Tyrol (Austria) -- Description and travel; Tyrol (Austria) -- History
Successful as Drusus' forces were, none the less so were those of
Tiberius. There, however, is less record of his battles, and the
actual ground on which they were fought forms still matter for
conjecture. And equally uncertain is the exact spot where the two
victorious generals ultimately met. It is, however, thought by several
reliable authorities to have been somewhere in the valley of the Inn,
and probably not far distant from the present site of Innsbruck. This
view is made the more probable from the circumstance that a Roman post
was established at Wilten (now a suburb of Innsbruck) then known as
Veldidena.
Here probably both armies rested after a campaign of great fatigue and
severity owing to the nature of the ground over which it was fought
and the stubborn resistance offered by the inhabitants.
Soon Veldidena, from a halting-place of armies, became a town with
houses of considerable size, temples, baths, and surrounding _vallæ_,
or earthen fortifications formed to defend the inhabitants from sudden
attack. Although precautions of the nature we have indicated were
taken wherever a Roman post or station was placed, there is no
historical data to show that the Breones and other adjacent tribes who
were thus brought under the Roman sway did not very speedily
accommodate themselves to the new condition of things and become good
and peaceful citizens of Rome. It appears probable, however, that the
Rhæti did not adapt themselves to the altered conditions as speedily
as did their northern neighbours, the inhabitants of Noricum, with
whom certain Roman habits and customs (including the system of
municipal government) already obtained.
From the evidence adduced by several diligent historians and from that
of one comparatively modern writer[3] in particular it is almost
certain that after the sanguinary and decisive battle on the banks of
the Eisack Tiberius set his face once again westward to resume his
governorship of Gaul, leaving his brother, Drusus, to continue the
subjection of Tyrol, and ultimately to found the important settlement
of Augusta Vindelicorum, now known as Augsburg. Here the Roman general
not only threw up a fortified camp, but also built a forum to
encourage commerce; and soon the settlement became the most important
Roman station to the north of the Central Alps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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