Boppard - Fort

The centre of Boppard is formed by the mighty walls and towers of the Roman fort. They are regarded as the best-preserved examples of their type in Germany. Despite heavy damage, caused by the construction of the railway in 1859, the fortress walls still stand at a height of nine metres.
Thanks to its Roman edifices and a remarkably consistent human presence since the 1st century A.D; Boppard is considered an outstanding cultural monument not just of the Rhine area but beyond
In the Middle Rhine area, between Taunus and Hunsruck, evidence of first century Roman settlements can be found in the river valley.
Historical sources of the 2nd and 3rd century, such as the Tabula Peutingeriana – a mediaeval transcription of an antique map – call the settlement Bouboriga or Bontobrice. These names, probably, hearken back to a pre-Roman Celtic settlement in the Rhine valley: Boudobriga.
Following the arrival of Caesar’s troops, around 50 B.C; the Middle Rhine area was under Roman control for more than 400 years.
Towards the end of the 1st century A.D. the Limes, a rampart on the right-hand side of the Rhine, protected the Roman provinces on the Rhine and Moselle. From the 3rd century onwards military conflicts with the Germans determined the destiny of the Roman provinces, which bordered it. After the Limes had been broken through the Germans were able to traverse the area unimpeded and advance deep into the Roman Empire.
Around 260 A.D. the Limes rampart had to be given up and the border shifted back to the Rhine.
In the 4th century, under emperor Julian, Boppard, as the main trading centre and military base in the middle Rhine area, was heavily fortified.
The late Roman fort of Boudobrica is located right on the banks of the Rhine yet above the level of flood waters. The walls of the fortress formed a rectangle, which measured 308 metres long   by 154 metres wide.
There were gates in the east and west walls of the fortress.
Today’s main road was already, in Roman times the main east-west arterial route. The Rhine valley road of the Romans, which went from Mainz to Cologne, passed through this fortress.
Altogether 28 semicircular towers rose above the 2 to 3 m thick wall. The interior was furnished with large two -bay-structured half-timbered buildings, which probably served as quarters for the fortress garrison.
In Boppard, inside the church of St. Severus, excavations were carried out which revealed the foundations of the Roman fort, of the fort baths and, of particular note,  an early Christian church.
Around the middle of the 4th century, a 50 m long military bath complex was built along the inside of the northern ramparts of the fortress.
The visitor passed through a porch into the changing room, or Apodyterium.
Behind it, running along the fortress wall was an elongated hall-like chamber, used as a gymnasium where visitors to the baths could exercise.
Attached to the eastern side of this hall was a semicircular room, complete with under floor heating. This was the thermal room, in which sportsmen and bathers could rest. 
The actual bathing area extended to the south. In it were all the facilities common to Roman baths of the period.
The warm bath known as the tepidarium, the heatable  hot baths, the  caldarium,  and the cold bath, the frigidarium,  give us an idea  of the Roman bathing procedure.
The heated floor guaranteed comfortable room temperatures at all times of the year. The wastewater from the bath complex was channelled through sewers directly into the Rhine.
Fresh water for the bath complex was channelled into the fortress from nearby streams.
The baths were used until the end of the Roman occupation of the Middle Rhine region, that is, up to the beginning of the 5th century.
At this time the Alemanni and Franks forced the Romans into a complete withdrawal. In 406 the Roman troops left the fortress and the construction became a civil settlement. 
The bath complex was converted into an early Christian church.
Up until the 12th century the Roman ramparts served as the walls of the mediaeval town.
Only in the 14th century did the Archbishop of Trier, Balduin from Luxemburg, enclose the new residential areas to the East and West of the town by further walls, which integrated the Roman ramparts.

[Martin Thoma]