City
Veteribus
Xanten
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Veteribus is Castra Vetera, the great legionary fortress beside Xanten on the Lower Rhine. The name only looks Latin; it was probably a local, perhaps Germanic, word that Romans declined like a Latin adjective. From a ridge above the Rhine, the double camp overlooked the mouth of the Lippe and served as the base for campaigns deep into Germany, until rebels under Civilis besieged and destroyed it in AD 70. Its successor housed the Thirtieth Legion, which later gave the site the name Tricensimae. The map puts forty miles between it and neighbouring Colonia Traiana, probably a copyist's misreading of a single mile.