 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Borders of the Roman Empire" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Theborders of theRoman Empire, which fluctuated throughout the empire's history, were realised as a combination of military roads and linked forts, naturalfrontiers (most notably theRhine andDanuberivers) and man-madefortifications which separated the lands of the empire from the countries beyond.
The wordlimes is sometimes used by modern scholars to denote the frontier of the Roman Empire but was not used by the Romans as such. After the third century it was an administrative term, indicating a military district, commanded by adux limitis.[1]
The Latin nounlimes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk marking off the boundaries of fields; a boundary line or marker; any road or path; any channel, such as a stream channel; or any distinction or difference between two things.
In Britannia the Empire built two walls one behind the other; for Mauretania there was a single wall with forts on both sides of it. In other places, such asSyria andArabia Petraea, there was no continuous wall; instead there was a net of border settlements and forts occupied by the Roman army. InDacia, the limes between the Black Sea and the Danube were a mix of the latter and the wall defenses: theLimes Moesiae was the conjunction of two, and sometimes three, lines ofvallum, with a Great Camp and many minor camps spread through the fortifications.[citation needed]
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In continental Europe, the borders were generally well defined, usually following the courses of major rivers such as theRhine and theDanube. Nevertheless, those were not always the final border lines; the province ofDacia, modernRomania, was completely on the far side of the Danube, and the province ofGermania Magna, which must not be confused withGermania Inferior andGermania Superior, was the land between the Rhine, the Danube and theElbe (Although this province was lost three years after its creation as a result of theBattle of Teutoburg Forest).
In Great Britain bothHadrian andAntoninus Pius built defences to protect the province ofBritannia from theCaledonians.Hadrian's Wall, constructed in 122 held a garrison of 50,000 soldiers, while theAntonine Wall, constructed between 142 and 144, was abandoned by 164 and briefly reoccupied in 208, under the reign ofSeptimius Severus.
The eastern borders changed many times, as the Roman Empire was facing two major powers, TheParthian Empire and theSasanian Empire. The Parthians were a group ofIranian peoples ruling most ofGreater Iran that is in modern-day Iran, western Iraq, Armenia and the Caucasus.[2] The Sasanians succeeded the Parthians in 224–226 and were recognised as one of the leading world powers alongside its neighbouring arch-rival the Roman (Byzantine) Empire for a period of more than 400 years.[citation needed]
At the greatest extent of theEmpire, the southern border lay along the deserts ofArabia in the Egyptian region and theSahara inNorth Africa, which represented a natural barrier against expansion. The Empire controlled theMediterranean shores and the mountain ranges further inland. The Romans attempted twice to occupy theSiwa Oasis and finally used Siwa as a place of banishment. However, the Romans controlled theNile many kilometres into Africa up toSyena, Berenice,Hyerasykaminos and evenQasr Ibrim (the southernmost of all), near the modern border betweenEgypt andSudan. The period in which each aforementioned town represented the final frontier of Rome is uncertain.
In Africa the Romans controlled the area north of theSahara, from theAtlantic Ocean to Egypt, with the borders being controlled by many sections of fortifications such as theLimes Arabicus (called the Limes Uranus),Limes Mauretaniae,Fossatum Africae,Fossa Regia,Limes Tripolitanus, Limes Numidiae, etc.[3]
In the south ofMauritania Tingitana Romans made a limes in the third century, just north of the area of actualCasablanca near Sala and stretching toVolubilis.
Septimius Severus expanded the "Limes Tripolitanus" dramatically, even briefly holding a military presence in the Garamantian capital Garama in AD 203. Much of the initial campaigning success was achieved byQuintus Anicius Faustus, the legate ofLegio III Augusta.
Following his African conquests, the Roman Empire may have reached its greatest extent during the reign ofSeptimius Severus,[4][5] under whom the empire encompassed an area of 5 million square kilometres (2 million square miles).[4]
Territories with limitedRoman Empire occupation and contact | ||
|---|---|---|
| Occupied partially or temporarily |  | |
| Contacts & explorations | ||
| See also | ||
