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(詳細はcity in Kent, England. It is located at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about from London. The town's location is due to the bridge which carries the Roman Watling Street (now the A2) over the river. ==Name== The source of the Romano-British name for Rochester, Durobrivae, has been a matter of some debate. The name ''Durobrivae'' can be translated as "stronghold" or "fort" by the "bridge" or "bridges".〔Glover〕 This could have been the ''oppidum'' (see pre-Roman history, below) or a pre-Roman fort. No such fort has been discovered by archaeologists, but much of the land has been disturbed by the succeeding two millennia of continuous occupation. Alternatively, ''Durobrivae'' may refer to a small fort set up by Aulus Plautius, the general in charge of the first phase of the Roman conquest of Britain; it was not needed for long, as Kent was soon settled. More fundamentally, there was no bridge in AD 43.〔Marsh〕 The Romans did eventually bridge the river: see the article Rochester Bridge. The Roman pioneers may even have initially built a pontoon bridge to supply the advancing army, replacing it with this permanent structure later. The alternative explanation notes that ''Durobrivae'' was also recorded as ''Durobrovum'' and ''Durobrivis''. Either of these could be a Latinisation of the British word ''Dourbruf'' meaning "swift stream".〔Kellys〕 The name is recorded as ''Durobrivis'' in around 730 and ''Dorobrevis'' in 844.〔 The first of these was pronounced as "Robrivis". Bede copied down the name, c730, mistaking its meaning as "Hrofi's fortified camp" (OE ''Hrofes cæster''). From this comes c730 ''Hrofæscæstre'', 811 ''Hrofescester'', 1086 ''Rovescester', 1610 ''Rochester''.〔 From Bede's time the name contained the Latin word ''castra'', which is present in the names of many cities that were once Roman camps (e.g. Chester Latin ''Deva''). It is often assumed that Rochester was a fortified Roman town, but no evidence has been found of a formal fort. The Roman street pattern suggests that it was a line of shops and houses built alongside a road, the characteristic pattern of a ''vicus''. Systematic fortification did take place after AD 175 and this of course was well before Bede's time.〔 The Latinised adjective ''Roffensis'' refers to Rochester.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Rochester, Kent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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