Editing Saarbrücken (section)

===Roman Empire===
[[File:20110418Roemerkastell Saarbruecken10.jpg|thumb|left|Ruins of the [[Castra|Roman camp]] ''Römerkastell'']]
In the last centuries BC, the [[Mediomatrici]] settled in the Saarbrücken area.<ref name="LHSSB">{{cite web | title = Chronik von Saarbrücken | publisher = Landeshauptstadt Saarbrücken | url = http://www.saarbruecken.de/de/tourismus/infos_und_reiseplanung/sehenswertes/sehenswuerdigkeiten/die_geschichte_saarbrueckens | language = de | access-date = 18 July 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111206180842/http://www.saarbruecken.de/de/tourismus/infos_und_reiseplanung/sehenswertes/sehenswuerdigkeiten/die_geschichte_saarbrueckens | archive-date = 6 December 2011 }}</ref> When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in the first century BC, the area was incorporated into the [[Roman Empire]]. 
[[File:Saarbrücken Halberg Mithrashöhle.JPG|thumb|right|The [[mithraeum|Mithras shrine]] at ''Halberg'' hill]]
From the first century AD to the fifth century,<ref name="kastell">{{cite web | title = Das Römerkastell in Saarbrücken | publisher = Interessengemeinschaft Warndt und Rosseltalbahn (IGWRB) e. V. | url = http://warndt.freizeit-saar.eu/pop_poi_details.php?id=1258&lang=de | language = de | access-date = 4 April 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130213055100/http://warndt.freizeit-saar.eu/pop_poi_details.php?id=1258&lang=de | archive-date = 13 February 2013 }}</ref> there was the [[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman]] settlement called ''vicus Saravus'' west of Saarbrücken's ''Halberg'' hill,<ref name="Saarlandbilder">{{cite web | url = http://www.saarlandbilder.net/orte/saarbruecken/roemerkastell/kastell.html | title = Röerkastell in Saarbrücken | date    = 20 January 2009 | work = Saarlandbilder | language=de | publisher  = Andreas Rockstein | access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref> on the [[Roman road|roads]] from [[Metz#Ancient history|Metz]] to [[Worms, Germany#Celts and Romans|Worms]] and from [[History of Trier#Roman Empire|Trier]] to [[Argentoratum|Strasbourg]].<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/> Since the first or second century AD,<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/> a wooden bridge, later upgraded to stone,<ref name="memotransfront"/> connected ''vicus Saravus'' with the south-western bank of the Saar, today's St&nbsp;Arnual, where at least one [[Roman villa]] was located.<ref name="Arnual">{{cite web | title = Ausgrabungen im Kreuzgangbereich des ehem. Stiftes St. Arnual, Saarbrücken 1996–2004 | author = Jan Selmer |year = 2005 | url = http://www.zeitensprung.de/arnpub07.html | language = de | access-date = 22 July 2012}}</ref> In the third century AD, a [[mithraeum|Mithras shrine]] was built in a cave in ''Halberg'' hill, on the eastern bank of the Saar river, next to today's old "Osthafen" harbor,<ref name="mithras">{{cite web | title = Mithras-Heiligtum Saarbrücken | publisher = Tourismus Zentrale Saarland GmbH | url = http://www.tourismus.saarland.de/de/mithras-heiligtum-saarbruecken-saarland | language = de | access-date = 4 April 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150428183732/http://www.tourismus.saarland.de/de/mithras-heiligtum-saarbruecken-saarland | archive-date = 28 April 2015 }}</ref> and a small [[Castra|Roman camp]] was constructed at the foot of Halberg hill<ref name="Saarlandbilder"/> next to the river.<ref name="kastell"/>

Toward the end of the fourth century, the [[Alemanni]] destroyed the castra and ''vicus Saravus'', removing permanent human presence from the Saarbrücken area for almost a century.<ref name="Stadtluft8_9"/>