LIMES GERMANIAE INFERIORIS
Germany.
The fortified military border of the Roman Empire
in the province of Lower Germany extended along the
Rhine from Vinxtbach by way of Bad Breisig to the
North Sea, a distance of some 300 km as the crow flies.
The Limes road connecting the fortified areas followed
the windings of the river along its lowest terrace. The
placing of fortifications and their troop strength were
determined by the character of the mountains and
streams on both sides of the river.
A first stage in the formation of the limes was the
establishment of stand-by and supply bases for the offensives against the Germans living between the Rhine and
the Elbe, ca. 15 B.C-A.D. 15. These bases included Vectio
(Vechten), Noviomagus (Nijmegen), Vetera (Xanten),
Asciburgium (Moers-Asberg), Novaesium (Neuss), Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne), and Bonna (Bonn). After
Tiberius recalled Germanicus from the Rhine and abandoned the idea of military occupation of the right bank
of the river (the territory of the Frisians excepted), the
bases on the left bank became the frontier defenses.
From A.D. 10 until the 90s four legions were stationed on
the Rhine; Hadrian reduced the number to two. At different periods the legions were stationed at Noviomagus,
Vetera, Novaesium, Colonia Agrippinensis, and Bonna;
Vetera and Bonna served the longest.
From the end of the offensive against the Germans
(A.D. 16) until the middle of the 3d c. the peace of the
limes was disturbed only twice: during the Batavian
rebellion (69-70) and by an attack by the Chauci under
Marcus Aurelius. Since the Germans hardly menaced
the limes for a long time, the troops there were reduced
between the reign of Tiberius and the mid 3d c. from
42,000 to 21,500 men. From the year 256 or 257 on,
however, the Franks often broke through the line, which
led to numerous military counteractions by Gallienus
and others up to the end of the 4th c. The removal of
strong units to take part in struggles for the throne greatly weakened the line from 387 on, and from 406 on its
right flank was threatened by the breakthrough of Germans into neighboring provinces. No details are known
of the end of the limes in the 5th c.
The limes consisted of only one line along the left
bank of the Rhine; there was no defense in depth, and
no reserves. Its strength rested on the legions and auxiliaries quartered in fortified bases. The auxiliary troops
of the limes included a cohors milliaria and all three
kinds of quingenarian auxiliaries, but no
AJA milliaria.
In the 3d c. there were also a few numeri. So far, 25
auxiliary bases have been identified or suggested, and
some small forts and towers have also been found. The
distribution and strength of the troops on the limes in
the Late Roman period have not yet been fully investigated. (In the
Notitia Dignitatum the list is missing for
Germania II.) The garrisons communicated with each
other by means of the limes road and the Rhine, which
was guarded by the Classis Germanica and could be
crossed in several places by permanent bridges. Of the
legionary bases only Novaesium, and of the auxiliary
bases only Valkenburg have as yet been fully excavated.
In addition to the permanent bases of the limes several
temporary camps and training camps have been found,
and more workcamps are expected to turn up.
The troops were supplied partly by deliveries from the
more protected provinces, and partly by their own products. Raw materials and land for agriculture or manufacture was available on both sides of the Rhine. From
the second half of the 3d c. on supply stations were built
on the main highways of the interior (e.g. the Belgian
Limes).
The development of the fortifications on the limes
follows a pattern common to the Rhine and the Danube.
The wooden camps of Augustus' time often had more
than four sides, and the sides were often bent inwards.
Construction in wood continued until the time of Claudius, in some cases until the Batavian rebellion (A.D.
69-70), but from the Flavian period on stone was used.
After the breakthroughs of the Franks many fortifications
were strengthened, modified, or rebuilt, particularly by
Constantine, Julian, and Valentinian I.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H. v. Petrikovits,
Limes-Studien. Vorträge des 3. Limes-Kongresses (1959) 88ff; id.,
Das
römische Rheinland (1960) 14ff; id.,
Die römischen
Streitkräfte am Niederrhein (1967; also in Spanish)
MP;
J. E. Bogaers,
Ber. van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundige Bodemonderzoek 17 (1967) 99ff
M; id., ibid. 18
(1968) 156f
M; H. Schönberger,
JRS 59 (1969) 144ff
M;
troop distribution: E. Ritterling & E. Stein,
Die kaiserlichen Beamten und Truppenkörper im römischen
Deutschland . . . (1932); Bogaers in
Studien zu den
Militärgrenzen Roms (1967) 54ff; H. Nesselhauf,
BonnJbb 167 (1967) 268ff; G. Alföldy,
Die Hilfstruppen
der römischen Provinz Germania inferior (1968); D.
Hoffmann,
Das spätrömische Bewegungsheer und die
Notitia Dignitatum, 2 vols. (1970); E. B. Birley, in R. M.
Butler, ed.,
Soldier and Civilian in Roman Yorkshire
(1971) 71ff; temporary camps: F. Münten, et al.,
Rheinische Ausgrabungen 10 (Beiträge z. Archäologie
des römischen Rheinlandes II) (1971) 7ff
P; logistics &
supply: v. Petrikovits,
Das römische Rheinland 63ff; id.,
BonnJbb 161 (1961) 477ff; C. B. Rüger,
Germania
inferior (1968) 51ff; W. Sölter,
Römische Kalkbrenner
im Rheinland (1970); fortress architecture: see under
Vetera, Novaesium, Bonna, Asciburgium, Gelduba, &
v. Petrikovits,
JRS 61 (1971) 178ff (late Roman)
MP.
H. v. Petrikovits, “Römisches Militärhandwerk,”
AnzWien 111 (1974) 1ff; id.,
Die Innenbauten römischer
Legionslager in der Prinzipatszeit (1975).
H. V. PETRIKOVITS
