Livius Picture Archive: Feldberg limes castle

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	Feldberg Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
	In 83, the Roman emperor Domitian attacked the Chatti, a tribe living in the Taunus mountains, north of modern Frankfurt. To defend the conquered area, the fertile valley of the Main, a line of fortifications (limes) was built along the summits of the Taunus. On this photo, you can still discern the remains of the wall (agger) to the left and the ditch (fossa) to the right.
	A map ot the Feldberg castle. The Principia are the headquarters, a horreum is a granary and the Praetorium is the mansion of the commander. The buildings can be discerned also on this satellite photo.
	Behind the wall were small forts and watchtowers. One of this castles, with a size of about 0.7 hectare, has been identified on the Little Feldberg, between modern Glasshütten and Königstein im Taunus. Today, it is an open place in the mountain forest, but in Antiquity, it was of course open country. The Feldberg fort was built during the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161), who is also known for the fortifications he built in southern Scotland: Antonine's wall. This picture shows a part of the southeastern wall of the fort.
	The remains of the headquarters and (to the left) the southeastern gate or Porta decumana. An inscription from the end of the reign of Severus Alexander (222-235), shown below, informs us that the fort at the Feldberg offered accommodation to an auxiliary unit of mounted scouts, recruited in what is now Hungary. There may have been 100 to 150 of them.
	There were four gates; this one is in the the northeastern part of the fort. When you passed through this Porta principalis dextra and continued along this road, you would arrive in the next castle, which is now called Saalburg. This was an important stretch of the limes, because there was a gold mine in the neighborhood.
	The southwestern gate or Porta principalis sinistra, with the road leading to the next castle, which was discovered at Heftrich. Between these two forts was an important pass, and it would have been more logical to build a fort on that site, but there was no water. At the Feldberg, the Roman soldiers had access to two sources, which were also used by the inhabitants of a small village that has been found to the south of the fort.
	The Porta praetoria or northwestern gate, seen from the inside. Between this gate and the limes wall -which was about 100 meters away- was a bathhouse, which was once known as the Heidenkirche ("Pagan church").
	The Feldberg fort was evacuated in ca. 260, when the Romans gave up their positions on the east bank of the Rhine. The remains of the northwestern wall, which faced the limes wall. You can see the ditch that surrounded the castle.
	This the Saalburg Museum. (This was the first Roman settlement that was rebuilt as an open air museum.) The Feldberg settlement must have had a similar appearance. The next picture shows an inscription, known as CIL XIII.7495, from the Feldberg limes castle, now in the Saalburg Museum:
	IVLIAE MAMA- EA AVvstae MATRI SEVERI ALEXAN- DRI AVGvsti Nostri CAS- TRORVM SE- NATVS PATRIAEQVE EXPLoratio HALICanensivm ALEXAN- DRIANA DEVO- TA NVMINI EIIVS To empress Julia Mamaea, mother of our emperor Severus Alexander, the camps, the Senate, and the fatherland, by the Exploratio Halicanesium Alexandriana, dedicated to their majesty.
	Outside the fort was a small bathhouse. There is nothing exceptional about it. Even a very small fort like Freimühle or a fort in the desert like Bu Njem, where wood and water were precious, had a bathhouse. And always, a cold bath, a tepid bath, and a warm bath can be identified.
	A map of the bathhouse. To the south of the fort, on the slopes of a hill, was the vicus, the civil settlement where the families of the soldiers lived.
	This altar was found in the vicus and is now in a museum in Frankfurt am Main. It has been put up by a woman. DeAe PR OSERPInae PRIMITIVA Primitiva to the goddess Proserina (more). There was a lot of snow when we visited the site for the first time. To us, this meant a lot of additional fun, but these pictures contain less information than you might have been hoping for. On the other hand, in Antiquity, there must have been snow too. During the winter, the Italian officers of the garrison must have cursed the day on which they were sent to the Little Feldberg.

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