Imperial Upper Austria

“The enduring influence of the Romans is present nearly everywhere,” explains American documentary filmmaker and author T.R. Reid, “in language and literature, in laws and administration, in architecture and medicine, in sport, in art, in engineering.”

The Romans first and foremost focused on the perfectly organised fighting strength of their highly disciplined legions in the centuries-long expansion of their empire – whose residents numbered 50 million residents living in peace and prosperity over three continents – and consolidated their power in the conquered territory with soft power. They did this by heavily investing in the material and social infrastructure of their new provinces. These investments spanned the construction of camps, military fortifications and settlements, including the construction of roads, bridges and structures such as baths and theatres. Upper Austrian soil is a testament of this, not only due to the many preserved remains there such as the bathhouse from the Roman fort in Schlögen, but also because of the lime kiln found at the legionary camp and Lauriacum, a civil settlement in what is now Enns. In what is currently considered the largest kiln in the Rhine-Danube province, the more than 6,000 soldiers of the Legio II Italica Pia Fidelis themselves made lime for the numerous public sector construction projects when they were not busy quarrying or brick-burning.

Major Roman investments were not limited to buildings and roads, however. Introducing efficient administration was also part of the Roman development programme everywhere they settled. Excellent administration of the military and community was, according to T. R. Reid, part of Roman art, “to politically organise faraway provinces and foster unity”. However, this also included securing Roman supremacy through cultural Romanisation. With the new gentlemen in the country came a new way of life: Roman officials, legionnaires, professionals and experts imported from the heartland of the Empire not only brought with them their administrative policy, their architecture and their highly developed technical expertise, but also their language, the alphabet we still use today, the Roman numerical code and the extensive education system of the higher classes. They also brought with them culinary delicacies from the South and Roman table manners, fashion and styling, as well as bathing culture and entertainment through plays, music and literature.

The intellectual seeds of Roman provenance included the sciences, with the Romans proving first and foremost to be skilful stewards of Greek heritage. This extended to philosophy as well, which – as in the case of philosopher-cum-emperor Marcus Aurelius – was one of the favoured intellectual pursuits of the Roman elite. As a thinker, Marcus Aurelius entirely followed in the tradition of the Greek Stoics, from whom he adopted a serene attitude of non-judgemental acknowledgement of people and of reality. Even though he was aware of the insignificance of himself as a person and even Roman world domination when compared to the dimensions of the cosmos and eternity, he nevertheless succinctly fulfilled all the demands that accompanied his role as emperor. It was Marcus Aurelius who founded the second Legio Italica Pia Fidelis, which was relocated to Enns and the Danube in 190, ten years after his death.

The Legion proved to be a bearer of culture in Lauriacum and its surrounds. The Enns camp became the nucleus of a large economic area. At its peak, some 25,000 people lived in Lauriacum, either in the legionary camp or what was known as the Vicus, home to the soldiers’ families, restaurateurs, artisans, traders and service providers. As in the Roman Empire as a whole, Lauriacum society was multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-religious, made up of native inhabitants, Romans and migrants from every corner of the empire. In their wisdom, the Roman authorities largely renounced coercion in organising this peaceful coexistence. Instead, they allowed extensive tolerance, but this, too, had its limits, as evidenced by the martyrdom of Florian and about 40 other Christians in Enns in 304. Roman rulers’ concern for integrating the non-Roman population is demonstrated by their granting of civil rights to all free imperial dwellers under Emperor Caracalla in 212. With the exception of the slaves, this paved the way for social advancement to all people within the borders of the Roman Empire: All free citizens now had the fundamental opportunity to hold state offices.

In spite of all this, public, economic and cultural life could only flourish within safe limits. Under Emperor Caracalla, mentioned above, the Limes was completed along the Danube to serve as a permanently fortified outer border of the Roman Empire. According to Danube expert and literary scholar Claudio Magris, the Limes, the remains of which in Upper Austria include a fortification in Oberranna and the Ioviacum fort in Schlögen, which housed around 150 soldiers, complete with its own shipyards, stands for a political change of mind among Roman emperors and top politicians. “On one side was the Empire, the idea, the universal rule of Rome,” writes Magris about the elaborately secured border, “whilst on the other were the barbarians, whom the Roman Empire had begun to fear, so much so that they moved away from conquering and assimilating further territory towards protecting themselves instead.” Perhaps this very renunciation of further territorial gains was what triggered the creeping decline of the Roman Empire. As far as the much talked about downfall of Rome – that is, the Western Roman Empire – is concerned, historians, political scientists and economists are still busy formulating fascinating theses and counter-theses to this day. From today’s point of view, it seems highly likely that the Roman Empire itself began to overwhelm itself with its sheer size from around the time when Upper Austria was part of the Roman Empire.

Conquests meant the population had grown so much that their care and administration became more and more expensive and laborious. For a long time, Rome solved this problem by incorporating more and more neighbouring regions with considerable (agricultural) economic output. Eventually, ever-increasing occupation, administrative, transportation and communications costs began to outpace the Empire. When slavery was ended, the Romans forfeited the cheap, forced labour that had driven centuries of growth. Also, as Christianity and Islam grew stronger, Rome found itself facing increasing pressure, which the Empire as well as the growing attacks on its external borders beginning in the third century could not withstand. And so, little by little, the history of what was undisputedly the greatest military force of the time, the economic and cultural superpower, whose legacies have become the foundation of modern Western societies – including at Enns and along the Danube – came to an end.