Argentovaria

Argentovaria, also known as Ödenburg, is the collective term for a late Roman military installation and a civilian settlement in the area of Biesheim in Alsace, France. The ancient sites of Biesheim-Kunheim and Ödenburg-Altkirch owe their importance to their position at an important crossing over the Rhine. In the 1st and the 4th centuries AD the area was dominated by the military, but in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the civilian settlement came to the fore. During the great barbarian invasions in the 4th and 5th centuries AD Argentovaria was probably part of a chain of forts that also included the fortifications on the right bank of the Rhine on the Münsterberg in Breisach and on the Sponeck in Sasbach am Kaiserstuhl. The late Roman castrum was probably one of the numerous border fortresses built under Emperor Valentinian I in the final phase of Roman rule over the Rhine provinces, but only briefly occupied. It was part of the chain of forts of the Danube-Iller-Rhine Limes in the section of the Maxima Sequanorum province. The fort was probably occupied by Roman troops from the 4th to the 5th century AD who were responsible for security and surveillance tasks along the Rhine border.