Rætia and the Limes: Frontier Forts and Roman Reenactment in Bavaria

Augusta Vindelicum (Augsburg)
The Augustus statue at Maximiliansplatz surrounded by Nazi flags and today. Also referred to as Aelium Augustum (shortened to Aelia Augusta), Augsburg was founded in 15 BCE by Drusus and Tiberius as Augusta Vindelicorum, on the orders of their stepfather Emperor Augustus during the campaign of conquest to Raetia and a military camp was built as the nucleus of the later city. The epithet Vindelicorum represents the genitive plural of Vindelicus which referred to the Celtic tribe of the Vindelici who were located between Wertach (Virda) and Lech (Licus). This garrison camp soon became the capital of the Roman province of Raetia and under Hadrian, the town was raised to the status of a municipality, whose official name was then municipium Aelium Augustum. 

Only one Roman municipium is attested for the whole area: municipium Aelium Augusta Vindelicum (now Augsburg), which was granted municipal status under Hadrian. The inhabitants were not necessarily uncivilized—inscriptions prove that some of them were literate before the Roman conquest—but land so mountainous was not worth anything to Rome, and they were left alone. 

Martin Goodman (222-223) The Roman World

Nevertheless, Augusta Vindelicum was the intersection of many important European east-west and north-south connections, which later evolved as major trade routes of the Middle Ages despite having been sacked by the Huns in the 5th century, Charlemagne in the 8th century, and Welf of Bavaria in the 11th century, each time rising to greater prosperity.

Castra Regina (Regensburg) 

Parked outside Porta Praetoria, Germany’s most ancient stone building, a gateway dating from 179 CE under Marcus Aurelius for the new Roman fort Castra Regina. It was built for Legio III Italica and was an important camp on the most northerly point of the Danube corresponding to what is today the core of Regensburg's old town or Altstadt east of the Obere and Untere Bachgasse and West of the Schwanenplatz. Giant blocks of stone were used to construct this gate in the northern wall of the Roman military camp. It survives as a reminder of Castra Regina, the Roman settlement with its four huge gates with flanking towers. The left gate tower and an arch of the originally very representative camp entrance have been preserved. The gate tower still stands over two floors. The gate tower, which was once eleven metres high, was built from limestone blocks. The four metre-wide and six-metre high archway that has been preserved consists of thirteen large cuboids that were joined together without mortar.

Castra Regina was founded as a Roman legion camp, developed into a city on the upper Danube and became the nucleus of the city of the headquarters of the Legio III Italica was established here. Castra Regina consisted of the legionary camp itself, the civil town, a large cemetery and some shrines and temples. It was probably being at the confluence of the Naab and Regen into the Danube leading to important trade and traffic routes already in existence that prompted the Romans to build a military base here. Around 80 CE in what's now Regensburg-Kumpfmühl, a 2.2 hectare cohort fort of wood-earth construction was completed on a slope spur from which the Danube arch and the two river mouths could be seen. Either a 500-man mounted cohort or a double cohort of roughly a thousand foot soldiers were stationed here. During the Marcomanni wars under Marcus Aurelius, this fort was destroyed along with the associated civilian settlement around 170. In the area of today's old town, the building of the legion camp for the Legio III Italica was established in 179. It then became the main military base of the Raetia province. The legion commander was also the governor of Raetia. West of the legionary camp, a sizeable civilian settlement developed within which craftsmen, traders and the members of the approximately 6000 legionaries lived. Thus Castra Regina  became, in addition to its military role, an important trading post in Raetia. By the 3rd century Germanic tribes broke through the Limes invading the province again as the legion camp and the area around Regensburg were devastated by the Alemanni. The camp was rebuilt but the surrounding area hardly recovered from the massive destruction and most of the farms were abandoned. By 357 the Juthungen, a sub-tribe of the Alamanni, invaded Raetia wreaking havoc on the province and no doubt affecting Castra Regina. The last section of the Legio III Italica departed at the end of the 4th century resulting in Castra Regina losing any military importance. 

 

Sorviodurum (Straubing)

Just outside the town centre west of the Ostenfeld was the Roman vicus knownas Sorviodurum in antiquity, a significant civilian settlement in the Roman province of Raetia, located along the Danube River. This settlement, tied to a military fort, flourished from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD, serving as a hub for trade, craftsmanship, and cultural interaction between Roman settlers and local populations. Its history reflects the broader dynamics of Roman frontier life, and its archaeological remains offer a glimpse into this vibrant past. This fort was part of the Limes Germanicus, Rome's fortified northern frontier, designed to secure the empire against Germanic tribes. The vicus developed organically to support the fort's garrison, attracting merchants, craftsmen, veterans, and locals seeking economic opportunities. By the early 2nd century, under the emperor Trajan, the settlement expanded as Raetia's infrastructure grew, benefiting from its strategic position on the Danube, a major trade and military route. The vicus thrived through the 2nd and 3rd centuries, reaching its peak during the Antonine and Severan dynasties, when Roman control over the region was stable. Excavations, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, have revealed foundations of timber and stone buildings,including houses, workshops, and small shrines. The settlement likely housed several hundred people, with evidence of pottery kilns,metalworking, and textile production pointing to a diverse economy. Inscriptions and artefacts, such as coins and imported goods like Samian ware, suggest trade links with other parts of the empire. A notable find is a dedication stone to the goddess Fortuna, indicating religious practices typical of Roman civilian life. On the right is a copy of the grave found in Augsburg in 1973 reading"Pompeianius / Silvinus vivus / fecit sibi et / Pomp(eianio) Victori /fratri piissimo / qui vixit annis" (Pompeianius Silvinus erected [the tomb] during his lifetime for himself and his most dutiful brother, Pompeianius Victor, who lived to be 30 years old.) Both men were certainly natives of Raetia or the neighbouring Celtic region with a pseudo-Roman name ('Pompeianius' instead of 'Pompeianus'). Based on the depictions on either side which are still remarkably preserved, it's assumed both worked a wine merchant and innkeeper respectively. The depicted basketwork indicates South Gallic wine amphorae, which the brothers presumably used to import Gallic or Italian wine. One can compare the copy with how it appears today in Heidelberg. The vicus also of course featured a bathhouse.By the mid-3rd century, pressures from Germanic tribes, particularly the Alemanni, began to destabilise the region. The vicus faced decline as raids increased, and by the late 4th century, Roman control over Raetia weakened. The settlement was likely abandoned by the early 5th century as the empire's frontiers collapsed. Some evidence suggests partial destruction by fire, possibly during raids, though natural decay also played a role. Today, little of the vicus remains visible above ground due to Straubing's modern development although the Gäubodenmuseum houses many artefacts from the vicus, including pottery, tools, and inscriptions.

 

Abusina (Eining)

Abusina was a Roman military camp located about 500 metres south of today's Einingen town centre on the Danube between the road leading to Sittling and the Abens river, which flows into the Danube just north of the fort and which was once eponymous for the Roman town.  It's the best preserved Roman fort in Bavaria. The name Abusina was derived from the Abens, a tributary of the Danube. The site was chosen where the Danube crossing branches off from the Roman road and running parallel to the Raetian limes. The stone fort at 1.8 hectares is rather small for the requirements of a fort and probably accommodated only one vexillation. In ancient times it was in a strategically and geographically important position. From there, both shipping traffic on the Danube and a road junction at this point could be controlled, where one traffic route branched off from the Roman Donausüdstraße in a south-easterly direction and another led across a Danube ford to the west. The closest larger garrisons were the Alen - Fort Pförring on the northern bank of the Danube, opposite today's Neustadt an der Donau, and Castra Regina. A small disadvantage of the location was the lack of line of sight to Fort Pförring, below, and to the beginning of the Limes section near Hienheim, which was also on the northern bank of the Danube. It could have been compensated by an additional watchtower on the vineyard. Abusina is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the few fully exposed and reconstructed in its foundations fortifications at this border section.

Foundations of the Principia (staff building), the semicircular building serving as the flag shrine (aedes).

According to the founding inscription, the Abusina fort was built during the reign of Titus around the year 80 CE by the Cohors IIII Gallorum to secure the Danube line established as part of the northern border of the Roman Empire. This cohort was also the first regular unit to move into the new fort. In its first construction phase, the camp consisted of a fence in a wood-earth construction and inside of quite simple half-timbered buildings.

In the early 2nd century, probably towards the end of the reign of Trajan, the Cohors IIII Gallorum was replaced by a Vexillatio, a detachment of about 500 to 600 men from the Cohors II Tungrorum milliaria equitata. This assignment is an exemplary characteristic of the mobility, flexibility and thus modernity of the Exercitus Romanorum. Whilst the parent unit remained stationed in Britain, it was easily possible to deploy the detachment of this force in the distant Danube region in the meantime. A little later, between 138 and 147, presumably the Vexillatio of a sister unit, the Cohors III Tungrorum milliaria equitata, took its place for a few years.

Standing beside the so-called "Caracalla altar" which had been donated by Titus Flavius Felix, Praefect of the Cohors III Brittanorum equitata in Abusina, probably dating either from 211 or one to two years earlier. The altar was unearthed near the principia, the administrative headquarters of the fort, suggesting its role in official ceremonies. Excavation records, detailed in the 1897 publication Limesblatt, note that the altar was found intact, though weathered, with no evidence of secondary use or defacement. This preservation contrasts with other regional finds, where altars were often repurposed as building material after the fort’s abandonment in the mid-3rd century. Constructed from local limestone, the altar measures approximately 1.2 metres in height, 0.7 metres in width, and 0.5 metres in depth. Its inscription, recorded in the reads: "Imp. Caes. M. Aurel. Antoninus Pius Felix Aug. / pont. max., trib. pot. XIIII, cos. IIII, p.p. / pro salute sua et legionis III Italicae / aram posuit." This translates to a dedication by Caracalla, identifying him as emperor with full titles, for the well-being of himself and the Third Italic Legion, stationed nearby. The altar’s historical context ties directly to Caracalla’s journey through Raetia in 211 AD, shortly after his ascension to sole rule following the death of his father, Septimius Severus, in February 211 AD. Its inscription honours the empress as the "mater Augustorum et castrorum", together with her two sons Geta and Caracalla. The subsequent deletion of the name Geta shows that after his violent death, like that famously seen on the Arch of Septimius Severus in the Forum Romanum in Rome Großkrotzenburg, Geta hadn't escaped the "damnatio memoriae" in Abusina. It was Mommsen who had argued that the gap between the AVG and the following ET cannot be explained unless it reflects the same attempt to erase Caracalla's brother's name. The foundation again indicates a connection with the Britain campaign of Septimius Severus, who was represented by his wife and son on this visitation trip from England to the Danube. It also indicates that Caracalla’s visit aimed to inspect and reinforce the Danubian frontier amid growing pressures from Germanic tribes, such as the Marcomanni. The altar’s dedication to the Third Italic Legion, established by Septimius Severus in 197, underscores the military significance of Abusina as a logistical and strategic hub.

Beside another army altar in  Carrawburgh on Hadrian's wall. From 153 the Cohors III Britannorum equitata with six centuries of infantry and six towers of cavalry is recorded as serving here where it remained until the final end of Roman rule over the province of Raetia in the early 5th century. Indeed, the fort provides a remarkable aspect of British history as it was occupied by the cohors III Britannorum equitata, or part of it. The inset shows a depiction of the altar from the 16th century Aventini adversariorum tomus by Bavarian scholar from nearby Abensberg, Johannes Turmair, known as Aventinus. In 1517 William IV, Duke of Bavaria commissioned him to write a history of the country which resulted in a complete history of Bavaria, Annales Bojorum. His condensed German version of it, the Bayerische Chronik, is the first important history in the German language.

The altar reveals a standard Roman design with a rectangular base and a slightly tapered top, typical of votive altars used for religious and propagandistic purposes. On the front of the monument, six people are depicted who are grouped around an altar. To the right of the altar stands a bearded man with the back of his head covered. The boy to his right is similarly veiled. Both are wearing knee-length robes. The boy is holding a plate with offerings in his hand, and behind them is another person. To the left of the altar, a bare-chested sacrificial servant with an axe in hand leads a bull to be sacrificed. A musician behind the sacrificial servant accompanies the scene with his double flute. Another, badly damaged figure, possibly female, stands behind the altar.

 Abbot Werner, head of the Weltenburg monastery, remarks in his chronicle of his monastery that the altar had eventually found itself  "brought into the village and used as a corner stone in the sacristy of the church. In this condition I examined it in 1780.” In 1784 the altar was sent to the Academy of Sciences in Munich where, he continues to write, "it had to stand at the entrance for many years without any archaeologist having pity on it.” In 1814 the altar was held within the Antiquarium in the Munich Residence and finally in the Bavarian National Museum.The two smaller upper fragments of the stone were found in 1887 and 1915 respectively and were also taken to Munich. However, the monument itself had been completely destroyed during the war where fortunately in addition to this copy on the fort grounds in Eining, there is another, better preserved copy in the Archaeological State Collection in Munich. Chemical analysis of the limestone, conducted in 1985 by the Universität Regensburg, confirms its origin from quarries near Kelheim, approximately 20 kilometres from Abusina, indicating local sourcing of materials.

 Here the copy's details are compared to the original altar stone of the Prefect Titus Flavius ​​Felix, photographed before the war and its eventual destruction.  

On the left side of the monument, the goddess Fortuna is depicted holding a cornucopia in her left hand, symbolising fertility and prosperity. Her right hand holds a rudder on the ground, symbolising that Fortuna, the goddess of fate, holds human fate in her hand. The right side of the stone shows the genius of the third Britannic cohort mentioned in the inscription, who is the guardian spirit of the troops.
He also holds a cornucopia in his left arm and with his right hand makes a sacrifice from a bowl on a flaming round altar. The cohors III Britannorum was probably raised shortly after Roman rule was established on the British Isles, in order to pacify the region by drawing the local youth into the Roman army. During the Year of the Four Emperors, several troops recruited amongst Britons sided with Emperor Galba and subsequently with Emperor Vitellius under command of A. Caecina Alienus. Upon Vespasian's eventual victory, the cohors III Britannorum was transferred to Raetia. Here in Eining two military diplomas issued to soldiers of the cohors III Britannorum were recovered. It's possible that the cohors III Britannorum was transferred to the fort of Eining under the reign of Emperor Hadrian. During the military reorganisation of Emperor Antoninus Pius in the years around 160, the fort at Eining was reconstructed, probably by soldiers of the cohors III Britannorum. The altar’s survival provides a rare glimpse into the religious and administrative practices of a frontier fort during the Severan dynasty. The altar’s dedication by Caracalla highlights the emperor’s personal investment in frontier security, a policy consistent with his broader military reforms, including the Constitutio Antoniniana of 212, which granted citizenship to free inhabitants of the empire. German sources, such as the 1998 monograph Römische Grenzsicherung in Bayern, argue that the altar served both a religious and a political purpose, reinforcing imperial authority in a volatile region.Further excavations in 1979 and 2003, led by the Universität Passau, uncovered related artefacts, including ceramic fragments and a bronze statuette of Jupiter, suggesting that the principia housed a small shrine where the altar was likely used. Soil samples from the site, analysed in 2004, indicate that the area around the altar was kept clear of debris, implying regular maintenance and ceremonial use. The altar’s inscription also references Caracalla’s titles as pontifex maximus and tribunicia potestas, held for the 14th time in 211 AD, aligning with epigraphic evidence from other Raetian sites, such as Regensburg’s Castra Regina.

The strategic function of Abusina, as outlined in the 2005 study by the Bayerische Gesellschaft für Archäologie, centred on controlling the Danube crossing and monitoring tribal movements north of the river.
The fort’s layout, with its stone walls, four gates, and internal barracks, followed standard Roman castra design, as confirmed by ground-penetrating radar surveys conducted in 2012. This was part of a coordinated strengthening of the entire regional Limes section in Antonine times which quickly became necessary. During the Marcomanni Wars, the province of Raetia came under severe distress and at least partially and temporarily escaped Roman control. The fort and vicus of Eining were also destroyed for the first time. The area between Abusina and Castra Regina was probably not brought back under control until around 175 by the Legio III Italica stationed in Regensburg. After the rebuilding of the fort and the camp village, Abusina began a phase of calm and prosperity that lasted into the first third of the 3rd century. The political highlight of this period was the visit of Caracalla in Eining in 213 whilst conducting a preventive war against the gathering Alemanni. These military operations were so successful that they freed the province, including Abusina, from the pressure of the Alemanni for another two decades. From 233, however, the relative stability was at an end and in the course of the first Alemanni invasion, Abusina was destroyed again. More waves of Alemannic raids and conquests followed, until in 260 the Roman border defence in Raetia almost completely collapsed and the province sank into chaos. Eining was also burned down again which the numerous hoard finds, including the famous Eining hoard which was discovered by chance in 1975, bear witness to.

The buildings eventually fell into disrepair with the stones being used by local farmers as building material as the foundation walls sank in the dust of history. After Thurmaier discovered the consecration stone here Abusina was forgotten again for several centuries. It was not until 1879 that the then pastor of Eining, Wolfgang Schreiner, began the excavations at his own expense. They continued until 1920, most recently under the supervision of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. In the last days of the war, Wehrmacht soldiers holed up in Abusina came under American fire. After that, once again, nobody was interested in the Roman heritage until a decade later when digging began again and the walls were partially reconstructed.

Large scale excavations from the 1870s onwards, their subsequent exposure, consolidation and partial covering by roofs led after many years of interest to phases of neglect and decay, due to increasing maintenance costs. A first large scale renovation in the 1950s attempted to solve this problem in a long- term way with modern wall, partially on top of Roman foundations but in other parts in their replacement, and a lot of concrete. As no continuous care followed, further consolidation work had to be done in the 1970s leading to even more loss of the original. After the initiative of a local interest group, “Historia Romana e. V.", plans to develop and to display the fort somehow as it was laid out originally are now competing with the present state as a landscape park with ancient and artificial ruins as well as a nature reserve.

The porta decumana on the right, the rear gate of the fort.  The current concrete and steel structure in the middle of the access to the river-side extends as a footbridge over the sloping terrain created by a team of designers from Düsseldorf who were allowed to revamp the site (if not the structures) in 2010. The porta decumana was normally located at the midpoint of the rear rampart of a Roman fort, and from it the via decumana ran up to the back of the principia, dividing the retentura into two zones, one to the left and one to the right. 

 

In front of the northern front of the camp was a large, heated mansio, or rest station, with a small bathing wing, a hostel and horse changing station for business travelers on behalf of the state. At the beginning of the imperial era road stations were built at regular intervals along the most important Roman roads about every thirty miles or so. At first they primarily served the cursus publicus ( such as "state transport" post) before later expanding with other buildings and also used very heavily by travellers and traders. One would have travelled from one mansio to the next each day. A large driveway led to the rest stop (many digs were usually U­shaped) consisting of stables and car depots, as well as dining and guest rooms. This particular mansio served also as the headquarters of the beneficiaries, a type of road police with customs powers that was responsible for the security of the Roman road network. Here it is clearly evident just how much reconstruction has been imposed on the actual remains-

Eining, the Roman Abusina, on the south bank of the Danube between the Raetien Limes and the Danube Limes in Bavaria, is a good example to show the complicated and complex post-Roman story of a WHS [World Heritage Site]. Preliminary to the “renovation” of exposed walls the history of the visible structures was studied: Large scale excavations from the 1870s onwards, their subsequent exposure, consolidation and partial covering by roofs led after many years of interest to phases of neglect and decay, due to increasing maintenance costs. A first large scale renovation in the 1950s attempted to solve this problem in a long- term way with modern wall, partially on top of Roman foundations but in other parts in their replacement, and a lot of concrete. As no continuous care followed further consolidation work had to be done in the 1970s leading to even more loss of the original. After the initiative of a local interest group (“Historia Romana e.V.”) plans to “develop” and to display the fort somehow as it was laid out originally are now competing with the present state as a landscape park with ancient and artificial ruins as well as a nature reserve.

Breeze and Jilek (133) Frontiers of the Roman Empire

The porta praetoria established after the loss of the Limes area on the other side of the Danube. This late addition to the Roman fort was built as part of the reorganisation of the late Roman Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes under Emperor Aurelian and Probus. The east and north sides of the fort received new, stronger walls. A new tower was built on the new northeast corner and a tower with a gate in the middle of the northern front. The soldiers' quarters were located inside along the two new walls. In the middle of the courtyard was a 22-metre-deep well shaft. The fort was later extended by buildings on the northern wall. This north porch stood on a mighty embankment. The fort vicus moved to the rest of the cohort fort that was no longer needed. The porta praetoria and the porta principalis sinistra were retained as access to the late Roman fort vicus.

During the military reorganisation of Emperor Antoninus Pius in the years around 160, the fort at Eining was reconstructed, plausibly by soldiers of the cohors III Britannorum. The presence of the unit is at Eining is undebated by scholars, as it is well documented on military constitutions, imperial and votive inscriptions as well as tilestamps. Eining continued to be part of Raetia after the collapse of the Raetian Limes in 254. The Notitia Dignitatum lists a 'cohors III Brittorum' in Eining (Abusina), which might be identical to the cohors III Britannorum of the Principate.

Farkas István Gergő (149-150) The Roman Army in Raetia

The fort's thermal baths, probably built around the middle of the 2nd century, shown in 1915 and today. Several construction phases lay on top of each other in the excavated walls, which can no longer be safely separated from one another today. Again, it can be seen how much has been reconstructed since the war. The bath had been destroyed at least once during the Marcomann Wars in around 170 and then rebuilt with further expansions and modifications. The older thermal baths were only twenty metres in length but eventually were significantly expanded further to 38 metres. Immediately in front of the south side was a small bathroom measuring 6.5 x 7 metres leading some to posit that this small luxury bathroom was built especially for the visit of Emperor Caracalla or perhaps was simply reserved for higher-ranking people, officers or the camp commandant.

Inside the Roman museum overlooking the baths in the former  St. Andreas church. Abusina is just outside the fashionable spa town of Bad Gögging. Its history as a spa begins with the Romans as is obvious given references to Marcus Aurelius, Trajan and even Tiberius are everywhere. The sulfur springs of today's health resort used by the Romans and were probably already known at the time of Titus around 80, when the Cohors IIII Gallorum built the Abusina fort to secure the Danube line. What is certain is that Trajan himself visited the area around 110 and the garrison built a thermal bath which housed a caldarium, a sudatoriumand a frigidarium. When the local church of St. Andreas was rebuilt in the early 1960s, the remains of the baths  were found. Under its floor was a Roman bathing pool with an associated heating system, the so-called hypocaust heating. The pool has a size of 10.8 by 7.8 metres. The stamps on the bricks indicate that the bath was financed by both state and private assets of the emperor and was therefore of great importance. So far, however, it's only been possible to uncover parts of the Roman thermal baths of Bad Gögging, as they are located under the town centre.

It is unclear how long the baths were in operation and whether they were destroyed during the Marcomanni wars of 174, the Alemanni invasion of 260 or survived long enough to be wiped under the Huns in 450 by which time Abusina had largely been destroyed. However, the central bathing pool remained unaffected. The relics that were excavated from 1960 to 1970 under today's St. Andrew's Church can be viewed in the Roman Museum which now, with ironic justice, has taken over the church itself. The church itself is Romanesque and has a sculpture portal that is stylistically related to the art of the Magistri Comacini. The tympanum shown here on the left over the main door shows Christ as judge of the world between two angels. The side reliefs show various allegorical figures that represent sin or human vices. The larger fields refer to the Old and New Testaments and are related to each other. Such diverse scenes on a Romanesque portal of a local church are a rarity in southern Bavaria. 

At the reconstructed Roman Villa Rustica Möckenlohe which lies between Eichstätt and Ingolstadt on the lower slopes of the Franconian Jura to the Danube River. The fertile land promoted a dense settlement of this area with Roman farms at the end of the 1st century CE. The museum is a reconstruction of the partially still visible antique remains. The stone house was built in the 2nd half of the 1st century by Romans and destroyed in 233 by the Alemanni. Many finds indicate a previous settlement in this place.

The main house was excavated from 1987 to 1989, and was rebuilt in 1992 and 1993. A colonnade links two protruding buildings to form a typical villa with protruding façade bays. The west section had a representational room with an apse and a hypocaust heating system, which is still visible in places, as well as two sleeping chambers to the north. The east wing had a cellar, whose rubble walls still stand up to a height of 1.5 metres. Above the cellar was the kitchen. Heavy beams supported the Roman tile roof. The museum offers a unique chance in southern Germany to literally enter into provincial Roman living culture. The exhibits are all objects found on the grounds of the Villa Rustica. Thus, despite the randomness of their conservation, they illustrate the individual fate of a "familia" as well as antique housekeeping and farming within the history of the Roman Empire. The animal park is a further attraction. The animals kept here, horses, longhorn cattle, woolly pigs, goats, sheep and chickens are typical Roman farm animals. Antique grain types are farmed and harvested with Roman harvesting machines.  Today the site offers a pet park containing a large number of Roman breeds of the time as well as the opportunity to experience grinding at the rustic mill, fiddling with the former iron castle or riding, combined with a carriage ride.

Another Roman fort nearby is that at Weltenburg-Frauenberg on the Danube outside Kelheim and the Weltenburg monastery. More a fortlet also known as Weltenburg-Galget, this had been constructed on the low hill overlooking the bend of Danube near present-day Weltenburg offering an advantageous location, as the Danube takes a sharp bend here, which allowed viewing a wide section of the area north of the riverbank. As a result, on the west side towards the steeply sloping bank of the Danube, there was obviously no need for a surrounding ditch. In the south, towards the ascending slope, as well as in the east of the fortification, three parallel trenches were archaeologically accessible. Remains of prehistoric and late Roman settlement are both present on the 'Wolfgangswall hill, along with Roman finds of the 1st century such as coins, militaria, glass and ceramics. It was constructed either under the reign of Emperor Claudius or in Flavian times in order to guard traffic on the Roman road in the Am Galget valley. Based on scarce finds, Fischer suggested that the fortlet was constructed under the reign of Claudius or in Flavian times in order to guard traffic on the Roman road in the Am Galget valley, although Farkas István Gergő in his Roman Army in Raetia argues that "it is altogether unlikely that a sole Roman fortlet were established on the lower Danubian ripa preceding the last decades 1st century." What little material was found at the site comprised entirely of ceramic fragments of mortars, two shards of so-called "soldiers' plates " with Pompeian red overlay and remains of amphorae. The only fragment of glass came from a blue ribbed bowl. The main parts of the metal finds include iron nails and bronze remains, of which only one handle holder can be identified. For a more precise dating of the fort site, Rind was able to use a disc brooch with dolphins and an as, the basic denomination of the Roman currency before the introduction of the denarius around 211 BCE, struck in Rome from the reign of Emperor Claudius. Later considerations brought a date to the Claudian- Early Flavian period suggesting that the fortification could also have been established during the reign of Vespasian.

The site was a destination for treasure hunters early on. Prehistoric finds and especially Celtic coins have been found. Aventinus reported the legend that Saint Rupert of Salzburg had a chapel here built over a Minerva temple. The building visible there today is a baroque church that was built under Abbot Maurus Bächl in the early 18th century. The first proper excavations took place in 1909 in the monastery itself and in the adjoining monastery garden. In addition to two garbage pits from the older Bronze Age, a Celtic cemetery was also found, its three dead uncovered having been buried in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. The next excavation was not carried out until 1938 when a small area was uncovered near the northeast slope of the mountain. Again traces of settlement from the older Bronze Age was found as well as the remains of a Celtic child buried at this point in the middle of the settlement.

A couple of miles away towards Hienheim is this "Hadrian's Pillar", one of a series of memorial stones on the Limes built in the middle of the last century under King Max II of Bavaria. At this point it marks the end of the Rhaetian Wall on the Danube. West of the pillar stands a reconstructed wooden watchtower. Representations from Trajan's column in Rome served as a model, on which such towers with handling and palisades were reproduced. They did not have stairs in their interior; Roman sentries came with a retractable ladder to the entrance halfway up the tower. The distance between the sentries was chosen so that from a tower always the two neighbouring towers were in sight. From the watchtower you have a good view of the Danube valley and over to the castle Abusina. The foundations of the stone tower are only recognisable as a small hill. From here you can follow the fairly exactly westbound Limes for about two miles and on a clear day one can see visible remains of four other sentinels.

On the left is my bike parked in front of a reconstruction of a wooden watchtower built about fifty metres west of the historical location at WP 15/46. From 1975 to 2009, a predecessor building was on the site of today's Limeswacht Tower, which was destroyed by arson. The GIF compares the two.

In the early second century, perhaps under Trajan, wooden watchtowers appeared for the first time on the stretch between the Rhine and Danube, but it is only in Hadrian’s reign that a barrier element, an oak palisade, was added alongside the patrol track which ran in front of the towers. In the middle of the century the (now probably decrepit) wooden towers were replaced with stone towers, and at or after the beginning of the third century the final change was implemented: in Upper Germany a ditch was dug between the fence and the towers, and in Raetia the fence was replaced with a three metre-high wall. The construction of watchtowers (which would also have facilitated lateral signaling) would have been a very obvious thing to do once troops with the basic function of exploratores became static for even a few days. However, we should remember that once the towers were built, their existence is not evidence that they were occupied permanently: for long periods they may have been visited only by patrols, or manned in times of heightened alert.

Erdkamp (231) A Companion to the Roman Army

Drake and the wife at watchpost 15/44. As early as the 1930s, employees of the Reich Limes Commission speculated about a possible Roman guard post that could have been located in this area - around two miles from the village of Hienheim. This assumption was due to the unusually long distance between the two watchtowers Wp 15/44 and Wp 15/46, which was 1210 metres. Attempts to find this sentry failed at the time and it wasn't until 1975 that a wall structure ten metres long was excavated around fifty metres south of the Limes whilst a farmer was plowing the area. In 1979 the clearly visible foundations and trench were first recorded by aerial photo archeology and subsequently documented Before the introduction of digital technology and the rectification of aerial photos, however, Hienheim was misinterpreted as a watchtower (Wp 15/45). Eventually a further investigation with ground penetrating radar took place in spring 2012 which made it possible to document that the findings still preserved were at a depth between 0.40 and 1.10 metres. Since the small fort is now on land that is used intensively for agriculture, its existence is acutely threatened.

Drake Winston at the Oppidum of Manching, a large Celtic settlement at modern-day Manching, near Ingolstadt and as reconstructed from D. van Endert in Das Osttor des Oppidums von Manching. The settlement was founded in the 3rd century BCE and existed until about 50-30 BCE, reaching its largest extent within the late 2nd century BCE, when it had a size of 380 hectares. At that time, five to ten thousand people lived within its five mile walls. Thus, the Manching oppidum was one of the largest settlements north of the Alps. The ancient name of the site is unknown, but it is assumed that it was the central site of the Celtic Vindelici tribe.

Drake exploring the ruins of a wartime airfield behind the walls. Excavations at Manching have been necessitated by construction projects that started with a military airfield between 1936 and 1938. During that time during the Nazi remilitarisation of Germany, the Luftwaffe constructed an airfield here which led to the destruction of large proportions of the site without providing the opportunity for systematic archaeological research. Only very few finds were recovered from the construction site. In 1938, the archaeologist Karl-Heinz Wagner started an excavation of the northeast part of the enclosure. Within the visible earthen bank, he discovered the remains of a wall, which he described as a murus gallicus according to Cæsar's description of such structures. A central portion of the settlement was destroyed when mechanical equipment was used to strip the area and tear away part of the wall. Efforts to recover artifacts were restricted by the exigencies of impending war, and only those materials that could be rescued from the spoil piles were saved. Due to the presence of the airfield, Manching was the target of multiple bombing raids during the war, leading to further destruction of archaeological evidence. In the last year of the war, Fort VIII near Manching was the branch of the destroyed Wehrmacht prison in Munich in which during 1944-1945 saw 76 Wehrmacht soldiers executed for desertion; today there is an honorary grove to them in the Westfriedhof.

In 1955 Allied forces decided to rebuild the airfield and, following negotiations with archaeologists, contributed an unprecedented sum of money for investigation of the settlement and of the area that would be affected by renewed construction. Excavations began that year and continued until 1974 under the direction of Werner Krämer. A subsequent excavation was organised in 1984 following a ten-year hiatus in response to the planned construction of an exit ramp on the B16 secondary roadway that passes through the site and focused on a previously unexplored tract in the northern part of the settlement. Approximately one kilometre in length by 35–60 metres in width, a strip running from the centre of the roughly circular enclosed area to the wall was examined. The earliest settlement is concentrated toward the centre of the enclosed area and predates the construction of the wall. A track oriented east-west runs through the old centre and provided the foundation for a later main road linking the east and west gates of the murus Gallicus. The construction of the wall during the second half of the 2nd century BCE established Manching as a focal point for activities centred on production and exchange, encompassing not only collection of raw materials and manufacture of goods but also feasting and other functions associated with market towns and fairs. It's likely that the function of the wall changed through time from display to defence because a third stage of construction reinforces the entire five mile length of the enclosure. Furthermore, burials of individuals who died of battle injuries attest to an attack on the settlement and finds at the site include bronze finds, tools, fibulae, glass, faunal material, graphite pottery, imported pottery and coarse wares, smooth wheel-thrown pottery and painted pottery, and human burials. 

At the Kelten-Römer-Museum nearby in Manching. In the Celtic section are displayed the finds of the Oppidum in Manching which is located in the immediate vicinity. Of particular importance is the gold treasure discovered in 1999, consisting of 450 gold coins which make it the largest Celtic gold find discovered in the 20th century. At the end of 2022 it was the victim of a spectacular gold coin robbery that saw 483 Celtic gold coins stolen in the middle of the night. Gold coins that are 2,000 years old are difficult to sell, and as many traders would be suspicious, police fear that the perpetrators could melt down the treasure and then get the gold value for it. The perpetrators themselves appeared to be professionals; on the night of the robbery, almost all of Manching was paralysed: as fibre optic lines were sabotaged, leaving around 13,000 private and corporate customers without telephone or internet. 

The so-called cult tree found in 1984 is unique worldwide with its gold-plated image of a branch from the 3rd century BCE entwined with leaves, buds and fruits. The centrepiece of the Roman section are the two fifteen-metre long Roman military ships dating from about 100 CE from the time of Trajan. The wrecks were found in 1986 within a silted branch of the Danube. They were only salvaged according to plan in 1994 and then restored and preserved in the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz. 

Drake beside the remarkable remains of two hulls of Roman military ships that were found nearby at Oberstimm within the area of ​​a silted-up Roman pier in 1986 and, after eight years of restoration work, were excavated in 1994 according to plan and for the purpose of conservation and restoration by 2005. These swift vessels were used for patrols and escort trips along the Danube River system. One ship was demonstrably a rowing ship, as the preserved oarlocks and seat throws show. There is evidence that there were ten rowers on the starboard side, so that the entire rowing crew was probably twenty men. In addition, it could be sailed, as evidenced by the remains of the keel. The course of the old river Brautlach is today still visible as a depression in the terrain. When a test trench was dig through the depression in 1986, the timbers of the boats came to light. Thanks to the water-logged milieu in the old riverbed the organic material was still in good condition. However, professional recovery, conservation and presentation need careful planning and skilled specialists, so that the excavation of the boats only began in 1994. Today the traces of the excavation are identifiable by the patches in the tarmac surface of the market and the gap in the line of trees. Apart from the destruction caused by the dredger in 1986, the boats’ hulls were preserved to a length of about fifteen metres and were almost complete. The bow and stern are missing, but judging by the shape of the hull that has been preserved, it could not have been much longer. Whilst the starboard side was completely preserved from the gunwale to the keel, the port side is completely gone. The wood for the boats came from two different kinds of trees; the planks were of pine, whereas the supporting structure was made of oak. the planks are made of pine, the keel, the keel, the ribs and the thorns are made of oak. Wooden nails on the inside of some frames suggest that a stringer was originally attached there. It is likely that crossbeams were placed on it, which the rowers used as footrests. Possibly there was a crossbeam in the ship to which the gordings of the sail could be attached. Dendrochronological investigations revealed felling dates for the oak to have been from 90 CE. Another time limit was made possible by oak piles, which had been driven into the ground as bank reinforcement and had penetrated both ships. Both ships therefore belong to the Domitian/Trajan period. When the fort was abandoned, the boats were in a bad state of repair and were sunk in an area which was already being used as a rubbish dump. A quayside was later built on the river bank and wooden piles were driven through the buried boats. The boats provided space for twenty rowers, and in addition had a mast and sail. The narrow stern and bow are typical for boats used by the army for purposes such as transporting troops, patrolling and conveying messages.Dendrochronological analyses revealed that the boats were built around 100 CE. As the oldest wooden piles from the quayside date to 118, the boats must have been used and then sunk some time before then.

Drake in front of a replica of the Neumagen wineship in the museum, part of the tomb of a Roman wine merchant from around 220 CE found in Neumagen on the Moselle; the original's in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Trier The remains of the tomb were found in 1878 in Neumagen along with blocks of numerous other tombs as part of the foundation of the defensive wall of the late Roman fortress Noviomagus. The reconstruction of its pieces has come under criticism; a head that was once broken at the base of the neck has been attached to the body of a helmsman under the barrel-shaped cabin roof at the stern, and looks at the viewer somewhat "grumpily". As Wilhelm v. Massow argues, the head is in the wrong place given that the fracture surface doesn't fit, and that the design of the head with its asymmetries and unfinished parts suggest that it was originally in a different position on the wine ship. The first observation can't be verified today due to the modern restoration of the fracture, although in the current display, the breaks, the block joints and missing parts that are still clearly visible there are so heavily reshaped that they can only be identified with great difficulty.

 

Kastell Celeusum

The fort at Pförring was the easternmost fort on the Raetian Limes, situated on the Biburg plateau, a terrace surrounded by steep slopes, northwest of today's Pförring. Its main task was to supervise the road running north of the Danube leading to Abusina. Mayer described gateways, ramparts and moats clearly visible to the naked eye in 1838 when many coins, especially from the reign of Hadrian, were found. Fink had carried out the first excavations between 1891 and 1893 under the ægis of the Reichs-Limeskommission during which time he identified four gates, a double ditch and the principia. Aerial surveys and geophysical prospection offered further details of the fort’s inner layout and attested that the vicus surrounded the fort on three sides (west, south and east). The cemetery was located northeast of the fort, along the road leading to Eining. The fort covered an area of 3.9 hectares, with sides 194 × 201 metres long respectively.

The fort at Pförring was built during Emperor Trajan’s military reorganisation between 106 and 117. As with the neighbouring auxiliary fort at Kösching, the towers of fort at Pförring were also reinforced in 141, as attested by a building inscription. In the 1870s a coin hoard containing 1,300 pieces was discovered nearby, the latest coins having been issued in 224, thus indicating that the fort and the vicus were still active during the crisis of the 3rd century. The fort at Pförring was reinforced when the eastern section of the Raetian Limes between Weißenburg and Ellingen was abandoned. The fort was operational until the collapse of the Raetian Limes in 254. Based on a votive inscription350 and a Raetian military diploma, the fort at Pförring was garrisoned by the Ala I Flavia singularium civium Romanorum pia fidelis. Tacitus mentions this unit with its Prefect Iulius Briganticus in his Historiae (iv.70) in connection with events of the Year of the Four Emperors during which the unit was probably set up by Vitellius. Iulius Briganticus and his unit switched to Vespasian's side, for which the Ala later received the honorary title of Flavia from Vespasian. Based on the building inscription found in a field in 1843, it is known that the Ala built the fort in stone in 141. 

As mentioned above, it's believed that Caracalla visited the camp in 213 as indicated by the remains of a limestone slab on which nine centimetre high gilded letters made of sheet bronze were originally attached. This plate is considered part of an honorary inscription for the emperor. The end of the camp took place during the Alemanni storm of 233. An incomplete treasure hoard contained a coin from the reign of  Severus Alexander who had been murdered two years later, but the end could also have come much later.

In 2007 the excavation site was invaded at night and material from documented findings as well as metal objects found by metal detectors were stolen. Above is shown the attempt to reconstruct the east gate as an hideous steel frame, built in 2013 in which five to seven metre long bored piles were driven into the ground and a concrete slab was imposed directly over the ancient foundations. The entire undeveloped area of ​​ the fort and neighbouring camp village is threatened by intensive agriculture, erosion and ongoing robbery excavations. No excavations have taken place inside the fort since 1893. The formerly restored remains of the east gate and the north corner tower have fallen into disrepair again.

At the Roman military camp Iciniacum northwest of the village of Theilenhofen. The fortification, probably built for around 480 infantry and 128 cavalry to secure the border, was destroyed with the fall of the Limes around the mid-250s by the Germanic Alemanni. The Rhaetian Wall is approximately 2.2 kilometres away. Field paths run along the edge of the fort's no longer visible perimeter; trees mark the corners of the fortifications. The location was so advantageous that signals from nine to ten watchtowers on the Limes could be picked up from one of the fort's towers, as well as providing a wide panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. Today these are the only remains to be seen- the Roman Military Bath, first found in 1820 and located 250 metres west of the fort next to a fish pond; such an unusually great distance from the garrison probably resulted from the local water conditions. In 2002, dendrochronological dating was carried out which indicated that the older bath, which was partly built in wood, dates to 126. By the 20th century the site became an uninhabited garbage dump until construction of new ponds for water retention rediscovered the fort baths and saw them partially reconstructed. The 16.5 × 28.5 meter remains visible today are constructed in the style of Roman terraced baths. Seven rooms can be identified. The baths, whose floor was covered with high-quality Solnhofen limestone, were entered from the north side. A votive stone to the goddess Fortuna, dated to the years 140 to 144, was found there in 1970 which read "FortuneAug(ustae)sacrumcoh(ors) III Br(acaraugustanorum)cui prae(e)stVetelli(us)v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito)" (Dedicated to Fortuna Augusta; the 3rd Braga Cohort, commanded by Vetellius, has fulfilled its vow willingly, joyfully, and duly.) The stone and brick supports of the hypocaust heating system, some of which were still well preserved at the time of discovery, were removed before renovation to protect them from weather and vandalism.

Weißenburg fort in ancient Biriciana was a former Roman ala castellum, possibly garrisoned by the ala I Hispanorum Auriana and built around 90 CE as part of Trajan’s military reorganisation. On the left is an idealised virtual reconstruction of its northern gate with an additional storey in comparison with it too low 1990 reconstruction. In its last expansion phase the site was an almost square stone fort for an ala with dimensions of 170 by 174 by 179 metres. Its walls were rounded at the corners and provided with defensive towers. The total of four gates were flanked by double towers, between these and the corner towers there was a further, smaller tower. Digital reconstruction of the north gate during the timber construction phase seen from the inside on the right. Today the castellum with its remains of buildings- some of which have been preserved underground- the reconstructed north gate, the large thermal baths and the Roman museum with integrated Limes information centre is one of the most important addresses for Limes research in Germany. Below on the left is the site at the turn of the century during initial excavations and how it appears today with the reconstructed gate. The fort was reinforced with stone structures and defences during the course of the 2nd century; again, on the right below is a GIF comparing a visualisation of how it may have appeared compared to the site today. As can be seen in these images, the wall itself was surrounded by a double moat; another moat has so far only been proven on three sides of the fort. This pit system was only interrupted in the area of ​​the camp gates. On the northern front in 1986 the archaeological excavations also cut into the moat. It was found that the outermost pointed ditch was 2.70 metres wide and 1.60 metres deep. The middle trench was measured with a width of 4.50 metres and a depth of 1.40 metres with the innermost trench widest at 5.40 metres. As a special feature, this trench was created as the Fossa Punica. The enemy-facing side was sunk vertically into the ground, whilst the side facing the surrounding wall sloped. The garrison served there to secure the newly conquered territory north of the Danube, which had been incorporated into the province of Raetia. As the excavations of 1986 showed, the porta decumana existed on the northern front of the wood-earth bearing made of twelve posts, six of which posts each belonged to one of the two gate towers by which the actual gate was flanked. The two wooden rectangular towers had a 3.20 x 3.60 metre floor plan. A palisade ditch around 0.60 metres wide connected the gate on both sides with the adjoining intermediate towers, each supported by four posts. After its construction, it covered an area of 3.1 hectares, with sides measuring 175 × 179 metres. Weißenburg was destroyed between 240-250 along with nearby Ellingen in the course of the Alemannic invasions. The latest coins found on the Via principalis dextra date to the years 251 and 253. In the Middle Ages the site served as a quarry for the new city until everything was removed and overgrown. The fort was not rediscovered until 1885 and was excavated between 1889 and 1913.

  

The inner courtyard of the administration building, the principia. On the left is the praetorium hypocaust and, inset, when it was excavated in the 1890s.  On the right is the well and how it has been virtually reconstructed.

Drake on the right at the camp of the Numerus Brittonum reenactment group on the grounds during a wet Römertage 2017.  The historical Numerus Brittonum was a Roman auxiliary unit of a nominal strength of probably 160 men, consisting of two centuries with eighty men each, probably all of whom were foot soldiers. The soldiers would have been recruited in the province of Britannia when the unit was established around 100 CE, possibly under Domitian. According to Marcus Reuter, the British would have arrived to Germania superior as a closed contingent and were only then divided into the individual units. He assumes there would have  been 1500 to 2000 British in this first contingent.

At the nearby baths, the oldest thermal bath building probably built at the same time as the wooden fort. Also called the Great Baths, these are among the most remarkable relics of the Roman fort and Vicus Biriciana that secured the northern border of the province of Raetia.
This small, heated room shown on the left built onto the apodyterium (changing room) was established around 180 AD. It's indicative of Roman bathhouses found in colder regions in that it had such heated rooms by the entrance for which they were referred to as winter apodyteria- somewhat warmer changing rooms for the colder months. Constructed with nearby Solnhofen stone slabs, the room was entered via two entrances with wide steps from the cold bath to the west. These baths on the outskirts of the present-day town of Weissenburg in Bavaria are among the few that have survived on Germanic soil; they were discovered in 1977 and have been converted into a museum since 1983. There are a total of three construction phases for the thermal baths. The first building, around 90 AD, was constructed at the same time as the fort and was a simple terraced bath. Only a few remains from this first phase remain. 

The small tepidarium where the punters would often clean themselves. Instead of using soap, Roman bathers would cover their bodies with oil to loosen dirt and then wipe off the mixture with strigils. Another activity that took place here was depilation, which consisted of having one's body hairs plucked out. Tepidariums 1 and 2 were connected to the heating rooms (praefurnia) by air shafts.  During the Marcomanni wars the thermal baths were burned down and destroyed. After around 180, the reconstruction work on the thermal baths began through which a significantly changed and larger facility was created which included a large gymnastics hall (basilica) with approximately 320 square metres of interior space complemented the thermal baths. During the expansion around 130 AD, a warm bath (caldarium), two leaf baths (tepidariums), a round sweat bath (sudatorium), a cold bath (frigidarium), a basilica surrounded by a portico and a field forge were added. The core of this basic structure is still there and can be traced. After the bathing building was destroyed, probably as a result of the Marcomannic Wars, a third, significantly larger and more luxurious ring-type thermal bath complex was built around 180, measuring 65 by 42.5 metres. Here on the right is a recreation of the round sudatorium which served as the steam bath. Located on the west side of the complex with hypocausts, of which only a few foundational walls remain, it dates from its second construction phase around 180 AD and was never rebuilt after its destruction. There was a connecting corridor to the tepidarium and from there to a small frigidarium next door in order to cool the body quickly after a visit to the sauna, still with its original brick floor. The water there was 1.10 metres deep, but the area was only suitable for immersion. In the third construction phase, the pool was filled in and the room used as a changing room (apodyterium). It's difficult to reconstruct Roman baths fully as the sources are so scanty. In the 1st century BC, the Roman architect Vitruvius left a description of a hypocaust heating system for baths. He described how the hollow lining of the walls with porous bricks (tegulae mammatae) were used for the express purpose of making the walls dry but writes nothing about the pillar arrangements with floating floors seen here for the purpose of conducting heating gases.

Probably the most important area of the thermal baths was the hot bath with two semicircular and a square water basin. In the first two construction phases, both side water basins had their own heating positions. The eastern water basin has been very well preserved. The floor of the warm bathroom rests on hypochetic pillars and during the third construction phase its was covered with Solnhofen stone slabs.

 Recreation of the caldarium, the main room of the thermal baths with hot water heated by two furnaces, located on the south side in what is now the entrance area. Here the room temperature was 32 °C. It had three warm water pools of about 20–30 °C heated by a so-called testudo alvei (a tortoise-shaped bronze metal kettle above the heating channel) and a floor heated by hypocausts. Baths were located within the apses. With a water depth of only 40 centimetres, it was only suitable for knee-deep wading rather than for swimming. 

Reconstruction of the praefurnium- the furnace. Here slaves stoked the fire in the small pits in front of the air shafts using wood and charcoal, and the hot air flowed into the two leaf baths. The thermal baths were heated day and night because it would have taken several days to reheat a cooled bath. Estimates showed that roughly one hectare of forest had to be cleared each year to keep the operation going. Traces of the fires are still clearly visible in the ground. Until about 168 AD this system heated the adjacent caldarium until such a system fell out of use and the heating duct was bricked up.

The construction period lasted until the complex was finally seriously damaged during the Alemanni invasion around 230 and abandoned in 258-59. After that, only a few remaining rooms continued to be used for purposes other than bathing. In a later renovation, almost the entire bathing area was lined with limestone slabs. In the final stage, the now luxurious thermal baths were 65 metres long and 42.5 metres wide. In the course of the Alemanni incursions after 230, the complex was again destroyed by fire after which the facilities were forever abandoned.

This main drain carried the waste water to the river behind. The reconstructed wall that runs above it with the column bases located in top provides a visual image of the porticus surrounding the basilica thermarum, which served as the bathhouse recreational hall containing an open sports and gymnastics site (palaestra). Behind this wall, further aong the drain, there is thought to have been a latrine. As it is, it's not known how often the baths were cleaned. If one believes Martial, bathers could expect their neighbours to exhibit any manner of injuries. One medical writer, Scribonius Largus, casually claims that a certain plaster "good for weeping sores" holds up well in bath water. According to the questionable Historia Augusta, Hadrian apparently set aside certain hours each morning for sick bathers. This may have been relaxing for the convalescents, but it must have enlivened Rome's bath waters with the microbial residue of their ailments. It would appear that Roman doctors, with no understanding of germ theory, simply saw no connection between contaminated water and illness. 

The main drain with its brick-built floor and walls of a height of just under six feet is a typical example of a Roman waste water drain. As seen here, it's joined by a second, smaller drain. Finds have also been discovered in these drains such as the gold earring which can now be seen in the Roman Museum in the town. The channel (1) was probably covered with stone slabs or wooden boards. It had to be accessible for any maintenance work. A look inside the channel shows that it ended below the wall with an arched segment made of bricks (2). The main sewer existed since the first construction phase and drained the domestic water from the frigidarium. With the installation of the frigidarium II and the associated water basins, a second, smaller sewer (3) was created, which flowed into the large main water channel. 

A heated room was initially located here, possibly with an apodyterium- changing room. Around 150 AD this was converted into a frigidarium with two baths. This was further reconstructed around 180 with the construction of a large, oblung room which certainly served as an apodyterium and featured a fountain set in the wall seen here n the left. In this final form, the now luxurious thermal baths measured 65 metres in length and 42.5 metres wide. During the Alemanni invasions after 230, the complex was again destroyed by fire and the baths were never used again after that.

At the Theilenhofen bath complex located just southwest of the fort, on an elevated plateau 2.2 kilometres south from the limes palisade. It was was rediscovered in 1820. Between 1968 and 1970, Hermann directed excavations of the bath complex, determining its layout and two construction phases. The buildings of the baths have been reconstructed and, as seen in this GIF comparing the site in 1969 and today, have been altered considerably as a result. A timber fort here was first built around 120, as part of Hadrian's military reorganisation and expansion. By the 160s, the fort was reinforced with stone defences. By the time of Marcus Aurelius’ the military reorganisation, the fort was cleared away and reconstructed at a larger size with further stone defensive structures. This new fort was subsequently destroyed during the Germanic incursions of 254 along with the rest of the Raetian Limes. It was at the site that the famous Theilenhofen helmet was found as a deposit together with an outstanding cavalry parade helmet in a stone building of the vicus which had been destroyed by fire. Also found were fragments of Antonine sigallata and a coin of Commodus indicating use of the building through the end of the 2nd century and into the first third of the 3rd century. The helmets themselves do not show any traces of a fire and may therefore have been hidden in the building after the destruction.

Standing at the very end of the Raetian Limes wall at Schwäbisch Gmünd. On the top left is a visual representation from the Aalen museum of how it would have appeared whilst below is an actual reconstruction at the entrance to the park. Up until this point the Upper German Limes from the Rhine to the Rotenbachtal here, northwest of Schwäbisch Gmünd, consisted most recently of a rampart and a moat serving as a substitute for a wooden palisade. During the last expansion phase, a continuous stone wall was erected in the province of Raetia, from the Rotenbachtal to the Danube at Ausina. That this spot really does mark the transition from the Limes wall to the Upper German palisade is strongly supported not only by the wall's precisely constructed terminus, but by the fact that in front of it was found the remains of an altar that was possibly dedicated to the fines, or border deities, a replica of which I'm standing beside in front of the wall and how it appeared when uncovered by Steimle at the end of the 19th century in the Rotenbachtal at the beginning of the Rhaetian Wall near Kleindeinbach. It has four rosettes on the face of as many bulges atop with no remains of inscriptions below the cornice beyond seven radial grooves, apparently from the grinding of tools. This altar, and the finished nature of the roughly hewn sandstone blocks of the wall itself, provide considerable evidence that this section marked the end of the Upper Germanic Limes and the start of the Rhaetian Limes. Here from about 160 to 260 CE, the Rems Valley was the outermost border zone of the Roman Empire, guarded by over 1,500 soldiers within the Gmünd area stationed in cohorts in Lorch, at Schirenhof and Böbingen as well as in some smaller facilities such as Freimühle, Kleindeinbach and Hintere Orthalde.

At the bath complex near Schirenhof fort a mile away, shown in 2008 and when I visited in 2021. The fort itself had been built around 150 CE halfway up a mountain spur with a view over the Rems to the Rhaetian Limes. This structure had been excavated for the first time in 1893 and was opened to the public in 1975 in this restored condition after new excavations carried out during urbanisation. These excavations showed that the Cohors I Flavia Raetorum, named on brick stamps and the fragment of a genius statue, had been the main troop unit garrisoned here after having been transferred either from Eislingen-Salach or another unindentified fort in Raetia. Shortly after 247 at the latest, the last soldiers left the place based on the evidence from Roman coins discovered here in the fort’s bath.

At the Limesmuseum in Aalen, located on the site of the largest Roman equestrian fort north of the Alps. The size of the fort indicates that it was garrisoned by the ala II Flavia milliaria, the only ala milliaria of the province. Indeed, the elite mounted unit, the ala miliaria, is what gives Aalen its name. In May 2019, after two and a half years of renovation and closure, it was reopened with a newly designed permanent exhibition with over 1,200 original finds. The main focus is on the relationship between Teutons and Romans and the understanding of borders. In the main rooms on the ground floor, visitors are forced to interactively learn about seven people who lived in Roman Aalen 1,800 years ago using specific archaeological objects and get to know their living conditions better. For me, this completely ruined the experience as one can't walk anywhere or view some of the spectacular pieces in peace- such as the masked cavalry helmet found during the expansion of the Limes Museum and the huge Osterburken Mithras relief- without setting off a cacophany of sound effects- horses, for example- and loud voice overs that could not be shut off. 

 At the staff building, the principia, with a modern statue of Hadrian despite the fort being built during the 160s as part of the military reorganisation and expansion of Marcus Aurelius; the dendrochronological records fall in the period between 159 and 172. An impressive number of sixteen building inscriptions have been found  from Aalen, all datable to the Severan dynasty. The fort was operational until the middle of the 3rd century and evidence from coins indicates that the fort was destroyed following the reign of Aemilian, in the years after 253/254, although there have been two disputable coins issued under Emperors Valerian and Gallienus that have also been found.

 Part of the Roman fort has been incorporated in the town cemetery in which is located St. Johann's Church, one of Aalen's oldest buildings, dating back to the 13th century. Located directly in front of the former porta praetoria, the main gate of a Roman camp, the Roman stone blocks which were reused at the time to build it can be clearly seen in the area of the foundation. The excavation in 1997  whose preserved remains are shown here and from the same spot today offer valuable insights into the history of Aalen in the early Middle Ages. For example, it was discovered that the church was not the oldest building in this location. The articles found date back to the seventh and eighth centuries. It appears that around this time, directly on the road in front of the former main gate of the garrison, a residential building or an early monastery cell was located here. The oldest parts of the buildings 1 and 2 belong to this era as well as a number of graves nearby which were excavated at the start of the 20th century. The present-day church itself was built sometime around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Work was carried out on Building 2 at the same time, also using stones from the fortress as building material. On the western corner there was a Roman inscription to the goddess Minerva which is now in the Limes Museum. 

On a small hill about a mile from the Limes are the remains of a cohort fort at Buch, in which a roughly 600-man partially mounted unit was stationed. It was sited near a trade route that ran from Augusta Vindelicum to the Danube near Guntia and from there via Alae to the Limestor at Dalkingen, about a mile and an half away. It was the location of an unknown cohors equitata built around 150 and occupied until the Limes were abandoned around 260. A spatha had been found here; such a type of sword had been used by the Roman cavalry since the early imperial era. In addition, there were around 1,600 other weapon parts at this point, of which at least 800 were iron projectile tips, the rest consisting of arrow and lance tips. The fort was about 2.1 hectares in size and had four circumferential trenches that were up to six metres in width. In its first phase of construction, it was protected with a wooden fence, which was later replaced by stone and a raised inner earth ramp. There were four camp gates- my bike here is at the remaining southern gate, the porta principalis dextra- with a double passage flanked by two towers. There were an additional eight intermediate towers in the defensive wall. The staff building (principia) with the flag sanctuary (aedes) was in the centre of the fort, where the camp streets crossed via principalis and via praetoria.

In this location a bronze model of the fort stands in the centre of the complex shown here, so that one gets a good impression of the original appearance. Next to it was a granary building (horreum) on one side and the commandant's house (praetorium) on the other side. The cavalry barracks were located over the rest of the storage area.

The fort was discovered at the beginning of the 19th century with the first scientific investigations taking place in 1897. The southern gate, an intermediate tower and part of the defensive wall were excavated in 1972 followed by further excavations and geomagnetic investigations between 1992 and 2000. Besides the south gate, and southern intermediate tower with parts of the defensive wall that remain,the remaining corner and intermediate towers and the stone walls of the fort are marked by bushes and trees and an earthen wall to offer an idea as to its size. 

Watchtower 12/77, located in Mahdholz in the line of sight within a mile of Buch fortress. After this site had already been examined in 1885, another systematic excavation took place in 1969. A total of three construction phases of the Limes towers and the border fortifications could be identified, starting with a first tower which stood a few feet from the wooden Limes palisade, and which was built around 165. This was then replaced around 180-190 by a stone tower. Towards the end of the second or beginning of the 3rd century, this tower was then torn down again and replaced with a square stone tower with a side length of five metres which was probably plastered white with red paint as a joint line and built almost exactly above it. At the same time, the wooden palisade was replaced by a Limes wall into which the tower was built directly. These new fortifications were then presumably used unchanged until the Limes was abandoned around 260. The wall beside it seen in the photo in the background was reconstructed in 1970 to a total height of three metres. The oak trunks of the Limes palisade were cut in half by the Romans and set up with the straight side facing towards Barbaricum. In order to improve the hold, the trunks were connected with crossbars. With the end of the first tower, which may have become old and damaged, a stone tower measuring 6.5 × 5.5 metres northwest of the wooden previous building was built, although little of it remains. The trench-like depression running around it made it clear that this fortification once stood free in the field. Although the oak trunk palisade could not be detected there, the tower certainly still belongs to this period when the expansion of the Limes wall in stone was tackled during the reign of Septimius Severus as shown through dendrochronological examination of the timbers. In the excavations in 1969, ceramics, an iron knife, a disc brooch with an enamel inlay, and a sesterce of Julia Mamaea were uncovered.
A couple of yards from the two stone towers is a replica wooden tower with a surrounding balcony which was reconstructed in 1966. However, when this had to be demolished due to its dilapidation, a new structure was built in 2008 that corresponds to the latest scientific findings and therefore no longer has a platform. It was formally inaugurated in the presence of the President of the State Office for Monument Preservation, Dieter Planck, based on the determination of Dietwulf Baatz who sought to replace the typical view of the type of wooden watchtowers based on Trajan's column which still dominate the public's imagination. In order to climb inside it, one needs to go to Schwabsberg's town hall to ask for the key.
The triumphal arch at Dalkingen built for Caracalla on the occasion of his successful Germanic campaign, probably to impress the defeated Germanic tribes and built from a later stone gatehouse. There was probably a passage through the Limes already at the time when the Limes was still secured with wooden palisades and wooden towers. The passage through the Limes from Dalkingen changed over time from a simple control point to a strongly secured border station due to the expansion of the Limes. Around 160, when the Limes still consisted of a simple wattle bridle with wooden watchtowers in between, the passage was a simple guarded gate in the Limes, which was controlled by the soldiers stationed in the watchtower. Over the course of time a gatehouse, also made of wood, was added next to the watchtower, in which further office and watch rooms were located. By 190 the wooden watchtower was replaced by a stone tower, but the gatehouse and the wooden palisade remained unchanged. It wasn't until 206 that all the buildings in the passage were demolished and replaced by a 12.6 x 9.3 metre stone gatehouse with a 2.1 metre wide gateway that was integrated directly into the stone Limes wall. Since the watchtower interfered with it, it was rebuilt at another location nearby. In the last construction phase between 213 and 214 on the occasion of the victorious campaign of Caracalla against the Alemanni, a 13-metre-high grand gate, which resembled a triumphal arch erected and a larger than life bronze statue of the emperor erected. A gate of this type has not been found anywhere else in the entire Limes and is therefore to be regarded as unique. According to a fragmentary inscribed source, the Acta Fratrum Arvalium, the emperor crossed the Rhaetian border on August 11, 213 in the fight against the Germanic tribes. Besides the ruins of the arch there have been many conspicuous small finds, particularly noteworthy of which are around fifty bronze fragments of a larger-than-life statue of Caracalla of excellent quality, most of which were picked up on the front side in front of the southwestern front of the former archway. The statue's sword pommel adorned with an eagle's head and other stylistic elements refer to the early 3rd century. Among pieces of the statue's sword and armour were numerous decorative swastikas:

Presumably in 233 the gate was set on fire and destroyed during the Alemanni invasions and never rebuilt. A denarius minted between 231 and 235 from the reign of Severus Alexander is considered the last minted coin found at the Limestor. The Limestor was excavated between 1974 and 1975, but has since been heavily exposed to the weather. In 2010 a glass cube was erected over the remains of the foundation wall to stop the remaining substance from decaying. In addition, the triumphal arch was visualised on a floating metal construction covered with printed tarpaulin. Today one can still see the original remains of the walls as well as the impressive size and the former appearance of the gate.

At the site of the fortlet at Halheim which had covered an area of 0.67 hectares, with sides 80 × 82.5 metres in length which are visualised through the use of trees planted to mimic the walls and towers. It had been built during Marcus Aurelius’s reign around 160 and would have housed a numerus, a unit belonging to the Roman auxiliary forces, but not as standardised. The need for such small units for border surveillance grew enormously, which also had financial consequences for the empire leading to young locals being recruited regionally and assigned to newly established locations with lower pay and less strict standards. These numera, like the auxilia, would have been named after their original ethnic origin but would not have received Roman citizenship when they were released. The fortlet was probably destroyed during the Germanic incursions in 254; coins found offer 241 as the terminus post quem for the fortlet’s destruction. The ruins of the fortlet were still visible in the 19th century when, in 1884, an iron depot containing nearly seven hundred metal objects, mostly arrowheads, were uncovered. However, as the field name "Buschelacker" ("Buschel" = South German for Burgstall ) indicates, the knowledge of an old fortification was never completely lost.

At watchtower 13/2 at Mönchsroth where I camped out one night, showing how it appears and as it might have originally looked. This tower stump was built in 1986 from frost-proof sandstone as a partial replica of a Limes tower. The Limes itself and the site on which the tower is believed to have stood are further north. In building the replica, an attempt was made to create the impression of a collapsed wall. Originally, all Limes towers had an outer layer of white lime plaster, onto which grooves were painted in red. As in the forts, these were intended to create the illusion from a distance of solid ashlar masonry It is important to distinguish between a replica and a reconstruction. A true reconstruction requires detailed plans and information relating to the monument as a whole. Along the Limes, such replicas of course can only be realised on the basis of general tradition dating from classical antiquity, which offer no more than an approximate overall impression of the original conditions. They are, however, of significant value as a source of information to visitors seeking a better understanding of the Roman frontier. South of the Mönchsroth-Wittenbach road, in the "Unterer Espan" forest, are the remains of a wooden and stone tower at watchtower 13/3

Virtual reconstruction of the walls of Ruffenhofen fort. Along the Upper German-Raetian Limes such forts were built at regular intervals to station the troops. It was the duty of these units to control the border. The forts were secured by surrounding walls, gates, towers and ditches. Inside the walls the administrative and storage buildings, the soldiers' rooms, horse stables, workshops, baking ovens and latrines were located. In general, the forts housed about 500- and sometimes up to 1,000-soldiers. The continual supply of water, food and fodder for the men and their horses was a huge logistical effort. In addition to military factors, these requirements played an important role in choosing the site for a fort. Food was supplied by Roman farms (villae rusticae) in the surroundings. Civil settlements (vici) sprung up next to each fort. The soldiers' families, tradesmen and craftsmen lived here. Since antiquity, nothing has been built over the fort at Ruffenhofen. It lies just over a mile southeast of the Limes.

Virtual reconstruction of the Porta Praetoria, the fort's main gate. The fort walls measure 190 x 197 metres. The interior area thus contains roughly 3.7 hectares. It's believed that at different times a cohort (cohors) of foot soldiers with some cavalrymen and a cavalry unit (ala) were stationed at Ruffenhofen. The fort's original name is not known. The main gate, the porta praetoria, faced the Hesselberg mountain. The fort was dominated by two roads that led through the four gates and crossed in the middle. There were probably six similarly-shaped barracks. At the centre, important buildings were arranged from north to south: the hospital (valetudinarium), the central administrative building (principia), the commander's residence (praetorium) and a granary (horreum). 

Looking down the former via praetoria, the corssroads of the fort. An earthen bank was built up along the inside of the fort's wall. The latrines, and also large baking ovens, were located here although their exact positions in Ruffenhofen aren't known.
 The fort wall was first excavated in 1892. In the summer of 2005, a small excavation further examined the wall, which was one of the few original remains. The first excavations were only carried out along the wall. Aerial photographs, geophysical prospections and the 2005 excavation provided considerable new information. In post-Roman times, many parts of the wall collapsed outwards. Some remnants still lie in the first fort ditches. The six metre high wall could only collapse outwards because at the inner side an earthen bank supported the parapet walk. In the spring of 2004, a hornbeam hedge was planted to depict the structure of the wall. In order to preserve the wall remains that still lie underground, the hedge was placed ca. 8.5 metres away from the actual wall location. Thus, the fort appears a bit larger than it really was. The Roman structures are visualised by various types of plants. Empty areas are mowed regularly. At the beginning of the annual growth phase (end-March/early April), the area of the buildings is also mowed.  

 Cycling past the Roman graveyard (now displaying copies of Roman stone monuments at Römerpark Ruffenhofen) towards Ruffenhofen fort and as it would have appeared at the time. The fort is located on a hill north of the Alb mountain, between the forts at Oberdorf and Gnotzheim, above the Wörnitz in the border area between the municipalities of Weiltingen, Wittelshofen and Gerolfingen, and about a mile away from the Limes. It was a cavalry fort with an interior area of about 3.74 hectares which has never been built on since antiquity. Its structures and its civilian settlement are known from geophysical investigations and have been visualised for visitors since 2003. It had been constructed during Hadrian’s reign and was operational until the middle of the 3rd century, when it fell victim to flames, as indicated by a thick burnt layer found amongst the ruins of the towers, the principia and the horreum. On the right is a virtual reconstruction of the vicus outside the camp.

It had apparently been garrisoned by the cohors III Batavorum. until 118 when evidence for the garrison is lost to the historical record. Coins found at the site date the fall of the fort at Ruffenhofen to the period during or after 244/247. Both the size of the barracks and the presence of drainage in the stable barracks buildings suggest that Ruffenhofen housed an unidentified ala. It has been proposed that from 175 to the middle of the 3rd century the fort was garrisoned by the cohors IX Batavorum. Inscribed small finds were found at the site displaying the centuria-sign although one artefact had the inscription 'turma' which again suggests the presence of a cavalry unit. What sets the current site apart from others is the use of plantings through trees and hedges to offer a visualisation of the site. 

At the site of the via principalis which served as the wide crossroad of the fort. It met the main road (via praetoria) at the principia (administrative building). The granary (horreum) here, with characteristic butresses, was on the left side of the road. Like the other interior buildings, the horreum was also adapted to the changing requirements and the associated architectural changes in late Roman forts. Whilst in the middle Imperial period forts they were mostly located on the main camp roads as here as well as the gates or next to the staff buildings, later on they could be distributed inside the fort without any orientation, leaning with their backs against the inner wall or even being built onto the outside of the camp wall. The main requirements placed on such a storage building was namely to create as cool and dry a climate as possible in the storage room. This was achieved by the raised floor, which rested on walls, pillars or posts, joint-tight walls and an additional screed layer at the lowest floor level. Buttresses can be found in Horrea from the Middle and Late Imperial Period. They had to be installed for static reasons, as they had to withstand greater grain pressure, for example because the seeds were piled up higher here. Buttresses could also have served to support a massive roof structure or had an additional supporting function due to unfavorable soil conditions or sloping terrain. In the case of Ruffenhofen for, next door was the commander's residence, the praetorium. The troop's commander would have been a young Roman nobleman who began his military career at the Limes. At the right were barracks with separate entrances to the rooms.

View onto the parapet walk. The parapet walk probably extended around the entire fort. The gates provided connections between the walkways. The so-called "ring road" (via sagularis) ran along the inside of the fort wall, enabling soldiers to quickly reach the endangered zones at the wall in case of an attack. The fort had twenty such towers through which the soldiers could reach the parapet walk on the fort's wall. The path along the battlements was solid. On either side of the wall there was an earther bank. The widths of, and distances between, the crenels varied depending on when they were built. Cap stones have been found on the crenellations of Limes forts. There are depictions of forts with crenellations on both Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. 

 

Throughout the site are also numerous replicas of various stone monuments. This one on the left shows a copy of the altar to the victory goddess Victoria and the original stone kept in the Römisches Museum Augsburg, which was set up on the occasion of the victory of a Roman army over the tribe of the Juthungi near the Rhaetian provincial capital Augusta Vindelicorum in 260 CE; it's an important record for the so-called ‘Gallic Empire’ that was set up by the rebel-emperor Postumus, in the north western provinces of the Roman empire, which he governed separately from the Roman empire of Gallienus. The altar records the 259 CE invasion of the limes Germanicus, by the northern tribes the Jugunthi and the Suebi, and the capture of thousands of Italians as their captives. The discovery of the altar in 1993 provided the first evidence for this dramatic event, as well as further clarifying the expansion and chronology of Postumus’ rival empire and the framework within which he attempted to govern. It reads:

Deae sanctae Victoriae / ob barbaros gentis Semnonum / sive Iouthungorum die / VIII et VII Kal(endarum) Maiar(um) caesos / fugatosque a militibus prov(inciae) / Raetiae sed et Germanicianis / itemque popularibus excussis / multis milibus Italorum captivor(um) / compos votorum suorum / [[M(arcus) Simplicinius Genialis v(ir) p(erfectissimus) a(gens) v(ices) p(raesidis)]] / [[cum eodem exercitu]] / libens merito posuit / dedicata III Idus Septemb(res) Imp(eratore) d(omino) n(ostro) / [[Postumo Au]]g(usto) et [[Honoratiano co(n)s(ulibus)]]. 

 (To the holy goddess Victory, on account of barbarians of the race of the Semnones or Iuthungi killed on the eighth and seventh days before the Kalends of May and put to flight by soldiers of the province of Raetia as well as Germani and locals, freeing many thousands of Italian captives; in fulfilment of his vow, Marcus Simplicinius Genialis, vir perfectissimus acting for the praeses with his army] happily and deservedly erected this altar, dedicated three days before the Ides of September when the Emperor, our lord [Postumus Au]gustus, and [Honoratianus were consuls])

 The mention of the rebel emperor Postumus dates the creation of the altar to September 11, 260. Made of Jura limestone, it's 1.56 metres in height and was found in 1992 by construction workers in Jakobvorstadt in a former section of the Lech, almost 400 metres from the former Roman town making it possible that it was originally displayed at a river crossing. The stone probably also had a statue of the goddess Victoria, but this is now lost with only the base surviving. It was a recycled monument with its original dedication, dating to the time of Severus Alexander, still legible above the actual inscription as it was hidden under a lipped stone lid, as were working marks on the side corners of the cornice.

On the grounds of the Ruffenhofen Roman Park is the LIMESEUM, opened on October 13, 2012, and which provides illustrative information about the UNESCO-World Heritage site through the daily routine of a soldier named December, a name authentically documented as it had been found stamped on his helmet. As one follows the exhibition tour through the building, one climbs continuously 3% higher until one can look out of a panorama window at the planted fort of the Roman park.  Besides finds from Ruffenhofen, there are also some pieces from the Dambach fort. One of the focal points of the artefacts involves wood conservation, for which the Limes route in the Ansbach district is particularly well known.

At the beginning of the second century the Romans erected a small fort in a valley right next to the Limes. This fort at Dambach is unique given its elongated shape due to the history of its construction. It is also special from its late construction, its two large camp villages whose remains can be found in the neighbouring woods shown below, and the partly unique finds due to the soil that has retained moisture since ancient times. A local spring shrine with a large number of votive offerings is also striking. The foundations of the fort consisted of marshy land due to the river baselets and its layer of clay, which has led to uniquely well-preserved wood findings, especially in the vicus- the camp village. 

The fort was extended around 200 CE and garrisoned by the cohors II Aquitanorum which had relocated here after its fort near Castra Regina was destroyed during the Marcomannic wars. They were stationed here until the fort’s destruction in the middle of the 3rd century. The latest coins from Dambach can be dated to the reign of Philip the Arab. In 1966, a number of finds were reported from the fort and the camp village, including a gem, bronze implements and pendants, four lance tips and an arrowhead as well as various iron tools and keys. The construction and expansion of three carp ponds between 1958 and 1986 made emergency excavations and observations necessary in the eastern part of the former camp village. The uncontrolled destruction caused by fish farming, in addition to the older interventions, led to a complete loss of substance in the known areas between 2002 and 2006 alone and ruined any further research efforts.

 250 metres from the fort and roughly fifty metres behind the Limes wall are light earth walls that delineate an oval area where, in Roman times, there was probably a small amphitheatre of wood and earth construction now hidden in the thick undergrowth shown here. The inner dimensions of the slightly ellipsoidal circle are just under 700 square metres. The slight elevations in the ground made three entrances visible during the excavation in the 19th century, one each from the west, east and south. Another similar such structure is in Wales at Fort Tomen y Mur. It is believed that gladiatores militares were sent from the legionary camps to the Limes, and animal hunts and gladiator fights were held here in a reduced form for a relatively undemanding audience for special events and holidays. 

 Remains of buildings from the vicus. The area of this apparently very late civil settlement will never be fully analysed given the construction of ponds and the large Kreutweiher lake north of the fort although accidental finds and emergency excavations by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation have made it possible to imagine an extensive vicus that almost or completely enclosed the camp and at least partially reached directly to the border fortifications. A second vicus nucleus has also become known located on a wide, south-facing arch of the road from the eastern camp gate that led to the Unterschwaningen fort. This camp village was not built in one go, but developed steadily.

 

At the recreated watchtower at WP 13/41 on the eastern outskirts of Kleinlellenfeld.

At the remains of a Roman watchtower deep in the Filchenharder forest. At first sight the Roman watchtower seems disadvantageously positioned since steep slopes obstructed the view of the area beyond the Limes and necessitated the use of reinforcing elements to stabilise the tower's walls. However, it provided an excellent view along the line of the Limes and its position allowed quick and far-range signalling along the Roman frontier. The intervisibility of watchtowers played an important role in the Limes' defence system, as in reporting unauthorised crossings of the border to the forts in the hinterland. The Raetian wall, built around 200 CE, ran about ten metres north of this watchtower without incorporating it. Instead a second, very small tower was attached to the limes wall, either in addition to or after the destruction of the first, freestanding watchtower.

At Castra Vetoniana in Pfünz near Eichstatt. Its location on a rocky spur, surrounded on three sides by steep valleys, formed an ideal location for the construction of a fort, which was to protect the Limes section running about seven miles to the north. The Pünz fort was a cohort fort with a mixed garrison of about 600 men (128 cavalry and 480 foot soldiers) from the Cohors I Breucorum equitata civium Romanorum , an auxiliary cohort that belonged to the Legio III Italica stationed in Regensburg . It was first built around 90 as a wood-earth fort and later expanded in several construction phases and expanded with stone buildings. A camp village (vicus) adjoined south of the fort walls, a Jupiter Dolichenus temple, a burial ground and a Roman bath were also found here. A Roman road also led here to the nearest fort at Weißenburg (Biriciana). established around 200, the almost 190×145 metre large fort then had a stone wall running all around with four double gates, corner towers and a defensive wall and was surrounded by a double moat. It functioned as a troop station until about the middle of the 3rd century before it was destroyed together with the vicus during an Alamanni invasion. 

Standing in front of the reconstructed Porta praetoria and how it was actually supposed to have appeared based on the work of Thomas Fischer and British archaeologist Anne Johnson. The north gate with a Roman guard room, part of the wall with a battlement and corner tower were reconstructed at the original location between 1992 and 1994 in a large, unsuccessful way without specialist scientific assistance and without modern archaeological preliminary investigations. Various findings from other forts that were not made in Pfünz were used whilst actual findings from Pfünz were not taken into account during the reconstruction and so the replica now lacks the cornice on the gate and wall, which is also common in other forts. In addition, the gate and tower were rebuilt one floor too low and the corner tower must have had a roof in antiquity. Thus, this replica only gives a very freely interpreted general idea of ​​a Roman fort. One essential feature of ancient military buildings not shown is the white plaster with red grout to simulate ashlar masonry.

The current name of the town of Pfünz is derived from the Latin pons (= bridge) and clarifies its location at an ancient crossing over the Altmühl. 

Copy of a Roman milestone at the site uncovered near Kösching in the 18th century, pays homage to Septimius Severus and Caracalla and can be thus dated to around 200-201. Its original location was 62 Roman miles from Augsburg and 34 from the legionary camp at Regensburg. The specification of two counting points was not particularly common, but is characteristic of the Roman road columns in the Limes area north of the Danube. Text of the inscription on the milestone reads: Imp(erator) Caesar / L(ucius) Septimius Severus Pius / Pertinax Aug(ustus) Arab(icus) / Adiab(enicus) Parthicus maximus / pontif(ex) max(imus) trib(unicia) pot(estate) VIIII / imp (erator) XII co(n)s(ul) II p(ater) p(atriae) proco(n)s(ul) et / Imp(erator) Caesar Marcus Aurel(ius) / Antoninus Pius Aug(ustus) trib( unicia) / pot(estate) IIII proco(n)s(ul) [[[et P(ublius) Septim(ius)]]] / [[[Geta nobilissimus Caesar]]] / vias et pont(es) rest( ituerunt) / ab Aug(usta) m(ilia) p(assuum) LXII / a leg(ione) m(ilia) p(assuum) XXXIIII. At this time extensive renovation work was carried out on several major roads leading from the provincial capital in the province of Raetia. The routes from Augsburg to the Brenner Pass, to the Inn Bridge in the direction of Noricum, to Lake Constance and to Regensburg were affected.

 

Cambodunum

In front of the reconstructed Temple of Hercules showing how it has since been reconsidered. This is within the temple district which consisted of the two large temples of Hercules and Epona, as well as several smaller temples and altars as well as a Jupiter column and was surrounded on three sides by a double hall. It's located in the northwest of the town, close to the steep slope on the Iller and was first uncovered in 1937. Its buildings date from the period between the 2nd and the first half of the 3rd century CE and was open to all classes of the population. There were twelve buildings there, although not all of them must have existed at the same time. Building 4 is important for understanding the complex, a Gallo-Roman temple and a larger building with a later apse. The numerous smaller buildings, including five prostyloi or temples of Anten, may have served not only as temples but also as treasuries for votive offerings . What is remarkable is the central location of the temple district at the intersection of all national roads.

Cambodunum was the administrative seat of the governor of the province of Rhaetia in the 1st century CE; only later did Augusta Vindelicum become the capital. The governor resided in the praetorium which was later converted into a guest house when the place's political importance had declined. The thermal baths that adjoin the building were initially intended for the governor's use and were subsequently converted, for example by installing public latrines. The remains of the bathing complex are well preserved as shown here. The Forum's extensive grounds, with the remains of a basilica, probably rebuilt after a fire around 70 CE, speak to the importance of the site at this time. The temple district reflects the mutual influences of the original Celtic-Germanic population and the immigrated Romans. Although there are no longer any traces of the earlier assumed Celtic settlement, which was already mentioned by Strabo, thirteen temple or cult buildings from the 1st and 2nd centuries CE testify to the coexistence of the religions of the Celts, Germanic peoples and Romans. These buildings have been reconstructed to their original size and altars and dedicatory inscriptions speak in particular of a veneration of the deities Mercury, Hercules and Epona. 

Outside the small bath complex. In Roman Cambodunum there were three public bathing facilities, of which only the smallest of the thermal baths can be visited as part of the “Archaeological Park Cambodunum (APC)”.  These served as the private baths of the governor and thus located directly next to the Praetorium, the seat of the Roman governor. In the 2nd century they were rebuilt and partly used as a public bath now that the seat of the Roman governor of the province was now Augusta Vindelicium. These bathing facilities are among the earliest structures of their kind north of the Alps and the thermal baths house is considered the earliest stone building in Kempten and was uncovered by Paul Reinecke in 1913. 

The public latrine which was accessible from the street, with a reconstruction of the wooden structure above the sewer, which was constantly flushed with fresh water.

The same section in 1925 when first excavated before the remains were filled in again.

In the 4th century BCE, Roman troops conquered the foothills of the Alps and encountered what was probably a Celtic predecessor city of Kambodounon - Cambodunum. The central location in the Alpine region gave the Roman town of Cambodunum the status of a civil administrative centre and became the seat of the governor of the province of Rhaetia in the 1st century CE before the later provincial capital of Augusta Vindelicum. Between around 10 and 54 CE, a new Roman city was built based on the Roman model on what is now the terraced area of ​​the Lindenberg, which retained the old Celtic name.

In June 2020 vandals tore the statue of Augustus in the Archaeological Park on the Lindenberg from its base and severely damaged it. Residents apparently have repeatedly observed cases of vandalism in the area in recent times with damage to the neighbouring lights, increasing amounts of graffiti, and cases of property damage at the school which stands on the site of . According to the resident's observation, the perpetrators are active at night on weekends. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius– as Augustus is also known – has been welcoming visitors to the park for over 20 years. “Augustus the Exalted” was the first Roman emperor and lived from 63 BC to 14 AD. The original marble statue was found north of Rome in 1803 and is now in the Vatican Museums. The Kempten archeology employee Werner Klinkenberg was able to make a mold there. “Augustus is the symbol for the founding of the Roman city of Cambodunum,” says Sieler, explaining the meaning of the statue, which stands in a place steeped in history: “Under the lawn lies the statue base of the former gate building to the forum of the Roman city.”

   1 The Limes in Southern Germany - The History of a Roman Frontier    From AD 13 onwards the first capitel of the province of Raetia was built on the Auerberg near Bernbeuren. Beyond the Alps “1havepacifiedtheprovincesofGaul,SpainandalsoGermania,... 1hadthe Alps ... pacified“. This is how Augustus 131 BC — AD 14) described his accom plishments in the North in Chapter 26 of the Res gestae, the autobiographical report of his life and deeds. The Alpine campaign of 16/15 BC, commanded in the key phases by his stepsons Drusus and Tiberius lwho later became emperor), also brought the northern foothills under Roman control. How ever, even during Augustus‘s lifetime it became clear that the “pacification“ was not deep-rooted. Varus‘s crushing defeat at the hands the Germanic tribes in AD 9, which resulted in the loss of three legions, or roughly one tenth of the entire Roman army, made lt obvious that another strategy was required for the region east of the Rhine. We know of only a few places beyond the Alps that can be associated with the first occupation phase. At Döttenbichl in Oberammergau the locals had a cult site where captured Roman weapons were sacrificed. A battle with the Romans may have taken place here, too. There was also a small fort near Epfach at a crossing of the River Lech and a camp at Friedberg Rederzhausen, near Augsburg. Further early military locations include Augsburg-Oberhausen, where a large amount of finds was deposited by a flood - the troop‘s original location is unknown — and the legionary fortress of Dangstetten, between Lake Constance and the bend of the Rhine at Basel. Both places were occupied by several thousand soldiers whose mission was to secure key routes for military advances, such as the passes through the Alps. Additional military stations were not required, because, as archaeo logical research indicates, the area known by the Romans as Vindelicia, which stretched to the Danube, as well as the area beyond tbe river were not inhabited. After the military occupation of this territory, the Romans established new settlements, including Bregenz and Kempten in the first decade AD, followed shortly thereafter by the topographically strategic location of Auerberg (west of Schongau), at a height of 1,000 m. lt may be that Auerberg, with a defensive system more than three kilometres long protecting a high concentration of buildings and a diversity of industrial activity, constituted the first capital of the province of Raetia and Vindelicia (later known only as Raetia). This province north of the Alps was founded soon after the Alpine campaign, or while Tiberius was present at around AD 10—12. In the 20s AD at the earliest, small Roman-style villages were established along the new  In 1     long-distance roads in the western area of the triangular region between the AIps, Bregenz, Augsburg and the area where the River lnn leaves the Alps. Settlements in the eastern part of the province had a more indigenous character. The first “border“ ihm was built by the Romans around AD 40 on the southern bank of the Danube. A cham of forts between Hüfingen by Donaueschingen and Oberstimm* by Ingolstadt were generally located where the river meandered dose to the southern shore, or at the beginning — or end — of sizeable lowlands. lt may also be that additional fortlets were built further down the Danube. In this way the Romans could oversee the river and also provide support to travellers on the newly-constructed long-distance road from east to west. This southern Danube road was the first direct connection to the forts west of the Black Forest and beyond the Rhine. During this time, Kempten grew to a major centre and probably took over Auerberg‘s role (Auerberg had by now been abandoned]. lt is not clear whether the change from a rather vague defensive strategy to a more pre cise linear monitoring of the frontier developed towards the end of Tiberius‘s reign [AD 14-37) or under Gaius Caligula (37-41]. We do know, how ever, that Claudius [41—54) completed the programme. During the so-called “Year of the Four Emperors“ in AD69, several Danube forts were destroyed. After Nero‘s suicide, Galba, Vitellius, Otto and Vespasian vied to become emperor. The Batavi took advantage of a reduced Roman military presence on the Lower Rhine and revolted, thereby con tributing to further disorder in the region. Burnt levels in some of the forts indicate tbat the fires were set either by the retreating troops or by the rebels. After Vespasian became the sole ruler [69—79], several forts were given up and others were rebuilt, usually with new military units. Southwest Germany experienced a concentration of troops on the Upper Neckar - an entire legion was even stationed for a time in Rottweil — thanks to the con struction of a new road leading from Strasbourg, through the valley of tbe River Kinzig and the Black Forest to the Danube. Milestones from this road still exist. In this way, travel time between the Danube and Rhine provinces was considerably shortened. Inscriptions and military diplomas [documents granting Roman citizenship to honourably discharged soldiers of the auxil iary troops) provide a good impression of the composition of the infantry, cavalry and mixed troops stationed in southern Germany. Parallel to this military development, the Romans established civil settlements from the Alpine foothills to the Danube, but the area was never uniformly or densely settled. Titus (79—81) further fortified the southern bank of the Danube. A new series of forts was built between Günzburg and Passaut, with inscriptions citing their construction dates. A contemporaneous inscription found in Kösching, as weil as some datable timber from the region may be proof that the Romans also tried to occupy the territory along a road from Einingt to the area of Ingolstadt on the other side of the Danube. This road was not kept in permanent use, however. • fort Q presumed fort IB Iegionary fortress • ävilian settlement limen • Aagustan-Tiberian [ca. 15 Bd antil AB 40) ClaudianNeranian [ca. AD 40 antil AB 70) Flanian [ca. AD 70 until AB l00[ Trajanic—early Hadrianic [ca. AB 105/110 until AB 120) rate Antonine 10 3rd c. [ca. AB 160 anti? AB 254)                Upper Germany and Raetia aboat AB 200.    1                             Barriers Under Trajan [98—1171, the Romans pushed forward their military installa tions to the River Main, into the Odenwald and to the mid-Neckar region. They also advanced beyond the Danube and occupied the uplands of the Swabian and Franconian Alb. In the province of Upper Germany [today partly in southwest Germanyl, which had been founded by Domitian [81-961, Trajan organized the construction of lines of surveillance between the riv ers and 10 the top of the Swabian Alb. The original, monitored line was quickly buNt up with physical barriers [palisades and also ditches in some areas). These defensive lines are known as the Odenwald and Lautertal Limes. On the Alb in the province of Raetia, however, Trajan only built a cham of forts [Alb Limes) ending in Weißenburg*. The Romans‘ strategy was to locate the forts‘ sites and develop a region‘s infrastructure in such a way that the stationed troops could be fed locally. Both the mid-Neckar region and the Alb experienced a boom in construc tion, with the building of many new farms (villae rusticae] in previously Civilian aral settlements in Raetia north of the AIps. uninhabited land. lt seems that a settlement programme bringing people to southern Germany from Gaul [today France), Germania west of the Rhine and perhaps northern Italy and the Danube region was responsibLe for this development. The northeast expansion of the Roman Empire furthermore shortened the travelling distance between the Rhine, with the provincial capital Mainz, and the Danube, with the Raetian capital of Augsburg. New roads leading almost directly from the Stuttgart area to Günzburg were con structed. Within the newly occupied territory, communication was facili tated by a dense network of roads. In order to secure the fertile land in the northeast, the system was expanded towards the end of Trajan‘s reign or under Hadrian [117—1381 with additional military installations between Ruffenhofen* and Pförring*. Inscriptions describe the renovation of some forts with stone walls in the early period of Antoninus Pius [138—1611. Tbe forts were manned with roughly 100—800 soldiers each. These men could not, or would not, live alone, however. A large group of traders, crafts       Course of the Limes between Raitenbsch and Oberhochstatt, atthe top right Bsrgsalach. men and Service personnel of all kinds accompanied the troops from the beginning. They settled in expansive areas around the forts lvicil and became an integral part of the military station, with official buildings, such as baths and guesthouses, incorporated in the original planning. Including cemeteries, a Roman military site thus easily covered an area of 10—20 hec tares. Today, they are examined not only through excavations, hut increas ingly through non-invasive methods such as aerial photography and geo physical prospection. The Upper German-Raetiau Limes Around AD 160 new surveillance lines were established further to the east, between Miltenberg on the River Main and near Lorch in the Rems Valley, and north over the Alb to Eining on the Danube. lt is likely that a uniform plan was deveioped, hut the implementation was carried out differently in the provinces. In Upper Germany, the north-south Limes stretched for more than 80km in an almost exactly straight line, behind which forts were erected. In Raetia, however, the west-east Limes contained shorter, rela tively straight portions. At its centre, the line ran as far to the north of the older forts as possihle, while still being visible from them. In the west, new forts were required to connect the Raetian Limes to the Upper German Limes. In the heginning, the Roman Limes system consisted of a cleared swath in the woods with towers set within sight of one another to monitor the region. In Upper Germany the towers were built of stone; in Raetia uniform wooden towers were erected. We believe that the towers were three-storied constructions, manned by about four soldiers. One or two surrounding ditches created the impression of small fortlets. Within a short period of time — prohahly after the troops had finished the other construction pro jects — the soldiers erected a continuous palisade directly in front of the tow ers. The palisades were huilt mostly of halved tree trunks. The timber pre served in some sites can be dated with dendrochronology to AD 160-165. Alterations and repairs For strategic as weil as maintenance purposes, it was necessary to renew and change the Limes continually. Fences from an unknown period have been found hehind the towers of the Raetian Limes, running roughly paral ici to the paiisade. They may have been used to mark the area south of the     abandonment 0 grey: timber tower abasdoned structures 1 Southern end of the 80km long, dead-straight section of the Upper German Limes at the Haghof. palisade that should be kept clear of high growth, in order to preserve the visual connection hetween the towers. lt is possible that sheep or goats were kept there to graze, thus saving the men from extra clearing work. Probably in the late 2“‘ century AD, the posts of the wooden towers that were anchored in the ground decayed. The towers were replaced by stone towers or in some cases by fortlets measuring ca. 20 mx 20 m that were ahle to station 10—20 men. These probably had special functions. However, some of the fortlets, e. g. Raitenbuch, were soon torn down and others were later replaced by stone towers. lt could be that alterations to the forts in Böhming“, Ehingen“ and Pfünz“, which inscriptions date to 180, and a final new fort — Dambach“ - were part of the same central plan. On the Upper German Limes it was also occasionally necessary to replace towers. Thanks to the solid stone construction, though, this did not occur new eastem RL abasdonment fence stone tower wall    abidonmm path palisade  Development of the Upper German and Raetiae Limes.