Tempel van Empel - Empel, NL
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T-Team!
N 51° 44.090 E 005° 18.613
31U E 659523 N 5734071
On this spot in Empel, you will find indications of an old Roman Temple. Archeological finds (amongst others) is a well preserved Roman helmet.
Waymark Code: WM1572B
Location: Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Date Posted: 10/28/2021
Views: 6
About the Tempel of Empel location:
On the site you will find several markers indicating where the temple would have been. It links to the website (
visit link) which shows a 3D view of the Temple of Empel.
"Most of the knowledge of the complex comes from archaeological investigations of the site between 1989 and 1991. But only minimal traces of the Roman buildings have been found: no more than the trenches in which the walls were founded, with some remains of rubble in the ground . The complex has been demolished in ancient times. Moreover, many archaeological traces disappeared when the site was leveled after the Second World War as part of the land consolidation. Only a few deeper traces such as the foundation remains, some wells and some pits have been preserved. However, especially with the metal detector, many Roman objects were found spread over a larger area: pieces of military equipment, coins, jewelry and the like. They give a good picture of what was sacrificed to the Roman gods."
Source: (
visit link)
About the helmet:
"The find of this helmet and the other Roman equipment in Empel is very special. It was not customary for the Romans to sacrifice military equipment. Legionaries usually handed in their equipment at the end of their service. With Celtic and Germanic tribes, on the other hand, this was an old custom. This often involved captured weapons, but the Batavi and other groups in the Rhine area sometimes also applied this method to their own weapons. The sacrifice of these then marked a rite of passage within their warrior culture.
Because the Romans recruited many auxiliary troops from the Rhine area, that warrior culture, and this custom, apparently persisted. Traces of wear on the material that was sacrificed in Kessel indicate that Batavian soldiers sacrificed parts of their equipment when they departed as legionaries. Thanks to this ritual, the wearer of this helmet may have entered as a soldier, but came out as a civilian."
Source: (
visit link)
According to the Vici website, several roman coins were also found at this location (
visit link)
"Of the 639 Roman coins, 629 were found at Engelen and Empel. Many of these were probably during the widening of the Dieze and the construction of the abutments for the railway bridge over the Maas in 1870. The other 10 coins from the De Bekker collection were found in Vught, Hedickhuizen, etc."