Brigantium
- A town in Rhaetia, now Bregenz, Amm.15, 4, 1 and 3; Itin. Anton.
- —Hence, Brĭgantīnus, a, um, adj.: lacus, the lake of Constance, Plin. 9, 17, 29, § 63 (in Mel. 3, 2, 8, Lacus Venetus).—
- II The town of Briançon, in France, Amm.15, 10, 7.
BRIGA´NTIUM (Briançon, in the department of Hautes Alpes) is marked in the Table as the first: place in Gallia after Alpis Cottia (Mont Genèvre). At Brigantium the road branched, to the west through Grenoble to Vienna (Vienne), on the Rhone; to the south through Ebrodunum (Embrun), to Vapincum (Gap). Both the Itin. and the Table give the route from Brigantiuin to Vapincum. The Table places Brigantium 6 M.P. from Alpis Cottia. Strabo (p. 179) mentions the village Brigantium, and on a road to the Alpis Cottia, but his words are obscure. Ptolemy mentions Brigantium as within the limits of the Segusini, or people of Segusio, Susa, in Piedmont; but it seems, as D'Anville observes, to be beyond the natural limits of the Segusini. Walckenaer (vol. 1. p. 540) justifies Ptolemy in this matter by supposing that he follows a description of Italy made before the new divisions of Augustus, which we know from Pliny. Walckenaer also supports his justification of Ptolemy by the Jerusalem Itin., which makes the Alpes Cottiae commence at Rama (La Casse Rom) between Embrun and Briançon.
[G.L]BRIGA´NTIUM (Βριγάντιον, Dio Cass.; Flavium Brigantium, Φγαυύιον Βριγάντιον, Ptol. 2.6.4; Brigantia, Oros. 2.2), an important seaport town of the Callaïci Lucenses, on the Magnus or Artabrorum Portus (Bay of Ferrol and Coruña), 35 M. P. NW. of Lucus Augusti (Itin. Ant. p. 424). Some geographers identify it with El Ferrol, others with Betanzos, and others with La Coruña, identifying the ancient tower at this place with the great lighthouse of Brigantium mentioned by Orosius. (Florez, Esp. S. 19.14; Ukert, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 437.)
[P.S]BRIGA´NTIUM [BRIGANTII]
Situated on the SE bay of Lake Constance, the settlement was first mentioned by Strabo (4.206). It belonged to the province Raetia and is listed by Ptolemy (2.12.3) among the towns of that province. It marked the most important intersection of roads near Lake Constance: here the road from Gaul via Basel intersected that leading from the S (Mediolanum) across the Alps. From here the road went via Cambodunum to the provincial capital Augusta Vindelicum. Consequently, Brigantium is mentioned repeatedly in antiquity (It.Ant. 237, 251, 258, 259, etc.; Tab.Peut. 3.5). The significance of the place is evidenced by the fact that Pliny (9.63) even calls Lake Constance lacus Brigantinus (lacus Brigantiae in Amm. Marc. 15.4.1).
The Celtic oppidum is thought to have been on the rise of the old town, whereas the Roman settlement stretched out over the terrace called Ölrain, ca. 30 m above the shore of the lake. It was an open town which developed on both sides of the wide main street, but it was also a planned settlement with rectangular insulae. The public buildings were apparently situated mainly along the lakeside edge of the terrace, while the private ones and the quarter for craftsmen were on the opposite side of the street. On the terraces toward the lake were single buildings (villas, etc.). The forum (97 x 55 m) departed from the customary arrangement in that the capitol did not face the forum but was located offside. Great baths had been constructed on the main street SW of the forum. In addition, numerous public and private buildings have been uncovered although their exact function is not easily determined. Outside the town to the NE is the principal necropolis, one of the largest Roman cemeteries of Raetia. The more than 1300 graves (1st c. to 4th) indicate through their furnishings the solid wealth of a town that must have had a certain importance as a trade center; an inscription speaks of negotiatores Brigantienses.
Brigantium possesses the oldest inscription of Raetia—an inscription from A.D. 4-14 commemorating Drusus the Younger. In Early Imperial times there were earthworks on the SW Ölrain (time of Tiberius); up to the days of Claudius a cavalry unit was garrisoned there; it was eventually shifted to the Danube.
When ca. A.D. 260 the limes collapsed, the border of the empire retracted to Lake Constance, making Brigantium a frontier town. The lower settlement gradually moved to the level of the fortified upper town. Later it became from time to time the headquarters for the commander of the Lake Constance fleet (Not.Dign. 35.32).
It is not known whether Brigantium had the status of a municipium. The only visible remnants of Roman Brigantium are a wall in the Protestant cemetery and a part of the Roman pier. The numerous finds are in the Vorarlberg Landesmuseum in Bregenz.
BIBLIOGRAPHYR. von Scala, Archiv für Geschichte und Landeskunde Vorarlbergs 10 (1914) 29ff; A. Hild, Jahrbuch des Vorarlberger Landesmuseumsvereins 95 (1952) 28ffMPI; B. Saria in EAA 2 (1959) 170ff; E. Vonbank, in L. Franz & A. Neumann, Lexikon ur- und frühgeschichtlicher Fundstätten Österreichs (1965) 175ff.
R. NOLLRoman port in the NW of the peninsula, the principal monument of which is a lighthouse called the Tower of Hercules, restored in the 18th c. Its plan was square, with an outside access. It was 34.77 m high and 10.08 m wide, and was constructed by Caius Levius Lupus, probably in the time of Trajan.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. R. Mélida, Monumentos romanos de España (1925); B. Taracena, Ars Hispaniae II (1947) I.
R. TEJA