SUMELOCENNA

Today an episcopal town, around 2000 years ago a Roman stronghold and more than 6000 years ago a Stone Age settlement: picturesque Rottenburg am Neckar is a town with tradition.

It is not known in exactly what year the Roman settlement of “Sumelocenna” was founded, although a date of 98 AD – following the foundation of Rottweil in 73 AD – is likely. In the second century AD Sumelocenna became the capital of an administrative territory or civitas – in this case one which probably encompassed the entire middle Neckar region. The name Sumelocenna is of Celtic origin and is thought to mean “the people of Sumelo”, referring to a Celtic clan of the time.

Sumelocenna was one of the most important Roman towns in what is now Baden Württemberg. In the late second or early third century AD a wall was built around the town to protect if from attacks by the Alamanns and other German tribes. In Rottenburg the area enclosed by the wall amounted to around 32 hectares.