O.o° Borders of the Roman Empire °o.O

by **♥ heart ♥** Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:08 pm

A
limes (or the Limes Romanus) was a border defense or delimiting system
of Ancient Rome. It marked the boundaries of the Roman Empire.
The Latin noun limes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk
delimiting fields, a boundary line or marker, any road or path, any
channel, such as a stream channel, or any distinction or difference. In
Latin, the plural form of limes is limites. The word limes, hence, was
utilized by Latin writers to denote a marked or fortified frontier.
This latter sense has been adapted and extended by modern historians
concerned with the frontiers of the Roman Empire; e.g., Hadrian's wall
in north England is sometimes styled the Limes Britannicus, the
frontier of the Roman province of Arabia facing the desert is called
the Limes Arabicus, and so forth.

Common cultural heritage of the Roman empire

Roman frontiers are part of a common heritage of the countries circling
the Mediterranean Sea. Successive generations have built on that
heritage and modified it thus helping to create our modern world.
Today, our world appears to be diverse, divided by language, religion
and traditions. Yet, our heritage is more common than we sometimes
appreciate. Much knowledge of the ancient world has come to us through
the Arab world, the real inheritors of the late Roman empire.
How the Romans managed to rule their enormous empire with a relatively
small professional army is a spectacular statement of power and a
constant fascination. The Romans were not only experts in the use of
power – and force – but also in portraying a strong image about
themselves. Indeed, that image was so strong that it still excites our
imagination today. Great literature and fantastic films demonstrate our
continuing fascination with that image.

The Roman empire
The Roman state, in one form or another, survived for over 2000 years.
Its empire was one of the greatest states which the world has seen,
close only to China in its size and longevity. Indeed, our knowledge of
the administrative arrangements of the Chinese empire, which have
survived in better condition and more detail than those for the Roman
empire, aids our understanding of the workings of Roman frontiers.
Many great monuments of the Roman empire are World Heritage Sites,
including Rome itself, but also many of its important cities such as
Mérida and Lugo (Spain), Orange and Arles (France), Split (Croatia),
Istanbul (Turkey), Petra (Jordan), Leptis Magna (Lybia) and Volubilis
(Morocco). Yet these most developed parts of the Roman world were
protected and at the same time defined by frontiers. It was as if these
frontiers were, as Aelius Aristides remarked in the second century AD,
“enclosing the civilised world in a ring”. The frontiers did indeed
define the Roman empire and were essential for the stability and
therefore economic growth of the interior: they allowed the cities of
the empire to flourish.
An essential part of the Roman genius was its ability to win the
support of the people it conquered. It respected local traditions and
ethnic characteristics, so long as the superior status of Rome was not
challenged. It encouraged local self-government, merely placing on top
the relatively small imperial administration. This imperial
administration helped to hold the whole fabric of the empire together.
Members of the aristocracy criss-crossed the empire from one
appointment to another. The army brought a touch of Rome to the
furthermost corners of the empire. More than that, it was a catalyst,
helping to create a new frontier society.

Frontiers and trade
Frontiers were also the membrane through which Roman ideas as well as
artefacts percolated into the outside world. Roman trade extended
eastwards to India and beyond, southwards into the Sahara Desert and
northwards to the shores of the Baltic Sea, and, in return, brought a
vast range of goods and products into the empire. The museums of many
countries beyond the empire contain Roman artefacts and hint at the
extent of Roman influence.
The proposed World Heritage Site “Frontiers of the Roman Empire”

In 1987 Hadrian’s Wall (UK) was added to the list of World Heritage
Sites. It is still the only Roman frontier which has achieved this
accolade. However, in 2004 the German limes – the continuous barrier
erected by the Roman army between the rivers Rhine and Danube – was
nominated. The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO will consider this
proposal at its meeting in July 2005. If approved, this will create a
new trans-national World Heritage Site. This, it is hoped, will become
the first step towards the creation of a truly multi-national World
Heritage Site encompassing countries in Europe, the Middle East and
North Africa.
This project is a truly challenging concept with no real precedent. It
involves the co-operation of archaeologists and cultural resource
managers in many countries – and in international agencies. Certain
rules have to be accepted and standards met. Yet, each country has its
own traditions of undertaking its archaeology, protecting and managing
its sites, and presenting and interpreting its monuments to the public.
There is no intention to force each country to change its traditions.
Rather, archaeologists and administrators are working together to
create over-arching frameworks within which each country can adapt and
enhance its own ways of working.

The definition of a World Heritage Site
To that end, the co-ordinators of those countries which have already
declared their intention to nominate their stretches of the Roman
frontier as a World Heritage Site have formed themselves into a group.
Named the Bratislava Group after the location of their first meeting in
March 2003, it contains delegates from Austria, Croatia, Germany,
Hungary, Slovakia and the UK.
The Bratislava Group maintains close links with UNESCO, and was asked
by that body to define the “Frontiers of the Roman Empire World
Heritage Site”. The following definition was proposed:
“The Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site should consist
of the line(s) of the frontier at the height of the empire from Trajan
to Septimius Severus (about AD 100 to 200), and military installations
of different periods which are on that line. The installations include
fortresses, forts, towers, the limes road, artificial barriers and
immediately associated civil structures”.
This definition excludes both outpost and hinterland forts. But it has
the main advantage that it is relatively simple, an important element
when seeking to undertake an entirely new concept. Roman military
installations stretch across many kilometres of the Roman empire and to
seek to include all within this single World Heritage Site would
involve enormous tasks of definition, too complex to undertake at this
most early stage in the process. It would, of course, be possible to
amend the proposed definition in due course.

The task ahead
The present task is daunting enough. Agriculture, and later
industrialisation and the growth of towns and cities, has dealt harshly
with some sections of the frontier. Many sectors are now no longer
visible to the naked eye, yet they remain in the ground as an important
archaeological resource. Their preservation is imperative for they hold
the key to understanding frontiers better through controlled scientific
research. The Frontiers of the Roman Empire are therefore well suited
to convey the message that the protection of archaeological sites
whether visible or invisible is vital for the preservation of the
collective memory of mankind. The best way to protect the remains of
the frontier in urban contexts has yet to be determined. This is all
the more important because modern excavation has demonstrated that
archaeological deposits do often better survive in towns than in the
countryside.

A further problem stems from the way that we protect our heritage.
Museums cannot be World Heritage Sites. Yet parts of Roman frontiers, –
inscriptions, sculpture, pottery, artefacts, in short all the material
which aids our understanding of life on the frontier – is displayed and
stored in museums. Inscriptions are vital to our understanding of
frontiers. They inform us when they were built, why and by whom, and
what the constituent parts were called. Cramp holes demonstrate that
they were once fixed to frontier buildings. In some manner, a way has
to be found to associate them with the World Heritage Site itself.