Throughout the Middle Roman Period (c. 70–250 CE), Maastricht and her bridge enabled secure crossing and a resting place for those traveling along the Via Belgica road network. In ancient times, the Via Belgica traversed the provinces of Germania Inferior and Belgica and connected the major military and civilian centre of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne in Germany) at the Rhine River to Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer in France), a strategic port and naval military base along the Atlantic Trade Route. Between these two endpoints, the roadway passes through a number of cities and smaller settlements., such as modern-day Heerlen, Maastricht in the Netherlands and Tongeren in Belgium.
Known in Roman times as Atuatuca Tongrorum, Tongeren was the administrative capital for the Civitas Tungrorum district of the Gallia Belgica province. Due to the confluence of the Jeker river tributary with the Meuse, Maastricht likely functioned as the ‘harbour of Tongeren’ – it was located only 18 km from Maastricht, travel time between the two sites was between 1.5 hours and 4-5 hours, depending on direction of travel and means of transportation. Their close proximity implies an interdependent relationship between ancient Tongeren and Maastricht in terms of economic, political and social concerns.
⭐️ - Province Capital
🔺 - Military Fortifications
🔹 - Vicus, small settlement
🟣 - large civilian city
*The interactive map for this presentation is based on a number of maps and other digital source data which can be accessed in Article 1.9: Conclusion and References. It does not encompass all sites, settlements or road networks for this period. Click on the annotations to see the ancient and modern place names.