Aguntum

During the early Christian era, the city was the site of a bishopric, which, having ceased to be a residential diocese, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.

The oldest Roman remains are a two-roomed wooden structure discovered beneath the bath house and dated to the mid-first century BC.

The discovery of a layer of ash, as well as the remains of a man and a child in the bath house, points to the sack of Aguntum by the invading barbarians under Radagaisus and Alaric.

When the Western Roman Empire collapsed, Aguntum passed under the control of the Ostrogoths and was fought over by Franks, Byzantines and Bavarians.

There were no further bishops ordained in the area and the surviving Roman population took refuge in hilltop fortresses while the barbarians settled in the fertile valley.

Repeatedly flooded by the Debantbach, the ruins of Aguntum remained visible until the 16th century, for in 1599 Veit Netlich, a lawyer, mentioned gravestones with "unknown writing" and reported that "according to a myth, here was a heathen city".

A final suggestion is that the wall and gate were originally built for show, but hastily extended and improved to withstand the Alemanni.

There is a very large bath house – an indication of the size of the Roman city – with several marble pools separated from the walls of the rooms in which they stand, to allow hot air to circulate under and around them.

This is the largest Roman bath complex so far discovered in Austria and was first constructed during the reign of Tiberius, but was destroyed in the late first century AD by a fire.