Abodiacum
ABODI´ACUM, AUODI´ACUM (Ἀβουδίακον, Tab. Peut.; Ptol. 2.13.5ABUZACUM, Vit. S. Magn. 28), a town of Vindelicia, probably coinciding with the modern Epfach on the river Lech, where remains of Roman buildings are still extant. The stations, however, in the Itineraries and the Peutingerian Table are not easily identified with the site of Epfach; and Abodiacum is placed by some topographers at the hamlet of Peisenberg, on the slope of a hill with the same name, or in the neighbourhood of Rosenheim in Bavaria. (Itin. Anton.; Muchar, Noricum, p. 283.)
[W.B.D]At the intersection of the Via Claudia (Verona-Augsburg) and the road from Bregenz to Salzburg, and by a ford of the river Lech, a civilian settlement was founded under Tiberius or Claudius, belonging to a military camp (see below). In the early Flavian period this settlement became a rather important way-station (municipium?), which was destroyed by the Alamanni in 233. The military post grew up on the nearby mountain (Lorenzberg) soon after 15 B.C., to control the road. The remains are of palisaded or plank structures.
In late antiquity the mountain was again occupied; under Diocletian an enceinte was erected with wooden buildings inside. In 353-57 it suffered a catastrophic fire and destruction by the Alamanni; the magazine (mansio?) was rebuilt ca. 360. About 370 a rectangular chamber (15.5 x 9.5 m) with tripartite E termination, possibly an Early Christian church, was erected on the highest point of the Lorenzberg. From 383 the site was a garrison, the latest traces of settlement stemming from Danubian foederati in the period after 400. Continuity of the Christian cult does not exist, the Lorenzkirche having been erected after 955.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. Werner, ed., “Der Lorenzberg bei Epfach. Die spätrömischen und frühmittelalterlichen Anlagen,” Münchner Beiträge zur vor- und frühgeschichte 8 (1969) MPI.
J. GARBSCH