Aventicum

Aventicum was the largest town and capital of Roman Switzerland (Helvetia or Civitas Helvetiorum). Its remains are beside the modern town of Avenches. The city was probably created ex nihilo in the early 1st century AD, as the capital of the recently conquered territory of the Helvetii, across the road that connected Italy to Britain, built under Claudius. Under the rule of Emperor Vespasian, who grew up there, Aventicum was raised to the status of a colonia in 72 AD, whereupon it entered its golden age. The town wall was 5.6 km (3.5 mi) long but was impracticable for defensive purposes and was doubtless intended as a display of the status of the city. In the Christian era Aventicum was the seat of a bishopric. The most famous of its bishops was Marius Aventicensis. His terse chronicle, spanning the years 455 to 581, is one of the few sources for the 6th-century Burgundians.