page_title: Contiomagus
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Contiomagus / Development
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Mosaikboden der "Villa Hylborn" im Pachtener Museum.
context_page_description: Contiomagus was a Gallo-Roman vicus in the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. The location today is the site of the district of Pachten in the municipality of Dillingen, Saarland.
context_section_description: There were already settlements of the Celtic tribe of the Treveri in the vicinity of today's Dillingen, around the Limberg, on the Prims, and at the mouth of the Nied at the arrival of the Romans. A sword from the late La Tène was found in 1967 in Pachten (Leipziger Ring).
  In the years 58–51 BC Caesar's troops conquered the area along the Saar. The region was located at the border between the Celtic tribes of the Treveri and the Mediomatrici. The names of the carvings of the "Pachtener Sitzsteine" (seating, presumably from a cult theater) suggest the settlement of both tribes in the Pachten area.
  Contiomagus was primarily a trading town. According to the testimony of Ausonius, a court official of Emperor Valentinian I (r.364–375), there was merchant shipping on the Saar. The chief locations were the bridges in Sarrebourg (pons Saravi), Saarbrücken  and Pachten (Contiomagus).  In the 3rd century, Contiomagus was threatened by the Germans, and 275–276 it was destroyed by the Franks at the beginning of the Migration Period. During reconstruction, a fort was built.
  In the Roman Empire, the Civitas of the Treveri, including Pachten, belonged to the province of Belgica Prima, with its provincial capital at Trier. The Treveri gradually assimilated Roman culture, the Celtic language maintained itself in the country well into the 4th century AD. Celtic religion mingled syncretistically with the Roman deities (the "Interpretatio Romana"). The custom of erecting votive stones to the gods was widespread. From Pachten two such stones have been preserved: the Contiomagus Stone and the Merkur Stone. The latter was found in 1847 on the first plowing of a marshy spot in the "Nachtweide". The inscription of the white sandstone sculpture (39 × 23 × 10 cm with a letter height of 3 cm) reads:
        DEO MERCVRIO C
  
        OLONI CRVTISIO
  
        NES FERVNT DE
  
        SVO PER DANN
  
        VM GIAMILLVM
  Translation: "The coloni of Crutisio had this [stone] erected to the god Mercury by Dannus Giamillus."
  In the immediate vicinity lay the shards of urns, jugs and small consecration vessels. Coloni are tenant farmers who depend on a large landowner. From this it follows that at the time of the dedication of the stone a villa must have existed in Pachten or the immediate vicinity. The discovery of the sacred stone led to the assumption that the ancient name of today's Pachten was "Crutisio", but this assumption was refuted by the discovery of the Contiomagus stone.
  The Contiomagus stone was found during excavation work October 22, 1955. The stone had been re-used as the foundation stone of a corner tower of the fort of Contiomagus. The grayish-yellow sandstone is 66 × 45 × 28 cm with the height of the inscribed part 46 cm. The upper part of the stone of is broken off and missing. The existing relief piece presumably represents a seated goddess, who is dressed in a tunic, which has strong drapery. To the right of the goddess a small animal, perhaps a dog, is visible to the viewer. The inscription, whose letters have a height of about 4 cm, reads:
        . O . D .
  
        . T . PRITONAE . DI
  
        VINAE . SIVE . CA . .
  
        IONI . PRO . SALVTE
  
        VICANORUM . CONTI
  
        OMAGI . ENSIVMTER
  
        TINIUS . MODESTUS
  
        F . C . V . S .
  A possible translation might be: "To the divine Pritona or Ca…ioni for the safety of the inhabitants of Contiomagus Tertinius Modestus." Pritona can be interpreted as a river goddess or goddess of trade.
  The first and last lines of the dedication are written in abbreviations and heavily weathered. During temporary storage of the find in Saarbrücken it was misused by workmen, out of ignorance, as a support for the processing of building materials and thereby suffered further damage. As a result, the scientific interpretation of the first and last lines is still controversial.
  Another indication of the veneration of Mercury in Pechten is the small sculpture of the god from years around the beginning of the 3rd century, discovered in 1961 during the excavation for construction of a factory. Statuettes of other Roman and E
caption: Mosaic floor from the Villa Hylborn (Museum Pachten)
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