The people living in what is now the Netherlands first encountered the Romans during Julius Caesar’s military campaigns around 50 BC. Caesar probably never got any further than the Dutch riverine area. The Netherlands’ wet peat and clay were fairly inaccessible for a large army. Furthermore, he faced problems with the population in present-day northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Eburones were a good example. In c. 53 BC they destroyed a Roman army camp. Caesar avenged this act by virtually annihilating the entire tribe, leaving large areas of land almost deserted. He left behind no occupying force after he returned to the south.

Ceasars successor, emperor Augustus, made another attempt, however. He sent several generals on campaigns to finally conquer the northern areas. The first Roman military camp in our country was probably built during one of these campaigns: an exceptionally large legionary camp at Nijmegen, built between 19 and 15 or 12 BC.

It was general Drusus who finally managed to bring the countries to the south of the Rhine under Roman control, 40 years after Caesar’s campaigns. Military camps along the Rhine served as a base for his campaigns into northern areas. Initially things went fairly well. Almost all the inhabitants of the present-day Netherlands submitted more or less willingly to Roman authority. However, in AD 9, at the famous Battle of Teutoburg Forest, near present-day Osnabrück (Germany), indigenous tribes defeated three entire Roman legions. Thereafter the areas to the north of the Rhine were left more or less in peace. The conquered areas were placed under a military administration based in Vetera, a military site near Xanten (Germany). The administration of the newly conquered area was based in Cologne, which would later become the capital of the new province. The Romans then only concerned themselves with a few tribes north of the Rhine that had been conquered and paid taxes. In AD 28 the Frisians, who lived on the coast, revolted against Roman taxation. The rebellion was quashed, but not before the Romans suffered heavy losses. From that moment on, the Rhine became an ever clearer boundary between Roman territory and the ‘Barbarians’, as the Romans called the peoples of unconquered regions. The fortresses that had been built along the Rhine thus became frontier fortifications, and more were added around AD 40. Some of the new fortresses probably served not only as defences for the river and the hinterland beyond, but also as a supply point for troops sent to conquer England. In AD 47 emperor Claudius decided to withdraw the army from the areas north of the Rhine, formalising the river’s status as the border of the Roman empire. When Claudius had to recall his general Corbulo to the south, the Roman empire lost the Frisians’ territory, which the general had only just brought under control. In AD 69/70 the peace was once again rudely disturbed by the Batavian revolt, though after that things remained peaceful for a long time.

Germania Inferior. c. AD 83 – c. 212

Until almost the end of the first century AD this region officially remained under military authority. It was not until somewhere between AD 82 and 90 that the region to the west and south of the Rhine became a province: Germania Inferior. The new province was an elongated territory extending from the small river Vinxtbach (to the south of Bonn) to the North Sea. The exact position of the southern border, to the south of present-day Belgium, is not known. The only thing we have to go on is the fact that the Menapii, who must have lived in the coastal area of northern Belgium and the Dutch province of Zeeland, did not live in Germania Inferior but in Gallia Belgica. The southern border of Germania Inferior probably ran through present-day Noord-Brabant or the north of Belgium. The Roman province of Germania Inferior thus lay in present-day Germany, the Netherlands, and probably part of Belgium.

Until the end of the second century AD it remained peaceful in the province, allowing its economy and culture to flourish. However, from around AD 175 onwards, Germanic groups from north of the Rhine made more and more frequent incursions into the prosperous Roman empire, destroying a number of military posts and plundering settlements. The military posts were rebuilt, however, and the peace seemed to be restored.

In AD 212 emperor Caracalla granted all free inhabitants of the empire Roman citizenship. This was a right to which not all had been entitled previously. Now that everyone enjoyed Roman civil rights, the ‘Romanisation’ of the northern provinces was in theory complete. However, this did not necessarily mean that everyone had adopted a Roman way of life.

End of the Roman empire

The Pax Romana, or ‘Roman Peace’, would not last much longer. The province increasingly fell victim to plundering Germanic tribes. Other problems also arose in Germania Inferior and in Rome itself. The border along the Rhine had in fact already come under attack in around 275. The hinterland was under threat, but the Romans kept things going as well as they possibly could. At the beginning of the fifth century AD, however, they were no longer able to restore order, and Roman rule along the Rhine finally came to an end.

The province’s indigenous population

Tribes

It is difficult to say with certainty who exactly lived in what is now the Netherlands at the time of the first Roman campaigns to these parts. Most of our information comes from the writings of Caesar, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Ptolemy and Cassius Dio, who tell of a small-scale migration after Caesar’s military campaigns. During these campaigns part of the population had been wiped out, leaving their lands empty and unoccupied. One example is the territory inhabited by the Eburones, whom Caesar had virtually annihilated in 52 BC after they had attacked a Roman military camp. The almost entirely deserted area that had been occupied by the Eburones probably lay roughly in present-day Brabant, Limburg and Belgium. In the last half-century BC more and more groups crossed the Rhine to live in the almost deserted lands. They probably moved with the permission and perhaps even at the instigation of the Romans, who preferred to have friendly tribes living in these empty areas. The newcomers mixed with what was left of the local population to form new tribes with new names. In the later Roman province civitates were established, Roman administrative units roughly based on the old tribal areas. Since the names of the civitates are known, we also know the names of the tribes and their territories.

Thanks to ancient writings, we know the names of three tribes and their territories for certain: the Batavians of the river-area, the Cananefates along the coast of Zuid-Holland and the Cugerni in northern Limburg and neighbouring areas of Germany. We also know there were tribes called the Texuandri, Tungri, Marsaci, Sturii, Frisiavones and Baetasii. The Texuandri probably lived between the Maas and Demer rivers, in the border area between the Netherlands and Belgium. The Marsaci, Sturii and Frisiavones are generally placed to the south of the Maas estuary in the current province of Zeeland and the western part of Brabant. The Baetasii were probably a sub-tribe of the Cugerni, whose capital was Xanten in Germany. They are generally located to the area between the Maas and Rhine, in the border area between Limburg province and Germany. The Tungri lived around their capital, the present-day Belgian town of Tongeren. They were therefore probably the southern neighbours of the Texuandri, who might indeed have been a sub-tribe of the Tungri. The Romans probably assigned the Tungri to the province of Gallia Belgica, so they would not have belonged to Germania Inferior like the other tribes mentioned here. However, we are not entirely certain which tribe belonged to which province, and it is currently unclear whether new population groups also moved into the area to the north of the Rhine. We only know of the Frisii of present-day Noord-Holland and the Chauci from the Dutch and German coastal region. The Amsivarii and Chamavi also most probably lived somewhere to the north of the Dutch Rhine, although they are known only by name.

The new people, who would later be called the Batavians, formed part of the Chatti tribe of northern Germany before moving to our region. They moved soon after the defeat of the Eburones. It was not until much later, around 8 BC, that small groups of Sugambri crossed the Rhine. They had been defeated by Tiberius and were forced to move to the left bank, probably becoming the Cugerni and Baetasii.

The Batavians are by far the most well-known inhabitants of the Roman Netherlands. The majority of their territory was known as Insula Batavorum, or ‘Island of the Batavians’. According to Tacitus, this was the area between the Rhine and Waal rivers and the sea. However, they probably also inhabited the southern bank of the Maas, in the current province of Noord-Brabant. The Batavians had a special status from the very beginning. They were exempt from normal taxes, though in exchange they did have to supply troops, among other things. The Batavian troops were highly prized for their courage and military skills. Until the Batavian revolt they served as bodyguards for the emperor in Rome, for example. Even after the revolt they were able to retain some of their rights. At various military sites along the northern border, and also in Rome itself, gravestones and other inscriptions have been found with the names of Batavians and the military unit in which they served. We therefore know a large number of Batavian names.

Revolts

The tribes living in the Netherlands did not automatically submit to Roman rule, as evidenced by two revolts in the first century AD: the Frisian and the Batavian revolts.

The Frisian revolt, in AD 28, may be less well known than the Batavian Revolt, but it is no less fascinating. The Roman author Tacitus gives a fairly extensive account of the event in his Annals (IV 72-72). The Roman procurator decided to demand more cattle skins than the Frisians had hitherto supplied. He also specifically wanted the hides of aurochs, which were much larger than domesticated cattle. The Frisians were unable to meet his demands. Tacitus wrote in his Annals: ‘First it was their herds, next their lands, last, the persons of their wives and children, which they gave up to bondage’. Tacitus is probably exaggerating here, though the tax was at any rate so high that the Frisians revolted. The soldiers who came to collect the hides were ‘seized and gibbeted’, and Olennius fled to the Roman fortress of Flevum (near modern-day Velsen). The distribution of the Romans’ slingshot has allowed archaeologists to piece together the progress of the battle for the fortress. As time went on, and their best slingshot was used up, the Romans were forced to improvise. They melted lead on the battlefield and cast it in pits in the sand which they made using their index finger. Fingerprints of Roman soldiers can be seen on some of the slingshot that has been found. Military units from other parts of Germania came to relieve the fortress. After a bitter battle the Frisians managed to drive them away. ‘Soon afterwards it was ascertained from deserters that nine hundred Romans had been cut to pieces in a wood called Baduhenna's, after prolonging the fight to the next day, and that another body of four hundred, which had taken possession of the house of one Cruptorix, once a soldier in our pay, fearing betrayal, had perished by mutual slaughter’ (Tacitus Annales, IV, 73). The location of Baduhenna’s wood and the house of Cruptorix is still the subject of debate.

The Batavian revolt occurred in AD 69/70. The immediate cause probably lay in the fact that the Batavians were obliged to supply too many troops. However, the feeling that they were being forced into a Roman way of life was a more important factor. The Batavians therefore went in search of allies to stage a rebellion. Under the leadership of Julius Civilis, a Batavian with a long record of service in the Roman army, the Batavians, Frisians and Cananefates launched an attack on a number of border fortresses. Many troops in the Roman army, particularly Batavian troops, defected to join the rebels. The revolt quickly spread as other Germanic and Gallic tribes joined the Batavians. However, emperor Vespasian sent more legions and eventually succeeded in suppressing the revolt. Many fortresses and other Roman structures had been burnt down. Even after the revolt the Batavians retained most of their former privileges, though Batavian soldiers would henceforth be stationed far from home so that they could not help in any future revolt. Hundreds of years later, in the late 18th century, the Batavian revolt was to inspire rebellious patriots who resisted the authorities of the time and eventually proclaimed the Batavian Republic. As a result of its great impact on later Dutch history several detailed accounts exist of the Batavian revolt.

Military structures

The first military camps

In the early first century AD the Netherlands was the scene of several military campaigns to the north. The Rhine was used as a base, with soldiers travelling from there via the Vecht to the Flevomeer and Waddenzee. They then made incursions from the north into Germanic areas in present-day Germany along the Eems, Weser and Elbe rivers. Nijmegen had a legionary fortress that could house two legions (2 x 6400 men, so almost 13,000 troops). There are indications that this military site dates from the period 19-15/12 BC, which means that there were troops in Nijmegen before the infamous military campaigns of Drusus’ army. Unfortunately, however, the historical sources make no mention of this. Around the beginning of the present era camps were also built in Velsen, Vechten and Arnhem. The exceptionally large legionary fortress (castra) in Nijmegen was a mustering point for the troops. It was the only legionary fortress on the territory that is now the Netherlands.

The final border

The border of the Roman empire – the limes – was not finally drawn until AD 47, along the Rhine: the current Nederrijn, Kromme Rijn and Oude Rijn. The fortresses along the border were known as castella, built to house a cohort (16 x 32 men), an ala (6 x 80 cavalrymen) or a combination of the two. They were thus much smaller than the legionary fortress in Nijmegen. Most of these castella were not built until the first century AD, mainly along the Rhine, to control one of the most important shipping routes. When, in AD 47, emperor Claudius decided to relinquish the areas to the north of the Rhine, extra castella were built along the river. Eventually, there were 20 castella along the Dutch section of the Rhine.

A water border

The Romans preferred to build their castella beside a tributary or old branch of the Rhine, rather than along the main river itself, as they had better locations for the construction of harbours. It also enabled them to stop invaders entering the Roman province via a tributary. The castella were linked by a road that ran along the Rhine. Watchtowers were situatad at regular intervals between the castella to guard the border. Several watchtowers along the limes road have recently been excavated at the new Leidsche Rijn residential development near Utrecht. The excavations have given us a clear picture of what the watchtowers would have looked like. There were probably also a number of fortresses along the coast. However, we know little about them as they have been eroded away by the sea.

The military fleet

A military fleet – the classis Germanica – was stationed on the Rhine. The fleet’s main base was in Alteburg, close to the provincial capital Cologne, but there were probably a number of smaller bases near to a number of Dutch castella. Their task was to keep the Rhine navigable for both military and trading vessels. They also guarded the tributaries in ‘enemy’ territory. In peacetime the fleet was the biggest freight carrier on the Rhine. Its cargo included large consignments of stone from quarries in the Eiffel which it transported downriver to the military posts in the Netherlands. The name classis Germanica can also be found on roof tiles suggesting that, like other parts of the Roman armed forces, at least part of the fleet was involved in the production of roof tiles.

The limes today

Many remains of the former border of the Roman empire have already been excavated in the Netherlands. We therefore know quite a lot about how the limes was defended. The new Leidsche Rijn district near Utrecht has proved a treasure trove of information about the water border of the empire. Remains of the limes road, watchtowers, wharfs and traces of one of the castella were investigated during the construction work, revealing among other things remains of revetments along the river, which was designed to ensure that the limes road did not erode into the river.

The colonia

Different types of town

There were three different types of town in the Roman provinces: coloniae, municipia and vici. The difference between them lay in their legal status. The coloniae (colonia in the singular) were founded by the Romans. These new towns were intended to provide a Roman home on foreign territory. The inhabitants of a colonia had Roman civil rights, which gave them many privileges. Municipia (municipium in the singular) had a slightly lower status. They had been granted special rights by the emperor, and were thus allowed to use the title ‘municipium’. The inhabitants of municipia were also Roman citizens, although they had fewer rights than those who lived in a colonia. Finally, there were towns with no special status. However, the fact that they had not been officially awarded a city charter or market rights did not stop them from developing into centres for their region. The Romans usually called such a town without special rights or status a vicus. However, the name was also used for settlements that we would now call villages. The title vicus was thus used very generally to refer to anything from a village to a town. We therefore prefer to use the term ‘rural centre’ to refer to towns without any special legal status. Sometimes the emperor granted a vicus the right to hold a market. This did not confer Roman citizenship on the inhabitants, though the status of their town would be enhanced by the market.

Dutch towns

There were no coloniae in the Dutch part of Germania Inferior. The nearest colonia was Xanten: Colonia Ulpia Traiana (CUT), which was probably founded in AD 98. There were however two municipia in the Netherlands: Nijmegen and Voorburg. Before it was granted a city charter, Nijmegen was known as Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum: ‘Ulpic new marketplace of the Batavians’. After officially being designated a municipium, it became known as ‘Municipium Batavorum’. The best-known name for Voorburg is now Forum Hadriani: ‘Hadrian’s Market’. After it was granted a city charter by the emperor, Voorburg became officially known as ‘Municipium Aelium Cananefat(i)um’ (abbreviated to MAC). The Roman towns of Heerlen (Coriovallum) and Maastricht (Traiectum ad Mosam?) were never granted a city charter, though they were sizeable towns compared with the villages and hamlets in the surrounding countryside.

Transport

Waterways

The Netherlands was probably already an important transit country in Roman times, as it still is today. Military and merchant vessels set sail for England from what is now Zeeland. The most important shipping routes passed along the Rhine, Maas and Scheldt rivers. Smaller rivers were probably also used as transport routes in Roman times, despite the fact that they were not so readily navigable. In Limburg, for example, the Roer, Geleen and Geul rivers were partly suitable for shipping. The Dommel, Reuzel and Beerze might have been used in Noord-Brabant. The Romans tried to use these natural transport routes as efficiently as possible, making a number of improvements to this end. In Zuid-Holland province Corbulo’s canal linked the Maas and Rhine, so that the Romans did not have to endure the storms of the North Sea. The canal was dug in the first century AD under the leadership of the Roman general Corbulo, probably along the course of the Gantel river. A recent study found that the canal silted up in the course of the second century AD, making it unnavigable. One of Corbulo’s predecessors, Drusus, had had his men construct engineering works half a century earlier. He built a dam at the point where the Rhine and the Waal diverge, to divert water to the Rhine and ‘Drusus’ Canal’, which was dug at the same time. We do not know for certain where this canal lay, but it is believed to be the upstream section of the IJssel river.

A cost calculation shows that it was much cheaper to transport goods by water than over land, particularly when it came to bulk goods like building materials and grain. The Dutch rivers were probably very busy. A number of very well preserved Roman ships have been found in the Netherlands, most of them cargo vessels. The cargo vessels (flatboats) found in Zwammerdam are world-famous. Several ships have also been found in Woerden, one of which was carrying grain. Remains of the cargo were still in the hold. Another ship found in Woerden in 2003 was unique, in that it was a cargo vessel with both a sail and oars, and space for twelve rowers. Pieces of natural stone and brick were found in the hold, possibly the remains of its cargo or ballast.

Routes over land

Though a great deal of transport was by water, roads were not unimportant. They may have been just an addition to the waterway network, but in areas where no rivers flowed they were the only way of getting from A to B. Many roads probably followed routes that were already centuries old. The Romans made some of these routes permanent by surfacing the road or digging ditches along the sides. This was not always an easy task, particularly in the riverine area, where there were many natural obstacles.

Roman engineers

The road along the border of the empire passed through both wet and dry areas. In dry areas, a layer of gravel would provide an adequate road surface, but in the wetter clay and peat areas, measures had to be taken to ensure the road did not subside or wash away. In Valkenburg (Zuid-Holland), for example, road foundations made of wood, reed mats and gravel have been found. In Vleuten-de Meern (near Utrecht) the posts along the side of the road could clearly be seen in an excavation. These posts ensured that the road did not subside. Constructing a road network required strong central organisation, as materials such as gravel and wood had to be brought in from elsewhere. At the same time as the road was being built, revetments were probably being constructed along the river, to prevent the road from being washed away. Building materials had to be delivered as close as possible to the spot where they were needed. In Leidsche Rijn near Utrecht the remains of a 20-metre quayside have been found, which was probably used for unloading ships. The limes road runs directly along the quayside, so the material could be used directly for laying the road.

Dendrochronological analysis of wooden posts from a number of sections of road has shown that there were several major roadbuilding campaigns, during which roads were repaired and re-laid where necessary. It seems that the orders to repair the roads were always given after the emperor had visited that particular part of the limes. In AD 98 Traianus visited the Low Countries, after which a major roadbuilding operation was launched. In 122 his successor Hadrian also ordered a roadbuilding campaign.

Remains of several bridges have been found in the Netherlands. The best-known Roman bridges in this country spanned the Maas in Cuijk and Maastricht. Remains of bridge supports were found there during dredging work, and divers have since documented the remains in detail. The supports were made of wooden posts and natural stone. The wooden piles were encased in metal sheaths. Many of the posts have rotted away, but the metal sheaths have been preserved, allowing the precise position of the bridge to be identified. During an excavation of clay pits in Zuilichem in 1895 a large number of diagonal wooden posts were found, which would have supported a wooden bridge. The remains are unique in that they come from a bridge built completely of wood, with no stone supports. The precise dating of the remains is unknown, but they are believed to belong to the Roman period.

Milestones that would have stood alongside Roman roads have been found in a number of places. They indicate the distance to the next settlement. In the Wateringse Veld district near The Hague, four were found together in a ditch. They showed not only the distance but also the name of the emperor who had ordered that they be placed there, giving us a precise age for the milestones. The stones from near The Hague were placed along the road to MAC – Municipium Aelium (or Aurelium?) Canenefatium, the town currently known as Voorburg – in the reigns of four different emperors between AD 151 and 250.

Summary

The Netherlands was in the Roman province of Germania Inferior, which extended from the Vinxtbach river near Bonn to the North Sea coast. The Rhine formed the northern border, or ‘limes’. The exact position of the southern border is not known, but it probably ran somewhere through what is now Noord-Brabant province or northern Belgium. The province did not receive its status and name until around AD 83. Prior to that it had been military territory, controlled and administered by the army. The indigenous tribes still had a great deal of autonomy at the beginning of the Roman period, though they did have to pay taxes and supply soldiers to the Roman empire. Once the province had been declared, it was administered by the empire.

For over 50 years Roman emperors sent their generals on military campaigns to take possession of areas to the north of the Rhine. Emperor Claudius abandoned this quest in AD 47, declaring that the Rhine would be the northern border of the Roman empire. Fortresses and watchtowers were built along the Rhine to defend the border, which would form the edge of empire for over 200 years. From around AD 250 Germanic tribes made ever more frequent incursions into the Roman empire, although they had been crossing into Roman territory on a regular basis since AD 175. The Roman emperors were no longer able to exert control for long periods over the border territories of their empire. In the early fifth century so many Germans crossed the border that this part of the Roman empire was lost from that time on.

In the period when they held sway here, the Romans built fortresses and roads. Towns grew up and the economy flourished. The rebellious Batavians and their neighbouring tribes in Germania Inferior long formed part of the great Roman empire. By way of proof that these once-Barbarians really were part of the Roman empire, emperor Caracalla granted them all Roman civil rights in AD 212, making them Roman citizens. However, this did not mean that they all adopted a Roman way of life.

References

General:
Es, W.A. van, 1981, (3e herziene druk), De Romeinen in Nederland. Haarlem Bechert, T., 1983, De Romeinen tussen Rijn en Maas. Dieren.

Dockum, S. van, 1993, Romeins Nederland : archeologie & geschiedenis van een grensgebied. Utrecht

Military:
Bechert, T. & W.J.H. Willems, 1997, De Romeinse rijksgrens tussen Moezel en Noordzeekust Utrecht

Transport:
Graafstal, E., 2002, Logistiek, communicatie en watermanagement. Over de uitrusting van de Romeinse rijksgrens in Nederland. Westerheem 1.

Waasdorp, J.A., 2003, III M.P. naar M.A.C. Romeinse mijlpalen en wegen. (Haagse Oudheidkundige Publicaties 8). Den Haag.

Woerden-Kerkplein 2002-2003. Woerden, Romeinen, het fort en een schip. Gebundelde folders.

Development of the Roman provincial structure

Provincial borders and border changes

Beginnings. 12 BC – c. AD 83