Matilo or Matilone was once a Roman fort (''

castellum A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually: * a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of (' military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It is distinct from a , which ...

'') in modern-day

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

. Positioned on the southern banks of the Oude Rijn, it served to protect the Roman borders in the province of

Germania Inferior ''Germania Inferior'' ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed ''Germania Secunda'' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Cl ...

(''

Limes Germanicus The (Latin for ''Germanic frontier''), or 'Germanic Limes', is the name given in modern times to a line of frontier () fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman ...

''). On the Peutinger map, it lies between the encampments of '' Albaniana'' (

Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn (; or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn (Old Rhine ...

) and '' Praetorium Agrippinae'' ( Valkenburg). The seventh-century ''

Ravenna Cosmography The ''Ravenna Cosmography'' (, "The Cosmography of the Unknown Ravennese") is a work describing the Ecumene, known world from India to Ireland, compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around 700 AD. It consists of five books describing ...

'' cites the name in the

accusative case In grammar, the accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "he ...

as ''Matellionem''.

Name

Matilo probably derives its name from a body of water near which it was situated, as is usually the case with Roman place-names ending in -on, -one, -an or -ane. This particular water body had most likely already received its name before Roman settlement along the Oude Rijn. It is therefore of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

or Germanic origin and its meaning remains unclear.

History

Due to lack of any evidence predating Roman finds, archaeologists usually conclude that the Romans were the first to settle in this particular location. Before their arrival, people mostly lived further from the river. The first Romans arrived at the site in 47 AD as part of a larger operation to reinforce the Germanic lines. In order to increase the efficiency of supply chains and communication lines within his army, general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo had a canal built (known as the '' Fossa Corbulonis'', or Corbulo's Canal), connecting the

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

and

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

. Matilo was erected there, at the meeting place of the Oude Rijn and the newly dug canal, because of its strategic importance. Archaeological evidence seems to suggest that the Romans only constructed the fort itself somewhere at around 70 AD, whereas a small watchtower might have taken its place in the years before. The construction of Matilo therefore immediately followed the

Batavian Rebellion The Revolt of the Batavi took place in the Roman province of Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") between AD 69 and 70. It was an uprising against the Roman Empire started by the Batavi (Germanic tribe), Batavi, a small but militarily powerful G ...

in 69 and as such played an important role in restoring order to the province of

. Somewhere between 85 and 116, the moat was

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

d and between 130 and 196 AD the Romans added three

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

s and rebuilt the armoury (''armamentarium'') in stone. They did this once more sometime in 196–243, and replaced the wooden outer wall with a stone one as well. The wall and moats were then rebuilt once more after that. This ''castellum'' was home to the cohors XV ''Voluntarium'' from the last quarter of the first century up to at least 196–198, the ''cohors I Lucensium (Hispanorum)'' occupied the outpost during

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

's reign (103 or 110) and another inscription mentions the ''Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum (Antoniniarum)''. Archaeological findings of ammunition for an

onager The onager (, ) (''Equus hemionus''), also known as hemione or Asiatic wild ass, is a species of the family Equidae native to Asia. A member of the subgenus ''Asinus'', the onager was Scientific description, described and given its binomial name ...

indicate that an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

division was once garrisoned there.''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' XIII.8823-25; Brandenburg & Hessing (2005) 27, 31.

Notes

References

Bibliography

*Brandenburg, C.R. & Hessing, W.A.M. (2005) ''Matilo - Rodenburg - Roomburg: De Roomburgerpolder van Romeins castellum tot moderne woonwijk'' (Amersfoort). *Lems, E. (1995) ''Op zoek naar Matilo: Sporen van de Romeinen in Leiden'' (Leiden).

External links

*Lendering, J. (2009
''Matilo''
{{coord, 52.1497, N, 4.5184, E, source:wikidata, display=title Germania Inferior History of Leiden Military of ancient Rome Roman frontiers Roman legionary fortresses in Netherlands