Babilonie
Iron age hillfort
title: "Babilonie" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["iron-age-europe", "lübbecke", "minden-lübbecke", "wiehen-hills", "la-tène-culture", "hillforts-in-germany"] description: "Iron age hillfort" topic_path: "geography/germany" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babilonie" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Iron age hillfort ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox military installation"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Babilonie |
| image | Obermehnen.jpg |
| caption | Babilonie above Obermehnen |
| native_name | |
| Bodendenkmal Babilonie | |
| built | 300-150 B.C. |
| type | hill castle |
| condition | double rampart system, earthwork |
| materials | Wooden posts and palisade protected by an earthwork |
| location | Obermehnen in the Wiehen |
| occupants | no categorisation |
| coordinates | |
| map_type | Germany |
| code | DE-NW |
| height | |
| :: |
| name = Babilonie | image = Obermehnen.jpg | image2 = | caption = Babilonie above Obermehnen | native_name = Bodendenkmal Babilonie | built = 300-150 B.C. | type = hill castle | condition = double rampart system, earthwork | materials = Wooden posts and palisade protected by an earthwork | location = Obermehnen in the Wiehen | occupants = no categorisation | coordinates = | map_type = Germany | code = DE-NW | height =
The Babilonie is a hillfort of the La Tène culture at a height of 255.6 metres above sea level on the northern edge of a rounded hill in the Wiehen Hills above the Lübbecke village of Obermehnen in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The name is derived from the Germanic baben in the lon i.e. "up in the woods".
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Falk_Oberdorf_Die_Egge_Höhenschichtung.png" caption="Relief map of the Wiehen around the Babilonie"] ::
The wedge-shaped, double-rampart system, which descends from south to north with the slope, was investigated archaeologically in the first half of the last century, especially by Friedrich Langewiesche, who assessed it as a refuge castle.
Ceramic and even metalwork finds indicate that it belongs to the La Tène culture in the pre-Roman Iron Age, e vorrömische Eisenzeit, therefore probably part of an extensive trading network. The fortification has an area of over 12 hectares. The first mapping of this hilltop, which was exceptionally well-suited to the establishment of a large hillfort with its spring high up the hills, was carried out after 1880.
Ceramic finds from the Saxon-Frankish period have also been discovered.
According to Paul Höfer there is a legend that refers to Wittekind.
Sources
- Torsten Capelle: Wallburgen in Westfalen-Lippe. Herausgegeben von der Altertumskommission für Westfalen, Münster, 2010, , p. 22f. No. FBW 12 (Frühe Burgen in Westfalen Sonderband 1)
References
References
- Heinrich Schmidt: ''Die Babilonie in Geschichte und Sage''. In: Gemeinde Blasheim (pub.): 969-1969. 1000 Jahre Gemeinde Blasheim. Druck: Bruns, Minden o. J. (1969), p. 84-89.
- Paul Höfer: ''Der Feldzug des Germanicus Im Jahre 16. n.Chr.'' 1884, p. 88
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