Castellum Mattiacorum

The Castellum Mattiacorum was a Roman military camp in what is now Mainz-Kastel, a district of Wiesbaden. It stood on the right bank of the Rhine, near the present-day Catholic Church of St George. The Romans built a temporary bridge over the river around 11 BC and set up a fort to guard the bridgehead. Drusus led the expansion into unconquered Germania at the time. Nearby stood a triumphal arch, whose foundations were found in 1986. The fort was first made of earth and timber and may have been destroyed in AD 69. By AD 71 it had been rebuilt in stone, measuring 71 by 98 metres. A civilian settlement grew up beside it, protected by a wall in the 3rd century. A second fort, about 1.5 kilometres away, was built in the 2nd century with rounded corners and four gates. A hoard of over 750 coins, rings and silver fittings was found in the early 5th century. Visitors can see traces of the stone fort near St George’s Church. The outline of the civilian settlement lies under fields and buildings to the northeast. Aerial photographs show the positions of temporary marching camps from the 1st and 2nd centuries. The late Roman treasure, with its coins and silver, is displayed in the Museum Castellum in Mainz-Kastel.