Upper Germanic Limes

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes (Obergermanisch-Raetischer Limes)
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Map of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes
Location	Germany
Type	Cultural
Criteria	(ii)(iii)(iv)
UNESCO region	Europe
Inscription history
Inscription	2005 (29th Session)
Extensions	2008

The Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes (German: Obergermanisch-Raetische Limes), or ORL, is a 550-kilometre-long section of the former external frontier of the Roman Empire between the rivers Rhine and Danube. It runs from Rheinbrohl to Eining on the Danube. The Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes is an archaeological site and, since 2005, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Together with the Lower Germanic Limes it forms part of the Limes Germanicus.

The term limes (plural: limites) originally meant "border path" or "swathe" in Latin. In Germany, "Limes" usually refers to the Rhaetian Limes and Upper Germanic Limes, collectively referred to as the Limes Germanicus. Both sections of limes are named after the adjacent Roman provinces of Raetia (Rhaetia) and Germania Superior (Upper Germania).

In the Roman limites we have, for the first time in history, clearly defined territorial borders of a sovereign state that were visible on the ground to friend and foe alike. Most of the Upper German-Rhaetian Limes did not follow rivers or mountain ranges, which would have formed natural boundaries for the Roman Empire. It includes the longest land border in the European section of the limes, interrupted for only a few kilometres, by a section that follows the River Main between Großkrotzenburg and Miltenberg. By contrast, elsewhere in Europe, the limes is largely defined by the rivers Rhine (Lower Germanic Limes) and Danube (Danube Limes).