Albaniana (Roman fort)

Albaniana was the name the ancient Romans gave to a settlement on the southern bank of the Rhine, about 40 kilometers from its mouth in the North Sea, at what is now Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands. The Romans built a military fort there as part of a chain of strategically placed encampments protecting and guarding the river frontier, or limes, of the Roman Empire and its main transport route for goods and troops. The historical map Tabula Peutingeriana places the settlement between Matilo, modern Leiden, and Praetorium Agrippinae, modern Valkenburg, downstream, and Nigrum Pullum, modern Zwammerdam, and Fectio, modern Vechten, upstream. The settlement is mentioned in the third century Roman road register the Itinerarium Antonini. Its fortress was surrounded by a wall of earth and wooden poles, with gates and watchtowers.