On the trail of Roman history – the German Limes Road The long days of summer are ideal for exploring the landscapes and historic sites on the German Limes Road. The scenic driving route was established 20 years ago, running more than 700 kilometres between Bad Hönningen, by the bank of the River Rhine, and Regensburg on the Danube. TEXT & PHOTOS: STUART FORSTER
The picturesque tourist attraction is named after the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes, once an imposing 550-kilometre barrier demarcating the edge of Roman authority in central Europe. A network of towers, earthworks and forts ran through German lands linked by a wall, in the west, and a palisade, in the eastern sector. The term ‘Limes’ means ‘frontier’ in Latin, the Roman Empire’s common language. Letters scratched into bark by the styluses 54 | Issue 40 | July 2016
of auxiliary troops serving in the forts along its route described the posting as being on the Limes Germanicus - the German frontier. In 2005, the historic border was added by UNESCO to the ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’ World Heritage Site that already featured Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. Germanic tribes were treated with respect and caution by Roman forces after
Main image: Pohl’s interpretation centre. From top left: Saalburg. A fort, hidden in woodland at Holzhausen. Food at Saalburg. Remnants of an arch in Rainau-Dalkingen. Detail from the Jupiter Column at Saalburg. The Jupiter Column at Saalburg. Providing an insight into life during Roman times at Saalburg.
winning a bloody victory at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. The Romans suffered at least 15,000 casualties in a defeat that became known as the Varian Disaster, after the name of the Roman leader, and is regarded by historians as the biggest military defeat ever suffered by the army of the Roman Empire. The consolidation of the Germanic frontier began in 85 AD. Soldiers cleared a strip of trees from woodland in the Taunus Mountains, today a region known for its spa resorts, and built towers from which they could observe the frontier. Over time, fortifications along the frontier were improved and expanded. In its heyday, during the late second century,