Lindenhof is the present name of the large fortified settlement, or oppidum, likely founded by the Helvetii on the Lindenhof hill on the western shore of the Limmat in Zürich, Switzerland.
Lindenhof hill and Schipfe as seen from Predigerkirche Zürich
Lindenhof hill and Schipfe as seen from Limmatquai
Lindenhof, Sihlbühl and Schipfe by Hans Leu d.Ä. in the probably 1490s
Celtic, Roman and medieval remains at Lindenhofkeller.
An oppidum is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. Oppida are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretching from Britain and Iberia in the west to the edge of the Hungarian plain in the east. These settlements continued to be used until the Romans conquered Southern and Western Europe. Many subsequently became Roman-era towns and cities, whilst others were abandoned. In regions north of the rivers Danube and Rhine, such as most of Germania, where the populations remained independent from Rome, oppida continued to be used into the 1st century AD.
Oppidum
Murus Gallicus, illustration
Part of the Celtic oppidum of Manching, Germany
Part of the oppidum of Manching