Neckar-Odenwald-Limes

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The Neckar-Odenwald Limes (German: Neckar-Odenwald-Limes) is a collective term for two, very different early sections of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes, a Roman defensive frontier line that may have been utilised during slightly different periods in history. The Neckar-Odenwald Limes consists of the northern Odenwald Limes (Odenwaldlimes), a cross-country limes with camps, watchtowers and palisades, which linked the River Main (Latin: Moenus) with the Neckar (Latin: Nicer), and the adjoining southern Neckar Limes (Neckarlimes), which in earlier research was seen as a typical 'riverine limes' (German: Nasser Limes; Latin: limes ripa), whereby the river replaced the function of the palisade as an approach obstacle. More recent research has thrown a different light on this way of viewing things that means may have to be relativized in future. The resulting research is ongoing.

The Odenwald Limes begins in the north on the River Main, either near Obernburg or near Wörth, and runs southwards from there, skilfully using the topographical features of the Odenwald highlands, to the River Neckar, which it probably reached in the area of the present-day county of Heilbronn. The Neckar line forms its extension in a southerly direction as far as Arae Flaviae in the terrain of the present town of Rottweil, where it oriented itself to the course of the river.

The Neckar-Odenwald Limes probably emerged in the area of the Odenwald Limes during the Trajanic period and, in the area of the Neckar line, in the principate of Domitian or early Trajanic period, and, in the area of the old Neckar camps, under Vespasian. It went through several rebuilding phases and did not become obsolete until the construction of the almost perfectly straight Anterior Limes ( Vorderer Limes ) in the years between 159/161 and 165.

- Dietwulf Baatz: Der Römische Limes. Archäologische Ausflüge zwischen Rhein und Donau. 4th fully revised and expanded edition. Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 2000,

- Egon Schallmayer: Der Odenwaldlimes. Theiss, Stuttgart, 1984,

- Rainer Türk: Wanderungen am Limes. Brunnengräber, Lorsch, 2008,

- Egon Schallmayer: Der Odenwaldlimes. Neueste Forschungsergebnisse, Beiträge zum wissenschaftlichen Kolloquium am 19. März 2010 in Michelstadt, Saalburg-Schriften 8, Römerkastell Saalburg Archäologischer Park, Bad Homburg v. d. H., 2012,

Limes sections, individual camps, specialist literature

- Géza Alföldy : Caius Popilius Carus Pedo und die Vorverlegung des obergermanischen Limes. In: Fundberichte aus Baden-Württemberg 8. 1983, pp. 55–67,

- Dietwulf Baatz: Kastell Hesselbach und andere Forschungen am Odenwaldlimes. Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 1973,

- Dietwulf Baatz, Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann: Die Römer in Hessen. Lizenzausgabe. Nikol, Hamburg, 2002,

- Willi Beck, Dieter Planck: Der Limes in Südwestdeutschland. 2nd edn., Theiss, Stuttgart, 1980,

- Stephan Bender : Unser Bild vom Neckarlimes: bald nur noch Geschichte? (pdf; 6.0 MB). In: Archäologie in Deutschland. 3/2011, Theiss, Stuttgart, 2011,

- Stephan Bender: Einem neuen Limes auf der Spur – Forschungen an der Nahtstelle von Odenwald- und Neckarlimes in Bad Friedrichshall. In: Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg 2011, pp. 44–49.

- Helmut Castritius, Manfred Clauss, Leo Hefner: Die römischen Steininschriften des Odenwaldes (RSO). In: Winfried Wackerfuß (ed.): Beiträge zur Erforschung des Odenwaldes und seiner Randlandschaften II. Festschrift für Hans H. Weber. Breuberg-Bund, Breuberg-Neustadt, 1977, pp. 237–308.

- Helmut Castritius, Manfred Clauss, Leo Hefner: Die römischen Steininschriften des Odenwaldes und seiner Randlandschaften (RSOR). In: Winfried Wackerfuß (ed.): Beiträge zur Erforschung des Odenwaldes und seiner Randlandschaften III. Breuberg-Bund, Breuberg-Neustadt, 1980, pp. 193–222.

- Philipp Filtzinger (ed.): Die Römer in Baden-Württemberg. 3rd edn., Theiss, Stuttgart, 1986,

- Anita Gaubatz-Sattler: Zur zivilen Besiedlung zwischen den Limites im Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis. In: Andreas Thiel (ed.): Neue Forschungen am Limes. 4. Fachkolloquium der Deutschen Limeskommission 27./28. Februar 2007 in Osterburken. Theiss, Stuttgart, 2008,

- Claus-Michael Hüssen: Die römische Besiedlung im Umland von Heilbronn. Theiss, Stuttgart, 2000,

- Anne Johnson: Römische Kastelle des 1. und 2. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. in Britannien und in den germanischen Provinzen des Römerreiches. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1987,