Rätien

Retia (Latin name Raetia), Roman province. The Romans conquered the lands of the Raetians and Vindelici after heavy fights in 15 B.C. The province, which was named after these two tribes "Raetia et Vindelicia" chose Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg) as its capital and included the Alpine foothills, stretching from Lake Constance and the Inn River to the lakes in the north-west of Italy, and from the St. Gotthard Pass in the west to the Brenner Pass. It included lands which are now Austrian territory, i.e. parts of the provinces of Vorarlberg and Tirol west of the Ziller Valley and Inntal valley. For the defence of the border beyond the River Danube, auxiliary troops were stationed along the fortified border, after the wars against the Marcomanni the third Italic League was stationed in Regensburg and their commander was at the same time Provincial Governor. The Romans lost the lands north of the River Danube to the Alemanni in the 3^rd century. Under Emperor Diocletian (284-305 B.C.) Retia was divided into "Raetia prima" and "Raetia secunda". In 377/78 the Alemanni invaded the province, from the mid 5^th century the Alemanni occupied the western part of Retia, but some Roman tribes managed to survive in the mountain regions. Noricum, Pannonia, Roman Roads, Roman Era.

Literature: R. Heuberger, Rätien im Altertum und Mittelalter, 1932 (new print 1981); H.-J. Ubl, Tirol in römischer Zeit, in: Dehio-Handbuch Tirol, 1980; E. Vonbank, Zur Topographie urgeschichtlicher und römerzeitlicher Fundstätten in Vorarlberg, in: Dehio-Handbuch Vorarlberg, 1983; F. Schön, Der Beginn der römischen Herrschaft in Rätien, 1986.