TheMain Limes (German:Mainlimes), also called theNasser Limes, was built around 90 AD and, as part of theUpper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes, formed the frontier of theRoman Empire in the area between the present day villages ofGroßkrotzenburg andBürgstadt.^[1] In this section thelimes adjoined theRiver Main(Moenus), which forms a natural boundary for about 50 kilometres here, so "Main" refers to the river.

In order to secure the riverbank, it was sufficient to erect free-standing towers backed up by the forts of the units stationed nearby; there was never a continuous barrier ofpalisades andditches here. However, of the many watchtowers that probably stood along the Main, to date only one south ofObernburg am Main has been identified.^[2] On the other bank of the Main was the largely uninhabitedSpessart, a wooded hill range which, like theOdenwald which borders it to the south-west, was particularly interesting for the Romans, especially because of its timber. In inscriptions, there are reports of the loggingvexillationes of the22nd Legion, which were stationed inObernburg,Stockstadt andTrennfurt.^[3]

In the majority of forts, settlement activity continued after thefall of the limes, which is why, as in ObernburgNiedernberg,Seligenstadt and Großkrotzenburg, they are now located below the medieval village centres. In Grosskrotzenburg,Hainstadt,Stockstadt and Obernburg,Alamannic artefacts were also discovered.^[4]

North of the Main thelimes initially runs through the marshy terrain of theSchifflache andBulau before linking up with theWetterau Limes. At the crossing of the Main at Großkrotzenburg a Roman bridge has been identified from post sockets (Pfahlschuhe).^[5] In the south it extended in its early period to Obernburg orWörth. The exact start point of theOdenwald Limes (Obernburg or Wörth) has still not been clearly identified.^[6] When the Odenwald Limes was abandoned in the 2nd century AD byAntoninus Pius and the establishment of the newerlimes in theBauland, the Main Limes was also extended, because the forts in Trennfurt and Miltenberg were added (newer Main Limes).^[7]

Because little remains of the forts, Roman artefacts are displayed especially in local museums such asObernburg Romand Museum,Miltenberg Municipal Museum,Aschaffenburg Diocesan Museum and Großkrotzenburg Museum.^[8] Several fort sites such as Obernburg and Stockstadt have a rich collection of stone monuments.^[9]

• 
  Dedicatory inscription from the cross hall of thePrincipia at Obernburg Roman Camp, today in theObernburg Roman Museum^[10]
• 
  Inscription, in which a logging troop of theLegio XXII Primigenia is mentioned (Obernburg Museum)
• 
  Post sockets of the Main bridge in Großkrotzenburg (Saalburg Museum)
• 
  Obernburg Roman Museum

• Dietwulf Baatz, Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (eds.):Die Römer in Hessen. Lizenzausgabe der 3rd edition, 1989, Nikol, Hamburg, 2002,ISBN 3-933203-58-9.
• Bernhard Beckmann:Neuere Untersuchungen zum römischen Limeskastell Miltenberg-Altstadt. Verlag Michael Lassleben. Kallmünz, 2004,ISBN 3-7847-5085-0.
• Bernd Steidl:Welterbe Limes – Roms Grenze am Main. Begleitband zur Ausstellung in der Archäologischen Staatssammlung Munich, 2008. Logo, Obernburg, 2008,ISBN 3-939462-06-3.
• Kurt Stade:Die Mainlinie von Seligenstadt bis Miltenberg mit einem Nachtrage zur Abt. B Nr. 33 Kastell Stockstadt. In:Ernst Fabricius, Felix Hettner, Oscar von Sarwey (eds.):Der obergermanisch-raetische Limes des Roemerreiches. (ORL) Abt. A, Strecke 6 (1933), pp. 3–70.
• Britta Rabold, Egon Schallmayer, Andreas Thiel:Der Limes. Die Deutsche Limes-Straße vom Rhein bis zur Donau. Verein Deutsche Limes-Straße, K. Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 2000,ISBN 3-8062-1461-1.

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