 Johannes Smetius Senior moved to Nijmegen in 1617 where his parents lived and worked as a preacher.Interested in history, he began collecting Roman antiquities which were frequently discovered in and around the city.In 1644 he published "Oppidum Batavorum seu Noviomagum", in which he used his collection to argue that Tacitus' description of the Batavian fortress was Nijmegen.