A Brief History of Bonn

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With traces of humans dating back 50,000 years, Bonn is considered to be one of Germany’s oldest cities (History). The city of Bonn “celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1989, based on the date of its first written mention by the Roman writer Florus in 11 BC” (History). “Friedrich Schlegel once called Bonn a “friendly” town and it has been a friendly town throughout the whole 2000 years if its existence, which dates back to the foundation of the Drusus fort in the year 13 BC (Schleifer).” Around 11 BC, a Roman army placed a unit in what is present day downtown. However, before this occurred, the army moved members of a Germanic tribe, the Ubii, to Bonna which is Latin for Bonn. After many years, the army released the small camp linked to the Ubii-settlement. Around the 1st century AD, the Roman army then took a spot to the north of emerging Bonna in what is now the section of Bonn-Castell to build a military fort called Castra Bonnensis, which means Fort Bonn. This Fort was used through the 5th century AD and continued to stand in the Middle Ages, where the fort was called Bonnburg. The structures were not of much use until the Frankish kings who were in control at this time decided to use them as part of the city wall in the 13th century. Barbarian invaders destroyed much of the original city of Bonna, and when the time came for the barbarians to take over, the troops switched their allegiances to save themselves from certain death. It is from these barbarians that the medieval city of Bonn began to rise (Bonn). “One well-documented event was the martyrdom of two Thebaean legionaries. The Thebaean Legion was an all-Christian legion, which refused to worship the emperor as a god. As punishment, the Thebaean Legion's commander, Ma...

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