page_title: Xanten
section_title: Antiquity
hierarchical_section_title: Xanten / History / Antiquity
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Karte des Archäologischen Parks Xanten English: Map of the Archaeological Park Xanten
context_page_description: Xanten is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the district of Wesel.
  Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park, one of the largest archaeological open air museums in the world, built at the site of the Roman settlements Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Other attractions include the medieval town centre with Xanten Cathedral, many museums and large man-made lakes for various watersport activities. Xanten is visited by approximately one million tourists a year.
context_section_description: The first settlements by isolated tribes can be dated to around the year 2000 BC. Around 15 BC the Roman castrum or camp Vetera was created on the Fürstenberg near modern-day Birten. It was intended as a base for campaigns into Germania and until its destruction during the Revolt of the Batavi in 70 AD it was occupied by 8,000 to 10,000 legionaries, and was the main base of the Classis germanica.
  After the destruction of Vetera a second camp became established at the Bislicher Insel, named Castra Vetera II, which became the base camp of Legio VI Victrix. A nearby created settlement, which was inhabited by 10,000 to 15,000 former legionaries and others, was given the rights of a colonia in 110 AD by the Roman emperor Marcus Ulpius Traianus, who renamed the town Colonia Ulpia Traiana. The colonia was a completely new town with a town wall and other buildings like an amphitheater. For this town the old settlement was completely destroyed. The colonia became the second most important commercial post in the province of Germania Inferior, surpassed only by Colonia Agrippinensis (today's Cologne). In 122, Vetera II became the camp of Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix, replacing VI Victrix which had moved to Britannia.
  In 275 the colonia was almost destroyed by Germanic tribes. Subsequently, in 310 in the area of the colonia a new town was established, named Tricensimae ("of the Thirtieth"), which was built on the nine central insula of the former colonia but fortified and more easily defended. At the beginning of the 5th century, assaults by Germanic tribes rapidly increased, with the result that Tricensimae was finally given up.
  In 363, during the reign of Julian, the Christian Viktor of Xanten is supposed to have been executed together with 360 other members of the Theban Legion near the modern town of Birten for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods. Considered a martyr and a saint by the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church, Viktor of Xanten is commemorated in Xanten Cathedral, where his relics are kept in a shrine embedded in the high altar.
caption: Colonia Ulpia Traiana, Tricensimae, Archäologischer Park Xanten
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