Alblimes

Course of the Alblimes between Urspring and Heidenheim near Gussenstadt . A profile of Römerstrasse was taken at this point in 1977, before it was leveled in the course of land consolidation and replaced by today's road.

The Alblimes is a Roman borderline from the late 1st century AD on the Swabian Alb . The Alblimes stretched over a length of almost 135 kilometers from Rottweil (Latin: Arae Flaviae ) in the southwest to Heidenheim an der Brenz (Latin: Aquileia ) in the northeast.

course

Possible course of the Alblimes

Interior view of a watchtower on the Upper German-Rhaetian Limes

The Alblimes consisted of a chain of forts , most of which were located on the Rhine-Danube watershed , i.e. on the ridge of the Alb. The Alblimes was not fortified with ramparts, ditches, walls or palisades , rather the road between the forts marked the boundary line here.

The greater part of the Alblimes lay in the area of the Roman province of Raetia , only the western castles Lautlingen, Geislingen a. R., Rottweil and Sulz were in the province of Germania superior .

history

The Alblimes was created in the course of the construction of the Kinzigtalstrasse and the establishment of the Roman Rottweil in 73/74 AD.At least the southwestern castles of the Alblimes in Lautlingen ( Lautlingen Fort ), as well as the upstream castles in Sulz am Neckar ( Sulz Fort ) and Geislingen-Hasenbühl ( Fort Geislingen / Häsenbühl ) may have been built at the same time.

The dating of the other Alblimes forts in Burladingen -Hausen ( Burladingen Fort ), Gomadingen ( Gomadingen Fort ), Römerstein-Donnstetten ( Clarenna ), Urspring ( Ad Lunam ) and Heidenheim ( Aquileia ) is not entirely certain . Mostly it is believed that it was founded in AD 74, but it is also believed that it was not established until the Emperor Domitian around AD 84. Due to the lack of precisely datable finds, no more precise information can yet be said. So far only the fort in Urspring has been explored by excavation .

The western part of the Alblimes from Rottweil to Donnstetten marked the outer border of the Roman Empire only for a short time , namely until the border was moved forward from the Rhine to the Odenwald and Neckar under Emperor Trajan (presumably) in AD 98 (see: Lautertal- Limes and Neckar-Odenwald-Limes ). The eastern part of the Alblimes from Donnstetten to Heidenheim, however, remained the outer border of the Roman Empire until around 122 AD. At this time at the latest, the Alblimes lost its military importance.

Connection with the Danube Valley Road

South of the Alblimes is the Danube Valley Road, which dates back to the Claudian era and is also called Donausüdstraße in literature because it runs parallel to the south of the Danube . This Roman highway was built between AD 41 and 54 together with the forts of the older Danube line of the Rhaetian Limes. Together with the Danube itself, it formed the border to free Germania and, at the latest with the construction of the Kinzigtalstraße 73/74 AD, developed into a strategically and logistically important east-west connection between the legionary camps of the Germanic provinces and the Balkans.

Specialty

At the end of the 1990s, the remains of an ancient fortification discovered in 1976 near Deggingen in the upper Filstal were recognized as a Roman fort. This facility (about twelve kilometers northeast of Donnstetten) apparently served as flank protection in the run-up to the Limes, which had a rather deep indentation here, and is an indication of the importance of Donnstetten ( Clarenna ) in Roman times. The Deggingen fort also explains, at least in part, why the Roman road from Köngen am Neckar (Latin: Grinario ) to Donnstetten could run outside of the Lautertal Limes (i.e. in enemy territory from a Roman perspective).

The Roman forts in Essingen, Oberdorf am Ipf ( Opia ), Munningen ( Losodica ) and Nördlingen ( Septemiacum ?) Are also partly assigned to the Alblimes. They are believed to have been made around AD 84.

literature

Regina Franke : The castles I and II of Arae Flaviae / Rottweil and the Roman occupation of the upper Neckar area . Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1787-4 (research and reports on prehistory and early history in Baden-Württemberg, 93).
Jörg Heiligmann : The "Alb Limes". A contribution to the history of the Roman occupation of southwest Germany. Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8062-0814-X (research and reports on prehistory and early history in Baden-Württemberg, 35).
Friedrich Hertlein / Peter Goessler : The streets and fortifications of Roman Württemberg, Volume 2 streets. In: The Romans in Württemberg, part 2. Stuttgart 1930
Rainer Kreutle : Roman roads in the Ulm area In: B. Reinhardt, K. Wehrberger (Eds.): Römer an Donau and Iller. New archaeological research and finds. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1996 ISBN 3-7995-0410-9
Oscar Paret : Württemberg in prehistoric times. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1961