Lopodunum
Situated 10 km NW of Heidelberg in the low plains of the upper Rhine. Suebi settled here directly outside of the Roman Rhine frontier in the 1st c. A.D., prior to the Roman occupation. That the Germanic tribe was already under Roman influence can be documented archaeologically. Probably these Suebi had signed a foedus with the Romans which assured them participation in the defense of the Roman border. A Suebian settlement has been verified, which under Vespasian was directly controlled by Romans. At that time a Roman auxiliary castellum was built and a vicus grew up, probably in part going back to the Suebian village. After the upper Germanic limes had been constructed under Domitian, the settlement was in the interior of the province Germania Superior created by Domitian. It so quickly became romanized that Trajan allowed the Suebian population self-administration within a civitas (Civitas Ulpia Sueborum Nicretum) and auxiliary troops were withdrawn. In place of the castellum and its vicus a small town named Lopodunum developed as the center of the new civitas. Legally, the town remained a vicus; it did not obtain a municipal statute as a colonia or a municipium.
Among the most important buildings are a forum with a relatively large basilica and a theater. The existence of a large temple has been deduced from column fragments. The living quarters were simple and not extensive. The public buildings also had to serve the rural population of the civitas, which evidently was of considerable importance. Several villas of the Roman type have been discovered. The threat of Germanic invasions led in the first half of the 3d c. A.D. to the construction of a defensive wall, enclosing an area of ca. 35 ha which in part was not built up. In the middle of the 3d c. A.D. Lopodunum fell to the Alamanni. The town was destroyed and the Rhine once more became the border of the Roman Empire. Around A.D. 368 under Valentinian the region reverted for a short time to Roman rule but Lopodunum was not rebuilt. From this time dates the only mention in Classical literature (Auson. Mos. 423f). Germanic finds of the 4th c. A.D. come from Ladenburg. It cannot be assumed, however, that there has been a continuous settlement since Roman times, in spite of the name continuity. The mediaeval town (Lobdenburg, Ladenburg) developed out of a royal court which preceded the present Bischofshof.
Very little remains of Classical Lopodunum. The walls of a Roman basilica with three naves are exposed in the crypt of the St. Gallus and also outside the church. The ground plan of the church is in part determined by the basilica. The Roman building was, however, considerably larger than the church. Some ruins of Roman town houses and a gate tower of the auxiliary castellum are visible from the Bischofshof, where there is a museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYH. Mylius, “Die römische Marktbasilika in Lopodunum,” Germania 30 (1952) 56-69P; D. Baatz, Germania 39 (1961) 87-93; id., Lopodunum-Ladenburg a.N. (1962) [Badische Fundberichte, Special Issue 1]; R. Nierhaus, “Das Swebische Gräberfeld von Diersheim,” Römisch-Germanische Forschungen 28 (1966) 185-88; B. Heukemes, Badische Fundberichte, Special Issue 10 (1967) 30-33; id., “Die römischen Funde von der St. Sebstianskapelle in Ladenburg am Neckar,” Saalburg-Jahrbuch 28 (1971) 5-14.
D. BAATZ