Ancient Roman sites

Cornelius Aqueduct

The Roman aqueduct bridge in Termini Imerese is the largest and best preserved in Sicily. The source was located 5 km east of the city, at the foot of Monte San Calogero where the remains of the two settling tanks can still be seen in the locality of Brucato. The aqueduct needed to cross the Barratina stream and the earliest the crossing was made at Fontana Superiore with a siphon about 600 m long, of which the well pre ...
Founded: 2nd century BCE | Location: Termini Imerese, Italy

Dalheim Ricciacum

Dalheim Ricciacum is the site of a well-preserved Gallo-Roman theatre dating from the 2nd century AD. The site was first excavated by the Société Archéologique around 1850 under Antoine Namur (1812–1828). Thousands of objects were discovered, registered and described in three reports. It appears that the settlement grew considerably until by the 3rd century it covered an area of about 25 hectares. In addition to the ...
Founded: 100-200 AD | Location: Dalheim, Luxembourg

Mamer Roman Ruins

The remains of the Roman public baths in Mamer have been reconstructed. During the Gallo-Roman era which lasted until about 450, the Romans built and maintained a number of roads in the area including the Kiem (Latin caminus, road) linking Trier to Reims through what is now Mamer. Mambra was a Romanvicus centred around a villa with thermal baths, sited on the banks of the Mamer River at the eastern end of today"s Mam ...
Founded: 0-200 AD | Location: Mamer, Luxembourg

Aqua Marcia

The Aqua Marcia is one of the longest of the eleven aqueducts that supplied the city of Rome. The aqueduct was built between 144–140 BC, during the Roman Republic. The still-functioning Acqua Felice from 1586 runs on long stretches along the route of the Aqua Marcia. Together with the Aqua Anio Vetus, Aqua Anio Novus and Aqua Claudia, it is regarded as one of the 'four great aqueducts of Rome.' It was ...
Founded: 144-140 BCE | Location: Rome, Italy

Villa Rustica

In Blankenheim are remains of a Roman country estate, which is one of the largest of its kind in the Rhineland. Through modern architecture the pillared entrance hall, the Porticus, was reconstructed, with its present 60m it gives us a glimpse of the huge dimensions of the former villa. The Blankenheim Roman villa was constructed at the end of 1st century AD. Archaeological uncovering of the former bathing areas and the ...
Founded: 1st century AD | Location: Blankenheim, Germany

Aquae Iasae

Aquae Iasae was the Roman settlement and Roman bath in the area of present city Varaždinske Toplice. In the 3rd century BC, in this area lived the Illyrian tribe Jasi, whose name the Romans referred to later in calling this place Aquae Iasae, 'Waters of the Jasi'. The village Jasa, thanks to its springs of water, grew into a significant medical, ceremonial, cultural and economic center of Pannonia Superior. Bu ...
Founded: 0-300 AD | Location: Varaždinske Toplice, Croatia

Aguntum

Aguntum was a Roman site in East Tirol. The city appears to have been built to exploit the local sources of iron, copper, zinc and gold. During the early Christian era the city was the site of a bishopric. The oldest Roman remains are a two-roomed wooden structure discovered beneath the bath house and dated to the mid-first century BC. Aguntum was a mining and trading centre which exploited local sources of iron, copper ...
Founded: 50 BC | Location: Lienz, Austria

Villa Romana di Patti

The Villa Romana di Patti is a large and elaborate Roman villa. It was the seat of a rich latifundium estate, which until its discovery had few known examples except for the Villa Romana del Casale. The villa was discovered in 1973 during construction work on a stretch of the A20 motorway, when part of the north side of the villa was destroyed. Although excavation is continuing and many rooms still need to be revealed, ...
Founded: 2nd century AD | Location: Patti, Italy

Rodange Roman Ruins

The large Trevian oppidum in Rodange dates from the 1st century BC, surrounded by ramparts of a length of nearly 3 km. Gallo-Roman vicus ruins were built between the 1st and the beginning of the 5th century.
Founded: 0-100 BC | Location: Rodange, Luxembourg

Albenga Amphitheatre

Built around the 2nd century AD, the Albenga amphitheater is still the only building of this kind known in the Riviera di Ponente. According to the portions of the wall that re-emerged in the excavations of 1973/75, it is believed that it had an elliptical plan of about 72.80 meters for 52.20 and that it could contain a few thousand spectators.Probably used only for gladiatorial shows, in history it was the scene of the ...
Founded: 2nd century AD | Location: Albenga, Italy

Andelo

Andelo or Andelos was an important trading centre during Roman Ages. There was a small settlement during the 4th-3rd centuries BCE, but the Roman town was established in the first century BCE. To aqueduct complex is the most valuable remain.
Founded: 1st century BCE | Location: Mendigorría, Spain

Ategua

Ategua is an Ibero-Roman fortified settlement with substantial archaeological remains stretching into the Middle Ages. Ategua was a great city that already existed from the third millennium BCE on, its wall was erected over a plateau that allowed it to control the whole horizon. The oldest documented archaeological finds at Ategua date from the Late Bronze Age, after which archaeologists have recorded a more or less unbr ...
Founded: 3000-2000 BCE | Location: Córdoba, Spain

Fulfinum

In the cove Sepen, just a few kilometres by air to the south of Omišalj, there is an inexhaustible site of archaeological heritage. The first traces of settling in the area date back into the 1st century when the Roman town Fulfinum emerged. Its emergence is related to the construction of the city for the retired Roman soldiers during the Flavian dynasty. A good geographical position caused the development of seafaring a ...
Founded: 1st century AD | Location: Omišalj, Croatia

Goeblange Roman Ruins

In the Miecher forest extensive remains of a Roman farming community have been found. Two large villas have been excavated and the foundations partially rebuilt. There are other buildings and fortifications on the site which are now being unearthed. Information boards at the site explain that the villas probably date back to the 1st century but were extensively developed in the 4th century. Roman civilization was then th ...
Founded: 0-100 AD | Location: Koerich, Luxembourg

Steinsel Roman Ruins

The rural sanctuary in Steinsel dates from the 1st to the 4th century AD.
Founded: 0-300 AD | Location: Steinsel, Luxembourg

Cara

Santacara, whose original name is Cara, was founded by the Romans around the 1st century BC to the site of a previous settlement from the Iron Age, on a small mound, a terrace on the river Aragon. The Roman foundation occurred in the context of the Sertorian Wars.  
Founded: 1st century BCE | Location: Santacara, Spain

Dalkingen Roman Site

In the neighborhood of the fort of Rainau-Buch, the remains of several other Roman buildings are visible. For instance, there is the ruin of a monumental gate in the limes wall near the modern village of Rainau-Dalkingen, about a kilometer north of the fort. Originally, it was a wooden construction, but it was rebuilt several times. In the final phase, at the beginning of the third century, it must have had a façade li ...
Founded: c. 200 AD | Location: Ostalbkreis, Germany

Raschpëtzer

Raschpëtzer is an artifical aqueduct (qanat) from Roman times, consisting of about 35 wells dug into the rock and linked together by a 600 m main passage and a net of secondary passages, designed to capture the underground water and take it to Roman villas. Raschpëtzer is a particularly well preserved example of a qanat and is probably the most extensive system of its kind north of the Alps. It has been under systemati ...
Founded: 150 AD | Location: Walferdange, Luxembourg

Lellig Roman Ruins

Remains of a Gallo-Roman funeral enclosure lies in the forest Weiler between Mertert and Lellig.
Founded: 0-200 AD | Location: Lellig, Luxembourg

Bruckneudorf Roman Villa

In Roman times the Bruckneudorf area was already densely populated, and Villa Bruckneudorf, one of the most important Roman villas to be discovered in Eastern Austria, is a few kilometres to the east. The villa is presumed to be a residence of the imperial family in the autumn of 375 AD. Today impressive ruins remain. Of the magnificent mosaics, more than 300 m² are still preserved. These are located in the Landesmus ...
Founded: 0-100 AD | Location: Bruckneudorf, Austria

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Château de Foix

The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.

In 1034, the castle became capital of the County of Foix and played a decisive role in medieval military history. During the two following centuries, the castle was home to Counts with shining personalities who became the soul of the Occitan resistance during the crusade against the Albigensians. The county became a privileged refuge for persecuted Cathars.

The castle, often besieged (notably by Simon de Montfort in 1211 and 1212), resisted assault and was only taken once, in 1486, thanks to treachery during the war between two branches of the Foix family.

From the 14th century, the Counts of Foix spent less and less time in the uncomfortable castle, preferring the Governors' Palace. From 1479, the Counts of Foix became Kings of Navarre and the last of them, made Henri IV of France, annexed his Pyrrenean lands to France.

As seat of the Governor of the Foix region from the 15th century, the castle continued to ensure the defence of the area, notably during the Wars of Religion. Alone of all the castles in the region, it was exempted from the destruction orders of Richelieu (1632-1638).

Until the Revolution, the fortress remained a garrison. Its life was brightened with grand receptions for its governors, including the Count of Tréville, captain of musketeers under Louis XIII and Marshal Philippe Henri de Ségur, one of Louis XVI's ministers. The Round Tower, built in the 15th century, is the most recent, the two square towers having been built before the 11th century. They served as a political and civil prison for four centuries until 1862.

Since 1930, the castle has housed the collections of the Ariège départemental museum. Sections on prehistory, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval archaeology tell the history of Ariège from ancient times. Currently, the museum is rearranging exhibits to concentrate on the history of the castle site so as to recreate the life of Foix at the time of the Counts.