Basilia, the Roman vicus without a name
13 December 2021
After Julius Caesar’s (100-44 BC) victory over the Celtic leader Vercingetorix at Alesia in 52 BC, Rome ruled Gaul, which is roughly equivalent to present-day France.
The Roman Republic also had a direct influence on the western and northwestern parts of Switzerland. The Celtic tribes in this region were allies (foederati) after the battle of Bibracte in 58 BC. Geneva (Genava) had already been incorporated into the Roman Gallia Narbonensis in 122 BC.
Moreover, in 44 BC, the Romans founded the present-day cities of Nyon (Colonia Iulia Equestris) and Augst/Kaiseraugst (Colonia Augusta Rauracorum). They built these two cities as strongholds against Germanic tribes.
The Romans finally conquered the entire area of today’s Switzerland between 15 and 13 BC. For a time, the Rhine was the Roman Empire’s natural border.
The administrative organisation of the Roman Empire underwent significant changes under Augustus’s reign (27 BC to 14 AD). The area around Basel became part of Gallia Belgica, which extended from present-day Belgium and eastern France up the Upper Rhine to Lake Geneva (lac Lemanus).
The Romans founded new towns, such as Avenches (Aventicum), and settlements, like Baden (Aquae Helveticae), as well as military camps, among others, in Windisch (Vindonissa).
The Münsterhill on the right (with its murus gallicus, making it an Oppidum) and the location of the Alte Gasfabrik/nowadays Novartis on the right were two Celtic hamlets before the Roman conquest. Image: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig
Romanisation (the cultural, economic, and social changes of the Celtic population and the adaptation of the Roman way of life), which had already begun several decades earlier, accelerated with the integration of the Celtic areas into the Roman Empire.
This Romanisation was not yet immediately noticeable in today’s Basel. Although a Celtic settlement, known as an oppidum, existed on the hill that is today’s Münster, it stood in the shadow of the Roman city of Augusta Raurica.
Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) reorganised the Empire. Basel became part of the Roman province of Germania Superior, which stretched over the Alsace, northern Switzerland, the Black Forest, and the Rhine and Main Rivers.
Image: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig
However, the small settlement of Basilia does not appear in Roman sources. Even the detailed Roman road map of the Tabula Peutingeriana, known as the Peutinger map, which dates back to the Middle Ages, does not mention Basilia. It was a vicus sine nomine, a settlement without a name.
Basilia appeared in the fifth century when the bishop from Augusta Raurica went to the hill on the Münster.
Basel became an important episcopal city during the reign of Charlemagne (748-814), especially after its incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire in 1032. The German emperors made Basel an important religious and administrative centre. The cathedral’s construction in the 11th century reminds us of their commitment. The bishop was a powerful prince of the Holy Roman Empire. But that is another story.
The Celtic name of the oppidum was Basilia. The origin of the name Basel is still the subject of (scholarly) debate, but the name has nothing to do with a (Greek) queen (basileus/basilea is the ancient Greek word for king/queen).
(Source: A. Hagendorn, ‘De la frontière à l’arrière-pays: la naissance d’un vicus’, dans Archéologie Suisse, Bâle, 2015).