its southern tributary the Ivesis (Enns), while across the river the valley of the Aist afforded penetration into the interior of Germany. Originally a Celtic settlement, Lauriacum passed into the hands of the Romans when they occupied Noricum in 15 BC. In the middle of the first century AD its auxiliary garrison was protected by earthworks and a double trench, and adjacent civilian quarters (canabae) had also come into existence.
After the destruction of the post of the Marcomanni in 170/71 Marcus Aurelius stationed a legion at Albing nearby, but owing to this camp's vulnerability to flooding Septimius Severus built a new fortress at Lauriacum (c 205). Under his son Caracalla the civilian town that had arisen two hundred yards to the west of the stronghold received the rank of municipium, but thereafter the place suffered from destruction by the Alamanni, and was burned down in the times of Gallienus (253–68) and Aurelian (270–75). In the later empire it belonged to the province of Noricum Ripense. Enjoying a certain revival during the following century, Lauriacum was visited by Constantius II (341), and subsequent temporary residents included Valentinian I, when he was reorganizing the frontier defences (374), and then Gratian (378). Eugippius, in his life of Abbot (St.) Severinus (d. 482), tells how at the very end of the western empire the place—by now the seat of a bishopric—was finally given up to the Germanic invaders, and its population (including numerous refugees from elsewhere) was moved down the Danube to Faviana (Krems) and entrusted to the king of the German tribe of the Rugii.
Most of the legionary camp of Lauriacum has been brought to light; of rhomboid shape, it included all the normal features (including a valetudinarium, sick bay), and was surrounded by a six-foot-thick wall with trenches and thirty-six towers. The first major building period of the civilian town, which has also been excavated, dates from the Severan epoch. A commercial forum has been located (the main forum, believed to be in the neighborhood of the church of St. Lorenz, is not yet uncovered), and there are remains of a large bathing establishment, private houses and two dozen cemeteries. The successive strata of Germanic invasions and subsequent reconstructions can be identified. Christianity—Florian was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian in 304—is represented by a small basilica built over the sick bay of the legionary camp, while the original church of St. Lorenz was likewise of early date.