Ricciacum Dalheim

History

The Gallo-Roman settlement of Vicus Ricciacus, near present-day Dalheim, is located on the Via Agrippa, the long-distance roman route linking the Mediterranean to the Rhine via Lyon (Lugdunum), Metz (Divodurum Mediomatricorum), Trier (Augusta Treverorum), towards Mainz (Mogontiacum) or Cologne (Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium). It was founded under the reign of Emperor Augustus on the initiative of his close collaborator Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa around 18/17 BC. The settlement was strategically established on the site of a former Treverian colony to serve as a staging post on Via Agrippa. In 70/71 AD, the subdivision of the site was reorganised based on a precise urban plan and the wooden buildings were replaced by stone constructions. This marked the beginning of the economic heyday of the vicus, which gradually spread over a total area of almost 35 hectares and thrived until the middle of the 3rd century AD. The major public buildings, temples, theatre and thermal baths date from this period.

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The first mentions of the Roman settlement reach back to the 17th century, with the work of Jesuit Father Alexandre Wiltheim. In the 1850s, the Société archéologique de Luxembourg published three detailed reports based on the results of systematic excavations.

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The first aerial photographs of the vicus in 1976 and 1979 revealed the extent and structural importance of this Roman site. This was the starting point for further programmed archaeological research. Between 1977 and 1986, a private quarter of the town was uncovered on the edge of the main artery, which can still be visited today.

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The discovery in 1985 of a well-preserved Gallo-Roman theatre with stone seating for almost 3,500 spectators marked the culmination of recent archaeological excavations. The Dalheim theatre, with its first two rows of seats equipped with both armrests and backrests, is the first definite evidence of Gaulish seats of honour. Over the years, other substructures have been excavated and studied by archaeologists, including a necropolis in 1982, two exceptionally large temples between 1986 and 1998, and the thermal baths in 2003/2004 and 2008/2009.

All these excavations, test pits and studies, both on the plateau and in the present-day centre of Dalheim, as well as surveys using aerial photos, geomagnetism and ground radar, have enabled us to draw up a relatively detailed map of the Roman town. This is due above all to the fortunate fact that large parts of the settlement were never covered by buildings.

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Sources :

• Le vicus romain de Dalheim, Jean Krier, 2010 © MNHA

• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricciacum