Limes
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- For other meanings see lime.
Image:Limes Germanicus 2nd c.png A limes (or the Limes Romanus) is a border defence system of the Ancient Rome. It marks the boundaries of the Roman Empire.
The Latin noun limes denoted generally a path, sometimes a boundary path (possibly its original sense) or boundary, and hence it was utilized by Latin writers occasionally to denote frontiers definitely delimited and marked in some distinct fashion. This latter sense has been adapted and extended by modern historians concerned with the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Thus the Wall of Hadrian in north England is sometimes styled the Limes Britannicus, the frontier of the Roman province of Arabia facing the desert is called the Limes Arabicus and so forth.
The most notable examples of Roman limes are:
- Hadrian's Wall - Limes Britannicus
- Antonine Wall
- Upper Germanic or Rhaetian Limes, part of the limes Germanicus
- Limes Arabicus, the frontier of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea facing the desert
A mediaeval limes is the Limes Saxoniae in Holstein
The Latin word limes underlies the abbreviation lim, used in mathematics to designate the limit of a sequence or a function: see limit (mathematics).de:Limes (Grenzwall) es:Limes fr:Limes he:לימס hu:Limes it:Limes romano ja:リーメス pl:Limes pt:Fronteiras do Império Romano sv:Limes