When we talk about "limes", we usually think of the limits of the Roman Empire in northern Europe, in Germania or Britain. But in reality, that word means "border" and therefore applied to the boundaries in all cardinal points. So, if the Rhine River marked the Germanicus Limes and Hadrian's Wall marked the British Limes, there were also Limes Alutanus and LimesTransalutanus (along the Danube), a Limes Moesiae (between present-day Romania and Moldova), a LimesTripolitanus (in northern Africa, extended with the Fossatum Africae), and an Limes Eastern (along the Euphrates). The latter was the Limes Arabicus, a chain of forts that protected the Roman territory from desert tribes.
Ruins of the castellum of Qasr Bashir. Photo: Bashar Tabbah/Wikimedia
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