Limes Germanicus

The Saalburg is only a reconstruction of a former fort along the limes.
It was rebuilt in the 19^th century. Picture: wikipedia.org (Public Domain)

The Limes Germanicus was a line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces. It stretched more than 5.000 km from the Atlantic coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast. The two sections of the limes in Germany cover a length of 550 km from the north-west of the country to the Danube in the south-east. It included at least 60 forts and 900 watchtowers. Also the Limes wasn’t thought to be a defensive structure only but also was thought to control trade.

Limes comes from the Latin and means “path” or “border path”. The Limes was built by the Roman Empire in the 1st to 6th century AD. At the beginning the Romans understood the term only as a field or a field bordered by boundary stones, wooden posts or clearly recognizable landmarks (trees, rivers, etc.). Later it also became more fortified.

The border was occupied by troops in certain sections, depending on the threat situation, to ensure security. On the Rhine, Danube, Euphrates and Tigris, the watercourses of these rivers marked the borders. Today, this limes is also known as "river limes" or "wet limes".

The fortifications at the Limes were never built the same way. No tower was as big as the other and no section of the border was exempt from minor or major deviations. In the Odenwald mountains, for example, a 1.20 m long and 2. 20 m high stone wall was found in the middle of the usual wooden wall.

One of the best researched and reconstructed forts of the Limes is the Saalburg fort. It is located in the Taunus at an altitude of about 418 meters. All the Limes has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005. 

Eric