The

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

s of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, which fluctuated throughout the empire's history, were realised as a combination of military roads and linked forts, natural

frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

s (most notably the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s) and man-made

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

s which separated the lands of the empire from the countries beyond.

''Limes''

The word ''limes'' is sometimes used by modern scholars to denote the frontier of the Roman Empire but was not used by the Romans as such. After the third century it was an administrative term, indicating a military district, commanded by a . The Latin noun had a number of different meanings: a path or balk marking off the boundaries of fields; a boundary line or marker; any road or path; any channel, such as a stream channel; or any distinction or difference between two things. In Britannia the Empire built two walls one behind the other; for Mauretania there was a single wall with forts on both sides of it. In other places, such as

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Arabia Petraea Arabia Petraea or Petrea, also known as Rome's Arabian Province or simply Arabia, was a frontier Roman province, province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century. It consisted of the former Nabataean Kingdom in the southern Levant, th ...

, there was no continuous wall; instead there was a net of border settlements and forts occupied by the Roman army. In

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

, the limes between the Black Sea and the Danube were a mix of the latter and the wall defenses: the was the conjunction of two, and sometimes three, lines of ''

vallum Vallum is either the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart ( Agger) with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch (fossa). The name is derived from '' vallus'' (a ...

'', with a Great Camp and many minor camps spread through the fortifications.

The northern borders

In continental Europe, the borders were generally well defined, usually following the courses of major rivers such as the

and the

. Nevertheless, those were not always the final border lines; the province of

, modern

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, was completely on the far side of the Danube, and the province of

Germania Magna Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Super ...

, which must not be confused with

Germania Inferior ''Germania Inferior'' ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed ''Germania Secunda'' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Cl ...

and

Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesont ...

, was the land between the Rhine, the Danube and the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

(Although this province was lost three years after its creation as a result of the

Battle of Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, also called the Varus Disaster or Varian Disaster () by Roman historians, was a major battle fought between an alliance of Germanic peoples and the Roman Empire between September 8 and 11, 9 AD, near mo ...

). In Great Britain both

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

and

Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...

built defences to protect the province of

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

from the

Caledonians The Caledonians (; or '; , ''Kalēdōnes'') or the Caledonian Confederacy were a Brittonic-speaking (Celtic) tribal confederacy in what is now Scotland during the Iron Age and Roman eras. The Greek form of the tribal name gave rise to the ...

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

, constructed in 122 held a garrison of 50,000 soldiers, while the

Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall () was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twenty years after Hadrian's Wall to the south ...

, constructed between 142 and 144, was abandoned by 164 and briefly reoccupied in 208, under the reign of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

The Pannonian Limes

The eastern borders

The eastern borders changed many times, as the Roman Empire was facing two major powers, The

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

and the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

. The Parthians were a group of

Iranian peoples Iranian peoples, or Iranic peoples, are the collective ethnolinguistic groups who are identified chiefly by their native usage of any of the Iranian languages, which are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages within the Indo-European langu ...

ruling most of

Greater Iran Greater Iran or Greater Persia ( ), also called the Iranosphere or the Persosphere, is an expression that denotes a wide socio-cultural region comprising parts of West Asia, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (specifica ...

that is in modern-day Iran, western Iraq, Armenia and the Caucasus. The Sasanians succeeded the Parthians in 224–226 and were recognised as one of the leading world powers alongside its neighbouring arch-rival the Roman (Byzantine) Empire for a period of more than 400 years.

The southern borders

At the greatest extent of the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

, the southern border lay along the deserts of

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

in the Egyptian region and the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, which represented a natural barrier against expansion. The Empire controlled the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

shores and the mountain ranges further inland. The Romans attempted twice to occupy the

Siwa Oasis The Siwa Oasis ( ) is an urban oasis in Egypt. It is situated between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert, east of the Egypt–Libya border and from the Egyptian capital city of Cairo. I ...

and finally used Siwa as a place of banishment. However, the Romans controlled the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

many kilometres into Africa up to Syena, Berenice, Hyerasykaminos and even

Qasr Ibrim Qasr Ibrim (; Meroitic: ''Pedeme''; Old Nubian: ''Silimi''; Coptic: ⲡⲣⲓⲙ ''Prim''; Latin: ''Primis'') is an archaeological site in Lower Nubia, located in the modern country of Egypt. The site has a long history of occupation, ranging ...

(the southernmost of all), near the modern border between

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. The period in which each aforementioned town represented the final frontier of Rome is uncertain. In Africa the Romans controlled the area north of the

, from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to Egypt, with the borders being controlled by many sections of fortifications such as the

Limes Arabicus The ''Limes Arabicus'' was a desert frontier of the Roman Empire, running north from its start in the province of Arabia Petraea. It ran northeast from the Gulf of Aqaba for about at its greatest extent, reaching northern Syria and forming part ...

(called the Limes Uranus), Limes Mauretaniae,

Fossatum Africae ''Fossatum Africae'' ("African ditch") is one or more linear defensive structures (sometimes called Limes (Roman Empire), ''limes'') claimed to extend over or more in North Africa, northern Africa constructed during the Roman Empire to defend an ...

Fossa Regia The Fossa Regia, also called the ''Fosse Scipio'', was the first part of the Borders of the Roman Empire#The southern borders, Limes Africanus to be built in Roman Africa (Roman province), Africa. It was used to divide the Berbers, Berber kingdom o ...

Limes Tripolitanus The ''Limes Tripolitanus'' was a frontier zone of defence of the Roman Empire, built in the south of what is now Tunisia and the northwest of Libya. It was primarily intended as a protection for the tripolitanian cities of Leptis Magna, Sabrath ...

, Limes Numidiae, etc. In the south of

Mauritania Tingitana Mauretania Tingitana (Latin for " Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chella ...

Romans made a limes in the third century, just north of the area of actual

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

near Sala and stretching to

Volubilis Volubilis (; ; ) is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco, situated near the city of Meknes, that may have been the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of King Juba II. Before Volubilis, the capital of the kin ...

expanded the "Limes Tripolitanus" dramatically, even briefly holding a military presence in the Garamantian capital Garama in AD 203. Much of the initial campaigning success was achieved by

Quintus Anicius Faustus Quintus Anicius Faustus (fl. late 2nd century – early 3rd century AD) was a Roman military officer and senator who was appointed suffect consul in AD 198. Biography Born either in Uzappa in the province of Numidia, or in Praeneste in Itali ...

, the legate of

Legio III Augusta Legio III Augusta ("Third Augustan Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army The Imperial Roman Army was the military land force of the Roman Empire from 27 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the Roman army ...

. Following his African conquests, the Roman Empire may have reached its greatest extent during the reign of

David L. Kennedy David Leslie Kennedy (born 25 April 1948) is an archaeologist and historian of the Roman Near East, with a focus on Aerial Archaeology, Roman landscape studies and the Roman military. He is Emeritus Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fel ...

, Derrick Riley (2012)
''Rome's Desert Frontiers'', page 13

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

R.J. van der Spek Robartus Johannes (Bert) van der Spek (born 18 September 1949 in Zoetermeer) is a Dutch ancient historian, specializing in the Seleucid Empire. He was a full professor in Ancient Studies at VU University Amsterdam from 1993 to his retirement in 20 ...

, Lukas De Blois (2008)
''An Introduction to the Ancient World'', page 272

under whom the empire encompassed an area of . Tabula Peutingeriana - Miller

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

{{Territories with limited Roman Empire occupation & presence Ancient Roman geography