Eburacum was founded in AD 71 by the Legio IX Hispana as the legionary fortress for the conquest of northern Britain, situated at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss. The Legio VI Victrix replaced the Ninth around AD 122, and a substantial civilian settlement (canabae, then colonia) developed across the Ouse on the south-west bank. It was elevated to colonia status under Caracalla, probably in AD 211/212, and served as one of the most important imperial centres in Britain into the late 4th century.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Eburacum was the military capital of northern Britain and headquarters of the dux Britanniarum, and it twice hosted the imperial court: Septimius Severus died here in AD 211, and Constantius I died here in AD 306, where his son Constantine was proclaimed emperor. By the early 4th century it was the capital of the province Britannia Secunda and the seat of a bishop attested at the Council of Arles in AD 314.
Substantial remains survive, including the fortress walls (notably the Multangular Tower), the basilica of the principia beneath York Minster, and bath-house fragments; the colonia on the south-west bank has yielded streets, town houses, and extensive cemeteries with elaborate sarcophagi and inscriptions. Finds include the Ivory Bangle Lady burial and the jet workshops for which Eburacum was known, alongside a rich corpus of military t
Eburacum was founded in AD 71 by the Legio IX Hispana as the legionary fortress for the conquest of northern Britain, situated at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Eburacum is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including York Castle: motte and bailey castle, tower keep castle (including Clifford's Tower), and site of part of Romano-British fort-vicus and Anglian cemetery (0.3 km), Roman colonia at York (0.4 km), Roman Fortress at York (0.5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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