Salzburg, beautiful and on occasion even radiant city of the plain as it is, ancient though many of its buildings are, is yet of greater antiquity than any of them. The town stands upon truly classic ground, and is associated with many events which have taken their places in European and even world-wide history. Here the Romans came in their all-conquering march of empire, and recognizing its fine position and the strategic importance of the hills which command the river along most of its course, they in due time built upon the plain Juvavum, on the road which linked up the Augusta Vindelicorum, modern Augsburg with Aquileia near Trieste. There is little doubt nowadays, from the remains which have been discovered from time to time in the shape of implements of stone and bronze, weapons, household utensils, and ornaments, that the mines near Salzburg, which have since very early days down till comparatively recent times been of great commercial importance, were not only worked in the days of the Roman occupation, but also even in pre-historic times. There is little reason for doubt, indeed, that the Celts knew of, and used, the famous salt mines of the Dürnberg and the copper mines of the Mitterberg; whilst there is abundant evidence of various kinds of the working of the gold and silver mines of the Tauern district by the Romans during their occupation of the country. [Illustration: MOZART'S HOUSE IN THE MAKART PLATZ] The exact date when Salzburg as a town or settlement first came into existence has not been determined; but it would seem probable that there was a settlement existing by the banks of the Salzach during, or just prior to, the first century of the Christian Era. The Celtic inhabitants of this settlement were not, however, able successfully to resist the north-eastern advance which had been made across Tyrol by the Roman legions, and thus it was that the Roman military station Juvavum was founded on a site which was of great convenience owing to its being at the entrance to the mountain passes and placed at the junction of the roads which led by various routes to all parts of Noricum. Here it was the Roman invader, having driven the Celtic owners of the soil after a brave but ineffectual resistance into mountain fastnesses of the surrounding country, established a military post with a fort which soon became a colony, and grew ultimately into the important town of Juvavum. Of this occupation by the Romans, and of the establishment of the town by the banks of the Salzach, there are considerable relics surviving in the shape of excavated buildings and foundations, coins, ornaments, pottery, tesselated pavements, and portions of the roads which the Romans made.