LIMES GERMANIAE SUPERIORIS
Germany.
The Roman limes with its many forts dates to the
end of the 1st c. A.D. But a hundred years earlier Roman
armies were already operating from the Rhine deep into
Germania. After the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar
the earliest Roman forts on the Rhine itself, so far as we
can trace them today by archaeological methods, were
founded under the emperor Augustus in 19 or 16 B.C.
From 12 B.C. on Augustus' stepson Drusus launched attacks on the Germans both from the Rhenish legionary
fortresses, Xanten (Birten)—Vetera and from Mainz-Mogontiacum. After Drusus' death (9 B.C.) his brother
Tiberius took over the Rhine command. After the defeat
of Varus in A.D. 9, most of the sites on the right bank
of the Rhine were probably given up by the Romans.
Then followed the punitive campaigns, above all in the
years 14-16, of Germanicus, who was recalled by the
emperor Tiberius. The emperor was now primarily concerned with securing the line of the Rhine.
Roman fortifications connected with the above-mentioned campaigns against Germania have hitherto been
found only on the Lippe and N of Frankfurt in the
Wetterau. The forts of Oberaden (q.v.) and Rödgen
(q.v.) belong to the early phase under Drusus, the military installations at Haltern (q.v.) belong to a somewhat later phase.
In the reign of Tiberius several additional forts were
added on the Rhine between the existing ones. On the
right bank, in the sphere of influence of the Mainz
legionary fortress, the forts at Wiesbaden and probably
also at Kastel and Frankfurt-Höchst continued to be
occupied. In the 40s Claudius did not press farther
across the Rhine but built a number of auxiliary forts
on the river line itself after he had removed, among
others, the Lagio II Augusta from Strasbourg to take
part in his invasion of Britain in A.D. 43. At about this
time the earth and timber fort at Hofheim am Taunus,
N of the Rhine, was built to serve as a bridgehead for
the legionary fortress at Mainz.
The year 69-70, after the death of Nero, marks a
decisive turning point. The revolt of the Batavians in the
N and the fighting among the troops of Galba, Otho,
Vitellius, and Vespasian led to destruction in almost all
civil settlements and forts from the North Sea to the
Upper Danube. After Vespasian became emperor in A.D.
70, he began a comprehensive reorganization of the
Rhine and Danube frontier. Above all, roads were built
E of the Rhine to make possible swift communication
between Mainz-Mogontiacum and Augsburg-Augusta
Vindelicum, the provincial capital of Raetia. Forts were
established in the area of the Upper Neckar at Rottweil,
Sulz, Waldmössingen, and perhaps also on the Häsenbühl near Geislingen on the Riedbach.
The war which the emperor Domitian waged against
the Chatti in 83-85 from his base at Mainz led to the
construction for the first time of an actual limes. The
first structures were built in the Wetterau, N of Frankfurt: a patrol road with wooden watchtowers and fortlets guarding the most important road crossings. But in
the winter of 88-89 the legate of the army at Mainz made
a bid for the throne. The Chatti turned this revolt to
their advantage and destroyed a whole series of military
installations in the Wetterau. The rebellion was soon
crushed, but Domitian was compelled to withdraw large
contingents of troops which he needed for the war against
the Marcomanni and Quadi on the Danube, and the war
against the Chatti came to a complete halt. About A.D.
90 the newly fortified positions in the Wetterau were
linked with the forts that had been established under
Vespasian on the Upper Neckar. A military road was
constructed from the Main S through the Odenwald and
protected with fortlets of only 0.6 ha. The line of forts
farther S then followed the Neckar upstream as far as
Köngen.
The emperors Trajan and Hadrian carried out further
construction on the limes. Complete auxiliary units were
now brought up to the limes itself. Near the forts vici
soon developed. The largest vicus which we yet know
is at the fort of Zugmantel in the Taunus. To the emperor
Hadrian can be ascribed the building of a wooden palisade which was erected everywhere in front of the patrol
road.
The province of Upper Germany received a final, but
only slight, increase in territory when the forts on the
Neckar were advanced 20-25 km farther E in ca. 150.
At this period also the last wooden forts were rebuilt in
stone, and everywhere the earlier wooden watchtowers
were replaced with stone ones. At about the same time
the centurion's quarters of a barrack block in the fort
at Echzell were decorated with a series of superb wall
paintings depicting Theseus and the Minotaur, Fortuna
and Herakles, Daidalos and Ikaros. They were discovered
in 1965 and show that even in the far N of the empire
the military buildings were not as simply furbished as
one might expect.
The period from the end of the 1st c. to the death of
Antoninus Pius (A.D. 161) was the most peaceful period
that Upper Germany enjoyed; soon after this the first
enemy incursions began. In 162 and again ca. 170 the
Germans penetrated deep into the province. Some later
building activity can be attributed to the emperor Commodus (180-92): the fort at Niederbieber was a new
foundation to take two numeri; Osterburken and possibly Butzbach were enlarged.
At the beginning of the 3d c. (if we accept the current
view) the Romans built a ditch and rampart behind the
wooden palisade, which itself continued to be maintained. These features are still clearly visible today for
long stretches.
A number of hostile incursions are recorded in the
3d c. in the time of Severus Alexander, the most serious
in 233. Various coin hoards from the interior of the
province afford particularly striking evidence of these
attacks. After the death of Severus Alexander, his successor Maximinus Thrax restored order once more and
some forts were reconstructed. The discontinuance of
coin hoards, however, makes it probable that the Upper
German limes simply died out. Some forts may have
been evacuated earlier, some later, depending on their
strategic position. By 259-60 at the latest the territory
behind the limes on the right bank of the Rhine was
finally given up.
A new line of Roman forts was built on the Rhine
about the end of the 3d c. They were more like castles
or redoubts than forts with regular garrisons. This defensive system was considerably strengthened by Valentinian I (364-75) and, in contrast to the earlier limited
military zone, embraced also the hinterland.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. Schleiermacher,
Der römischen
Limes in Deutschland (
Ein archäologischen Wegweisen）
(2d ed. 1961)
MPI; H. Schönberger, “The Roman Frontier in Germany: an Archaeological Survey,”
JRS 59
(1969) 144ff with maps A-C; D. Baatz,
Der romische
Limes. Archäologische Ausfluge zwischen Rhein und
Donau (1974).
H. SCHÖNBERGER
