Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower German Limes - in the Netherlands: Somewhere between 19 and 12 BC, the first Roman legionary camp was built near Nijmegen. Forty years after the first Roman campaign, general Drusus managed to bring the countries to the south of the river Rhine under Roman control. Military camps were built along the Rhine, they served as a base for campaigns to the north and probably to conquer Great Britain. The frontier of the Roman Empire, the Limes, ran in 47 AD along the Rhine, the Lower Rhine, the Kromme Rijn and the Oude Rijn. In the first century, a chain of Roman forts, castella, were built along the Rhine, these forts were smaller than the huge legionary fortress at Nijmegen. Until the end of the first century, the region remained under Roman military control. Somewhe between 82 and 90 AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire, named Germania Inferior, Lower Germany. Later, it was renamed Germania Secunda. Germania Inferior encompassed the Netherlands south of the Rhine, the eastern part of Belgium, Luxembourg, a part of northeastern France and the German Rhineland up to the river Vinxtbach near Bonn. The capital of Germania Inferior was Colonia Agrippinensium, modern Cologne in Germany. Germania Inferior survived until it was conquered by the Franks in the fourth century. The principal settlements of Germania Inferior in the Netherlands were: Coriovallum (Heerlen), Albaniana (Alphen aan den Rijn), Lugdunum Batavorum (Katwijk), Forum Hadriani (Voorburg), Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum ( Nijmegen), Traiectum (Utrecht). In the Netherlands, the Roman Limes stretches along the Rhine, from the German border, through the municipality of Zevenaar, Arnhem, Utrecht, and Leiden, to the North Sea coast near Katwijk aan Zee. Today, traces of the Roman presence can still be found in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, nineteen locations of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower German Limes - were declared a UNESCO World Heritage in 2021.
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Frontiers of the Roman Empire - The Lower German Limes - in the Netherlands: A replica of the gravestone of Marcus Mallius at Herwen, a tiny Dutch village near the German border. Marcus Mallius was a Roman soldier of the First Legion. The original gravestone was found at Herwen in 1938, it is now on display at the Valkhof Museum in Nijmegen. At Herwen once stood the Roman fort Castellum Carvium, it was located in strategic location at the junction of the Waal and Rhine rivers, the remains of the fort are probably at the bottom of the sand mining pit lake the Bijland.
