In ancient times the
Danube river was a border between the
Roman Empire and the
Germanic tribes north of the river. The Roman camp of
Phoebiana (now Faimingen) was a bridgehead crossing the Danube. There was an
Apollo temple being one of the largest buildings north of the
Alps in that time. In medieval times the county of Dillingen was established. The counts of Dillingen ruled from the 10th to the 13th century, then (1258) the territory was turned over to the
Prince-Bishops of Augsburg, who gained several villages for their clerical state, hence subdividing the region into several patches, which were dissolved in the early 19th century. In 1804 Dillingen and its area became part of the state of Bavaria. The district was established in 1972 by merging the former district of Dillingen (which had existed since 1804) with the western half of the former district of Wertingen. The city of Dillingen lost its status as a district-free city and became the capital of the newly established district. == Geography ==