ABSTRACT
Tongeren (Atuatuca Tungrorum) was founded c. 10 BC as the civitas capital of the Tungri.The formation of the civitas Tungrorum was part of the Augustan project to create a Germanic province on both sides of the Rhine. 1 The project was abandoned after the defeat of Varus in 9 AD, perhaps not in the minds of the Julio-Claudian emperors, but at least in practice. 2 The civitas may have subsequently been transferred to the province of Gallia Belgica – at least, that is what Pliny the Elder seems to suggest on two occasions. 3 After the creation of the two Germanic provinces by Domitian the civitas definitively became part of the province of Germania Inferior. Like many other urban centres in that province, the town acquired municipal status in the second half of the 2nd century or the 3rd century. 4
