Benningen is a
municipalityMunicipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
in the district of
LudwigsburgLudwigsburg is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heilbronn, Rems-Murr, the district-free city Stuttgart, and the districts Böblingen and Enz.-History:...
in
Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
History
By 85 AD, the Neckar-Odenwald line was the frontier of the Roman Empire. The Romans built the
Limes GermanicusThe Limes Germanicus was a line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes from the years 83 to about 260 AD...
to secure this border. Along the border they built fortifications in regular distances, which included a small
castrumThe Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
on the south-eastern edge of today’s village. The mouth of the river Murr into the river Neckar played probably a role towards the choice of the site's strategic location.
Around 150 AD the border and the fort were move to the east towards
MurrhardtMurrhardt is a town in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 12 km east of Backnang, and 18 km southwest of Schwäbisch Hall. The source of the Murr is situated in Murrhardt....
, but a civilian settlement remained in place. By 260 AD, the Alemanni had displaced the Romans and settled in the area. The name Benningen probably derives from the name of the clan leader, who could have been called the Bunno. In 779 the town was first mentioned as Bunninga, when the monastery of Fulda obtained some property there. Other landowners were the
Lorsch AbbeyThe Abbey of Lorsch is a former Imperial Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about 10 km east of Worms, one of the most renowned monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany...
and the Bishopric of Speyer.
In the year 1351 and finally in 1497 the community passed to Württemberg and belonged to the Office of
MarbachMarbach may refer to: Places in Germany*the town Marbach am Neckar, district Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg*Part of Erbach in Hessen*Part of Gomadingen, Baden-Württemberg...
. From 1718 the newly established city of
LudwigsburgLudwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg urban district with about 87,000 inhabitants...
became the new center of the region, and so Benningen was reclassified in 1762 as part of the Ludwigsburg district.
In 1579 the school principal of the grammar school in neighboring Marbach, Simon Studion, discovered Roman ruins and led an excavation. Systematic archaeological excavations of the Roman castrum and town were made by
General Edward of KalleeEduard von Kallee was a German Major General und archaeologist.-Biography:...
in the 19th Century, who had recognised its strategic importance based on military considerations. His finds are now exhibited around the new City Hall, and inside the City Hall itself there is a Roman museum. Close by were found the remains of a
Jupiter ColumnA Jupiter Column is an archaeological monument belonging to a type widespread in Roman Germania. Such pillars express the religious beliefs of their time. They were erected in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, mostly near Roman settlements or villas in the Germanic provinces...
, which were typically crowned with a statue of Jupiter, usually on horseback, trampling down a Giant, often depicted as a snake. Another small museum in Benningen, which deals amongst other things with the Roman history of the place is the "Museum im Adler", housed in a former farm and inn from 1630.