Glorious past

The main vestiges of this prosperous period are well known to visitors. For example, Porta Nigra, the fortified city gate built in the late second century and now recognized at the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps.

Also visible are substantial portions of the Imperial Baths constructed in the city in the fourth century at the behest of the Emperor Constantine. This complex was renowned in its own time and is also known today as the largest surviving portion of a Roman bath complex outside of Rome.

Porta Nigra. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Other famous and often visited sites include the bridge that crosses the Moselle and the Aula Palatina, also built by Constantine as part of his palace complex. Considered the largest extant ancient Roman basilica hall by UNESCO, the space is today consecrated as the Church of the Redeemer.

Roman Bridge. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Aula Palatina, the inside view. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Aula Palatina, also called Basilica of Constantine, view outside. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Hidden Augusta Treverorum

However, fans of Roman history can visit several other places of interest in Trier. Some sites are out of the way and are visited less often than others, while others are not even on tourist maps. In order to correct this injustice, we are going to offer you our selection of the seven less known Roman sites in Trier.

1/ The Barbara Baths

The Barbara Baths were built during the later half of the 2nd century AD to service the growing population. The water for the baths came via the Ruwer aqueduct which was built around the same time. The baths continued to be used until the 5th century. The Barbara Baths were listed as part of Trier’s UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. A modern walkway has been designed to give visitor access to the ancient ruins. Parts of the frigidarium, tepidarium, caldarium, and service corridors still remain visible. The place is very pleasant to visit thanks to the mounted footbridge, which crosses the archaeological area. Several information boards provide rich information on the excavations and the functioning of baths in antiquity.

Barbara Baths: Reconstruction of the Caldarium facade.

Path for visitors over the excavations area. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Archaeological area of Barbara Baths. Source: TimeTravelRome.

2/ The Forum Baths

The Forum Baths, or Baths of the Cattle Market, were located immediately north of the forum. The building itself was first constructed in the late 1st century AD. The ruins were discovered in 1987 during construction of a car park. The remains of the Forum Baths are on display in a viewing area with an attached museum. The remains of the caldaria and frigidarium, several external walls, the drainage system, and hypocaust heating system are on display inside a glass-walled building. Roman remains can be well seen through the panoramic windows even if the building is closed.

The view on the excavation area. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Another view of the site. Source: TimeTravelRome.

3/ Temple of Lenus Mars

The Sanctuary of Lenus Mars was a walled religious precinct located on a terrace on the western bank of the Moselle. The Romans incorporated the Treverian gods into their religious worship enlarging the site of an existing Celtic Treveri centre with a monumental Roman temple in the 1st century AD. The precinct included a Gallo-Roman style temple, a smaller shrine, a cult theatre, residential buildings, and a sacred spring with baths. The main temple of Lenus Mars was located to the north of the precinct.  The centre continued to be used through to the time of Emperor Gratian in the late 4th century. Much of the stonework was robbed during the Medieval period. The foundations and podium of the temple remain visible, and are accessible to the public. The source of the Irminenwingert spring is also visible nearby.

The current state of the Temple area is much less impressive than in the past. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Temple area of Lenus Mars – Reconstruction. From the Vici.org. Public domain according to the source.

4/ Roman Walls of Trier

Ancient Trier was surrounded by a fortified city wall totalling 6.4 kilometres in length and enclosing an area of 285 hectares. Recent dendrochronological analysis has dated the wall’s construction to AD 170. The majority of the wall was built 6.4 metres high with a mortar and rubble core with sandstone facing. The foundations were 4 metres thick, narrowing to 3 metres at the ramparts. It had some 50 defensive towers, four main gates, with at least two additional pedestrian gates. The southern sections of the wall were later entirely robbed for stone and destroyed to foundation level. Some sections of wall remain along the northern perimeter but the best-preserved section of ancient wall is located at Schießgraben in the public park just north of the vocational school.

Remains of walls at Schießgraben. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Another view on then wall. Source: TimeTravelRome.

5/ Temple of Asclepius

The Temple of Asclepius, the Greek and Roman god of healing, was built on the banks of the Moselle between AD 161 and 169 with significant modification during the 3rd century. The temple precinct covered an area of 170 x 88 metres, while the temple itself sat on a raised podium measuring 45 x 26 metres. The temple was enclosed on the northern side with a colonnade portico. The remains of the temple were later discovered in 1977 during construction of a car park attached to the Borromäerinnen hospital. Very little of the ancient temple remains to be seen as much of it was destroyed during construction of the parking garage. Only the partial remains of the rear wall of the temple have been preserved and can be seen from inside the car park. More precisely, the remains can be found in the parking lot for visitors to the nearby hospital – they can be accessed freely from the small street called Hinter dem Zollamt. Obviously, a wall in a parking lot is of little interest to most visitors, but fans of Roman history will probably be happy to see it.

Roman Temple wall in the underground parking. Source: TimeTravelRome.

The Temple of Asclepius of Trier is otherwise well known to thanks an immense hoard of 2,570 gold coins weighing 18.5kg, that was found nearby in 1993. The coins date to the reign of Septimius Severus. They were found inside a 25cm high bronze cauldron fitted with a lid and handle. The hoard is today in the Rhine museum.

Hoard of Roman aurei, found in 1993.

6/ Temple of Mars and the Spring at Herrenbrünnchen

The remains of a classical style Roman temple were found during in 1909 on the grounds of the Charlottenau Winery. Excavations revealed the temple at Herrenbrünnchen had a foundation measuring 65 x 23 metres, with the foundation walls over 4 metres thick.  It consisted of a monumental podium with two staircases leading to a columned pronaos and cella. There were six columns across the front, measuring 15 metres in height. The altar was located in front of the stairs. Archeologists say that the temple was dedicated to Mars Victor Augustus by the city’s official.

There are no more visible remains of the temple at Herrenbrünnchen. Interpretive signage has been erected on the site, however the temple’s foundations remain below the modern gardens. Several arches from the portico are on display at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum. The ornate limestone columns of the Trier Cathedral are likely to have been taken from the ruins of the temple for use after the Cathedral was damaged by fire in the 5th century.

Current view of the Temple area. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Reconstruction of then Temple (from the information board). Source: TimeTravelRome.

The site is located in a beautiful setting, surrounded by gardens and there is a spring of water which feeds a stream. Local legend says that Bishop Eucharius baptized the first Christians from Trier here. And the spring was the source of water supply up to 1970.

A stream passing in front of the hill where the temple was located. Source: TimeTravelRome.

7/ Horrea and the Wine Cellar

The horrea was a granary storehouse located near the harbour, just within the city walls on the northwestern corner of the ancient city. It was built around AD 330, and may have been used as a military storehouse. It consisted of two large halls, each 19 metres wide, which were separated by a 12 metre wide courtyard. The walls were almost 1 metre thick and further strengthened with pilasters with blind arcades. The outer walls were lined with slit windows aligned with the central spaces between each columned cubicle inside the store. The original building would have been two storeys high, although no evidence of a stairway was found.

The warehouse became part of a Benedictine Abbey in the 7th century. A vineyard was later cultivated on the site with the horrea used as a cellar. Today the wine cellar is called Vereinigte Hospitien and is considered to be the oldest wine cellar in Germany. The site can be visited and remains of Roman structures can be seen. In particular, some of the original walls are visible including a row of arcatures and a large section of Roman brick flooring.

The “Roman Hall” inside of the Vereinigte Hospitien building.

The outside courtyard is very pleasant  too – you can see the remains of Gothic constructions there.

The outside view of the Vereinigte Hospitien Wine Cellar with Gothic columns. Source: TimeTravelRome.

Trier on the TimeTravelRome mobile App

It remains for me to say that I visited all these places thanks to the TimeTravelRome app – the app showed me the exact location of all these places (of course, in addition to all the other major monuments in Trier) . The descriptive text of the various sites above was also taken from the TimeTravelRome app. I only have to advise you to download it and use it to make your own discoveries in Trier or elsewhere.

Header image: Amphithetater of Trier. JordiCuber; Image (Reconstruction): Dießenbacher Informationsmedien – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0.

“Meta” was a tall conical structure that stood on either side of chariot racing tracks, while the Latin word “Sudans” stands for sweating. The Meta Sudans in the Valley of the Coliseum was once an imposing, conically-shaped fountain that seemed to sweat water. It stood at the juncture of four of the city’s Augustan regions (I, III, IV and X). Just like the metae of the chariot racing tracks, the Meta Sudans also served a pivotal purpose. The difference was that, rather than being jutting structure a charioteer had to steer around, it marked the point where a triumphal procession would wheel left from the Via Triumphalis, onto the Via Sacra, and into the Roman Forum.

Meta Sudans history

It was long believed that Meta Sudans was built under Flavians, together with other great monuments that included Coliseum. Indeed, the fountain was built on the newly created piazza besides Coliseum, where parts of the Nero’s Domus Area once stood. However, excavations conducted in 2002 have proven that the new fountain was not entirely new: it was actually a reconstruction of an earlier fountain built under Augustus. Archeologists found remains of the earlier fountain six meters below Met Sudans built later by Flavians. The size of the original Augustus fountain was not big, just 4×5 meters, but it had the same conical shape that the later structure had and it was located nearly at the same place.

Besides its spatial importance, Meta Sudans built under Augustus possibly had some religious connotation: its shape reminds the Apollo’ baetyl, a sacred stone associated with the cult of Apollo. Augustus regarded Apollo as his patron therefore the construction of a fountain of this conical shape was probably intentional.

There are no visible remains of the Augustus’ fountain and the Meta Sudans fountain whose remains are visible today was built during the late first century by Flavian Emperors: Vespasian, Domitian and Titus. Flavian Emperors transformed the area formerly occupied by Nero’s Domus Area into a public place with imperial monuments built on it, including the fountain. The re-building was necessary as the whole area was greatly impacted by two fires: the “great fire” of 64 AD and another one, in the 68 AD, that destroyed Capitolium. Vespasian launched the reconstruction of the Capitolium to portray himself as guardian of Roman traditions. He used money from the war with Judea to drain the man-made Nero’s lake, he started the construction of the Amphitheater (Coliseum) and other big works. Archaeological excavations have demonstrated that fountain’ construction started when the nearby Amphitheater works were well advanced i.e. under Titus. Ancient authors attributed the construction of Meta Sudans to Domitian, but it is likely that he has just finished works started by his elder brother Titus.

Meta Sudans on coins

Meta Sudans can be seen on the famous sestertius struck under Titus in 81-82 AD. Sure, the main object here is Coliseum, as it was dedicated by Titus in 80 AD, but it is noteworthy that Meta Sudans finds its place on the coin too even if it was most likely unfinished at this date. Meta Sudans was the most prominent monument that Coliseum spectators used to see before and after circus shows, especially those who used the western entrance gate.

There is another known representation of Rome’s Meta Sudans on a dupondius struck under Titus. There are only a few such coins in existence and there are doubts whether they are authentic. The British Museum, which holds one of these coins, is unambiguous: it is a fake. The reverse is likely tooled from a statue of Spes or the coin was cast in Renaissance times, alongside other numerous fantasy coins depicting the Coliseum and Meta Sudans.

Meta Sudans appeared on coins struck in Rome for more than one hundred years. It is depicted on a rare medaillon struck under Severus in 224 AD. This coin was issued to commemorate the re-dedication of the Amphitheater in 224 AD, as it was partly rebuilt after a fire of 217 AD.   

Meta Sudans in other cities of the Empire

Meta Sudans in Rome has inspired the construction of similar fountains in other parts of the Empire. There was a conical fountain in Cuicul (now Djemila) in Algeria and two others in Corinth and Nikopolis in Epirus. The latter two fountains were represented on coins minted locally. The coin shown below was struck in Corinth under Hadrian in 117-138 AD. The existence of the fountain in Corinth is not attested from the archaeological point of view, so the coin is the only proof of its existence. A similar coin also with a conical fountain was struck in Nikopolis.

Meta Sudans, the Arch of Constantine and the Sun God

Meta Sudans played an interesting role in the positioning of the Arch of Constantine. This Arch was built between 312 and 315 AD to celebrate Constantine victory over Maxentius. It was constructed at the end of one of the longest stretches of the Via Triumphalis. The position of the Arch is not perfectly aligned to the Via Triumphalis axis: it is “twisted” some 7 degrees counter-clockwise. This is due to a mis-alignement between the ancient triumphal road and newer structures in the Colosseum Valley, which followed the contours of the Nero’s Domus Aurea. Flavians demolished the Domus Aurea, but they preserved the Neronian axis.

But the Arch was displaced even further, and this was because of the Meta Sudans itself. Indeed, its ancient alignment with the triumphal road meant that any arch in front of it would direct towards the center of the fountain. But Constantine didn’t want his triumphal troops to march into a fountain! His architects did two things: they built the Arch not over the road but a bit further north and they shifted the monument about two meters to the east. The displacement may seem minor, but it had spectacular visual effects. First, Meta Sudans was not visible anymore from the road; second, the Arch gate was now oriented straight to the Nero’ Colossus, transformed into Sol (Sun God) by Nero successors and placed there by Hadrian in 128 AD.

At some point the entire Colossus-Sol figure was visible through the central passageway – still not obstructed by Meta Sudans.

What to see there now

In its heyday, the Meta Sudans would have towered 20 meters above the ancient street level. Even photographs of the nineteenth century show that the central foundation of the Meta Sudans had a height of at least nine meters. The monument was popular among Renaissance and later artists: there are many paintings where it can be seen.

Sadly, however, all that remains of this once great structure today are its concrete foundations. By the twentieth century only the structure’s brick core remained, and even this was on borrowed time: in 1936 Mussolini had it hurriedly cleared to make more space for his fascist parades. Excavated in the 1980s and in early 2000’s, you can see Meta Sudans remains just jutting out from the grass on the Coliseum side of the Arch of Constantine.

Meta Sudans on Timetravelrome app:

Meta Sudans is just one of the 195 sites in Rome that TimeTravelRome app shows on the map and describes in detail.

To find out more: Timetravelrome.

Authors: Timetravelrome. Parts of the text were edited by Alexander Medding.  

Sources:

• “La meta sudans augustea: note per una sua ricostruzione”, THIASOS, 2013. Available online.
•  “Roma – Meta Sudans. I Monumenti. La Scava. La Storia”. Sabina Zeggio and Giacomo Pardini. The Journal of Fasti Online. The digital copy is available online.
• “Reflections of Imperialism: The Meta Sudans in Rome and the Provinces”, Brenda Longfellow, The Art Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 4 (December 2010), pp. 275.
• “Framing the Sun: The Arch of Constantine and the Roman Cityscape” by Elizabeth Marlowe. Art Bulletin, June 2006. 

Header Photo: Arch of Constantine and Meta Sudans, by SuperKrzysztof  licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0