Tacitus also reports that before their arrival the area had been "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the ocean in front, and by the river Rhine in the rear and on either side".Tacitus, Historiae iv.12 This view, however, is contradicted by the archeological evidence, which shows continuous habitation from at least the third century BC onward.N. Roymans, "The Lower Rhine Triquetrum Coinages and the Ethnogenesis of the Batavians", in: T. Grünewald & H.-J. Schalles (eds.), Germania Inferior: Besiedlung, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft an der Grenze der römisch-germanischen Welt (2000), 93–145, esp. 94. The strategic position, to wit the high bank of the Waal offering an unimpeded view far into Germania Transrhenana (Germania Beyond the Rhine), was recognized first by Drusus, who built a massive fortress (castra) and a headquarters (praetorium) in imperial style. The latter was in use until the Batavian revolt.
Tacitus also reports that before their arrival the area had been "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the ocean in front, and by the river Rhine in the rear and on either side".Tacitus, Historiae iv.12 This view, however, is contradicted by the archeological evidence, which shows continuous habitation from at least the third century BC onward.N. Roymans, "The Lower Rhine Triquetrum Coinages and the Ethnogenesis of the Batavians", in: T. Gr?ünewald & H.-J. Schalles (eds.), Germania Infe,rior: Besiedlung, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft an der Grenze der römisch-germanischen Welt (2000), 93–145, esp. 94. The strategic position, to wit the high bank of the Waal offering an unimpeded view far into Germania Transrhenana (Germania Beyond the Rhine), was recognized first by Drusus, who built a massive fortress (castra) and a headquarters (praetorium) in imperial style. The latter was in use until ?the Batavian revolt.