Frontiers of the Roman Empire

At its height the Roman Empire extended into three continents. Its borders reflected the waxing and waning of Roman power over more than one millennium. The Limes Germanicus (Latin for ‘Germanic frontier’) was a defensive wall built to defend the Roman Empire from Germanic tribes in the period 83-260 AD. The emperor Augustus started building forts along the border after the catastrophic defeat of three Roman legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 BC. However, it is now thought that the Limes Germanicus was not intended as a defensive structure against Germanic tribes, but rather as a mean of controlling the movements of ordinary people or tradespeople.


Criterion (ⅱ): Hadrian’s Wall exerted great influence on the formation of the border in Britain for about 300 years. The border now forms part of the area between the Tyne and Solway rivers.


Criterion (ⅲ): This military area is a good example of a large Roman outpost established in conquered territory. Small civilian settlements in Chesterholm, Vindolanda were used as places of residence for soldiers and their families rather than as fortified trenches in peacetime.

Criterion (ⅳ): Hadrian’s Wall is a good example of a fortified border. It shows an ambitious and consistent defense system of the Roman Empire made perfect by engineers for generations. This cultural heritage is undoubtedly a good referential material with universal value in many respects, including military architectural technique, strategic design in a monarchical period, land use in a border area, and spatial organization-related policy.

Country: Germany
Location: Saalburg
Coordinates: N54 59 33.4 W2 36 3.6 50°16 '18.8"N 8°33'59.6"E
Inscription year: 1987 (2005; 2008)
Inscription criteria: ⅱ, ⅲ, ⅳ