Reception of the limes in cities along the Rhine and the Danube (16th and 17th centuries)

From the second half of the 15th century, growing interest in Roman antiquity in general also stimulated scholarly debate on local legacies of classical antiquity north of the Alps. Humanists and antiquarians studied ancient texts for clues about the events of their own region in Roman times (Helmrath et al. 2002). From historical writings, such as those of Caesar and Tacitus, it was clear that the Rhine and Danube had been the northern border of the Roman Empire and that this frontier was guarded by larger and smaller military fortifications. In both the Low Countries and Germany, scholars tried to connect these ancient histories and places with contemporary geography, using ancient geographical descriptions such as those by Strabo, Ptolemaeus, and the so-called Peutinger Map (Boschung & Schäfer 2019). In the 16th century also material remains and soil finds began to be used as sources for this kind of research. Visible remnants, from small objects to (ruins of) buildings, were used as proofs of the supposed continuity from the glorious Roman past to their own time, as testimony of old age and standing of certain privileges or power structures (Enenkel & Ottenheym 2019). This paper will focus on the various ways this knowledge about the Roman limes was subsequently deployed by urban authorities in the late 16th and 17th centuries, comparing the free imperial cities in the German lands with the almost autonomous cities of the Dutch Republic.