On the Roman Road
On Monday January 18, Martin Luther King Holiday in the U.S., Tom and I went on our second daylong tour with the USO. We traveled about three hours from Stuttgart to Trier, Germany.
Trier is Germany's oldest city. It was founded by Augustus in 16 BC but historians claim the area was inhabited by Celts for 1,300 years before Rome even existed. Trier was a Roman town called Augusta Treverorum for 400 years. When Emperor Diocletian (ruled AD 285-305) divided the overextended empire into four sectors - Trier was made the capital of the west (roughly modern-day Germany, France, Spain and England).
Trier is smaller now than it was during Roman times but it is still a good sized city with lots of shopping, Germany's oldest Christian church and Germany's best Roman ruins.
Our first stop was the Tourist Information center where a tour guide got on our bus and led us on about a two hour driving tour with two stops. The first was a scenic overlook point and the second was the amphitheater.
The amphitheater was built around 200 AD and seated approximately 16,000. Our tour guide told us the amphitheater was the tenth largest in the Roman Empire. This is one of the two grand entry points - called vomitoria - notice that the word is very close to our English term vomit. Apparently they were called vomitoria because of the way the crowds could spew out quickly after events.
My guidebook stated that while this amphitheater did see some gore, the scene here was nothing compared to the bloody, gladiator scene in Rome. This amphitheater was more often used for less-bloody spectacles, assemblies and religious festivals. This staircase in the center takes you down to to the cellar where people and other items were staged for the various events.
After we got done at the amphitheater, we were taken back downtown for about 5 hours of free time. One of the popular attractions in Trier is the Porta Nigra (black gate). Of the four-mile town wall's four huge gates, only this one - the northern gate - survives.
The gate was constructed without mortar - only pegs held the sandstone blocks together.
The reason this gate survived and the other three didn't is because it was used as a church and monastery during the 11th and 12th centuries. The other gates were destroyed by medieval metal and stone scavengers. That's the same reason you don't see stone seats in the amphitheater - those stones were also salvaged.
Tom and I had lunch at a cafe in the main Hauptmarkt (Market Square). This was our view.
Right off the Market Square is the Cathedral (Dom), the oldest Christian church in Germany.
After Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 312 AD, his mother, Helena, allowed part of her palace in Trier to be used as the first church at this location. In 326 AD, celebrating the 20th year of his reign, Constantine began the construction of two great churches - St. Peter's in Rome and this cathedral in Trier.
Here are some photos from inside.
Behind this gate is the cathedrals' most important relic, the supposed Holy Robe of Jesus Christ. Supposedly Constantine's mother Helena found it in Jerusalem while on pilgrimage.
A self portrait we took inside the 12th century Domkreuzgang cloister, which is between the Dom and the Liebfrau church.
After the Dom we walked on to try and find the Konstantin Basilica, which is the largest intact Roman structure outside of Rome. It started out as a throne room but is best known as a basilica. We found it but we weren't able to go inside because it is closed on Mondays.
Our final stop of the day was the site of the Kaiserthermen, Imperial Baths.
The baths were constructed by Constantine but were never finished. When Constantine left Trier in 316 AD, the huge and costly project was abandoned. Thirty years of construction left nearly a mile of underground tunnels and foundation work that we explored.
As we made our way back to the bus, Tom fired up his pipe. More remains of the baths are in the background.
Trier is smaller now than it was during Roman times but it is still a good sized city with lots of shopping, Germany's oldest Christian church and Germany's best Roman ruins.
Our first stop was the Tourist Information center where a tour guide got on our bus and led us on about a two hour driving tour with two stops. The first was a scenic overlook point and the second was the amphitheater.
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| Overlooking Trier |
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| The amphitheater |
My guidebook stated that while this amphitheater did see some gore, the scene here was nothing compared to the bloody, gladiator scene in Rome. This amphitheater was more often used for less-bloody spectacles, assemblies and religious festivals. This staircase in the center takes you down to to the cellar where people and other items were staged for the various events.
After we got done at the amphitheater, we were taken back downtown for about 5 hours of free time. One of the popular attractions in Trier is the Porta Nigra (black gate). Of the four-mile town wall's four huge gates, only this one - the northern gate - survives.
The gate was constructed without mortar - only pegs held the sandstone blocks together.
The reason this gate survived and the other three didn't is because it was used as a church and monastery during the 11th and 12th centuries. The other gates were destroyed by medieval metal and stone scavengers. That's the same reason you don't see stone seats in the amphitheater - those stones were also salvaged.
Tom and I had lunch at a cafe in the main Hauptmarkt (Market Square). This was our view.
Right off the Market Square is the Cathedral (Dom), the oldest Christian church in Germany.
After Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 312 AD, his mother, Helena, allowed part of her palace in Trier to be used as the first church at this location. In 326 AD, celebrating the 20th year of his reign, Constantine began the construction of two great churches - St. Peter's in Rome and this cathedral in Trier.
Here are some photos from inside.
A self portrait we took inside the 12th century Domkreuzgang cloister, which is between the Dom and the Liebfrau church.
After the Dom we walked on to try and find the Konstantin Basilica, which is the largest intact Roman structure outside of Rome. It started out as a throne room but is best known as a basilica. We found it but we weren't able to go inside because it is closed on Mondays.
Our final stop of the day was the site of the Kaiserthermen, Imperial Baths.
As we made our way back to the bus, Tom fired up his pipe. More remains of the baths are in the background.
Wow, great photos! Is it just an illusion that it looks like Trier is built inside a giant bowl? That doesn't seem very defensible.
ReplyDeleteYep, I think it is a bit of a bowl. Trier is in the Mosel Valley. The Mosel River is nearby. A four-mile long city wall was necessary for defenses but the nice thing about all that flat land is they were able to see enemies coming for miles.
ReplyDelete