The Limes - Episode 2

Good morning, the Limes concludes with the decline of the Roman Empire.  How will Rome manage to keep up their border installations?  What happened when a superpower showed signs of weakness?  The run time for this episode is 45:45.

The Limes were supposed to keep the barbarians out.  However, over the years the walls have disappeared, destroyed by agriculture.  Historians are coming up with ways to solve the mysteries of the Limes.  Using historic records and field maps, bales of hay are standing in for watch towers and with some slight experimentation, the historians realize that all the towers were within sight of each other.  The Roman Empire cut right through the heart of Europe dividing it in half.  The border wall kept the empire defended.  Were these walls insurmountable?

Today, a helicopter is sent up to scan the landscape to find more of the limes.  It is equipped to scan for invisible limes with an infrared scanner.  Inch by inch the landscape is scanned.  Perhaps Limes will be discovered in the thick woods.  Layers of wood and soil are stripped back in the scanning results.  There is a rampart and a ditch found.  Additionally, there are remains of a building foundation were discovered.  A barrier runs in a straight line as if drawn by a ruler was discovered.  This area is surveyed by a group of surveyors.

A group of students is working on the survey.  They have some challenges when it comes to the survey.  However, when they get the results back, the historians will determine how straight the line actually is.  How straight is this line?  The results may surprise you.  Why did the Romans make their lines so straight?  It would have been a challenge for the Romans to do.  Was this a demonstration of knowledge and power?  Were the Germanic Tribes intimidated by such a straight line?

There were 7000 kilometers of border to protect and support.  Even the meals were the same across all the watch towers.  One Roman gave an account of the uncivilized barbarians and the wild landscapes of Germania.  Germania was unpredictable, the defeat of Varus hung over the Roman heads.  The main Roman Force was stationed further back from the Limes.  The Limes were supposed to keep an eye on things and repel intrusions.  However, because everyone was watching, any major intrusions could be reported and troops could be quickly dispatched.  All this was contingent on there being enough soldiers to react.

The most impressive fort was at Aalen and it was the greatest calvary fort north of the Alps.  It could hold up to 100,000 calvary soldiers, although it rarely housed that many at one time.  Every garrison never reached full strength.  Roman troops were dispatched throughout the regions of the Roman Empire.  Additionally, the Emperor had to consider his budget when stationing soldiers at the fort.  How much of a threat were the Germanic tribes?  When the Limes fell, the Germanic tribes smashed the statues that were found in the fort.

An airship is being filled with air to do an air survey of an area of Limes.  From the air, there is an obvious hedge as well as where the border turned.  There was a fort in the field, but that disappeared until a scan of the area is done.  A Roman fort is revealed underground.  Geophysics calculates the area of the fort and discovers that there were four defensive ditches.  Even from the air, it is obvious that a church was built in the middle of a mini-Roman fort.  Even with all the surveys and new technology, historians still have trouble explaining the function of the Limes nor can they explain why they fell.  What will continue to be discovered about the Limes?  Will the historians be able to answer why there were so many Limes?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

The only downside to this documentary is that it was way too short with an under-fifty-minute time limit.  I felt like there could have been more information presented.  That said, this was another good episode, and with its emphasis on technology it could be shown to a STEM class as well as a history class.