CHAPTER 2
[GF]
Settlement before the Romans
20
Thaya March
Oberleiserberg Danube Leopoldsberg near Vienna
BOII
Devin Bratislava
Braunsberg BOII
The most important Celtic settlement areas in the Vienna region around 80/70 B.C.
Sopron Schwarzenbach
The Celtic tribe of the Boii settled in the Viennese Basin in the 1st century B.C. Around 70 B.C., an important Celtic centre, or so-called oppidum, developed on the castle hill of B ratislava. Thirty years later, a military conflict between the Dacians and Scordisci erupted due to the expansion of the realm further east. It ended catastrophically for the Boii. Their defeat, and the destruction of the settlement on the castle hill in Bratislava, signified the end of the Boii’s supremacy. Further areas turned into badlands, which Plinius called “Deserta Boiorum” – “the Boii Desert” – in his Naturalis Historia. These areas might have come under the realm of Noricum, a Celtic kingdom, which was annexed by the Romans in 15 B.C. It is difficult to know what happened to the common people during this period. When the Romans arrived in the area of Vienna following the conquests of Emperor Augustus, the region was still inhabited by the Boii. They were politically part of the Celtic Regnum Noricum. It is thought that there was a larger settlement on the Leopoldsberg. Traces of settlement of the late Celtic period could be found in today’s 3rd district of Vienna, where the civilian town of Vindobona developed from the 1st century A.D. onwards. Besides the Celts, Germanic peoples – allied with the Romans – settled in our area from 50 A.D. onwards. Their tribal area was originally situated north of the Danube, outside the Roman Empire. After internal political difficulties, they were granted asylum south of the Danube. Celtic and Germanic names and decorations lasted far into the 2nd century A.D. when the area of Vienna had already long been part of the Roman Empire. In the course of time, the local people mixed with the Romans.