During the first century BC, the Batavi, a branch of ethnic Chatti and auxiliary troops to the Roman legion, left their homes on the east bank of the Rhine River, and moved northward to the Netherlands, which was at the time, according to the historian Tacitus, an uninhabited damp lowland. But the Netherlands was not uninhabited.
Rich cremation grave in native Roman cemetery at Site H (Oosterhout-Rustwat), containing 8 pottery vessels, a worn Roman coin, a convex glass mirror, bone ornaments, bone hair pins, a silver ring and a necklace with gold-in-glass beads. © Municipality of Nijmegen
The new photo essay, Roman Empire in the Netherlands, examines the archaeological evidence for the presence of Roman troops in and near the town of Nijmegen, where the local La Tène Iron Age farmers adapted some but not all of the Roman lifestyle.
Thanks are due to Peter van den Broeke and Harry van Enckevort for sharing their research and images with us.
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