Danube Frontier Research Articles

Fortifications in the North-Western Roman Empire from the Third to the Fifth Centuries A.D.

Roman methods of fortification in the north-western portions of the Empire change significantly during the second half of the third century, the difference from the Principate being more apparent in military building than in civil. We may accept the universal view that these changes were due to increasing insecurity in Dacia, on the Rhine and Danube frontiers, and along the coast. From its beginnings in the first half of the century, the threat to the north-west by Germans and tribes from the steppes reached such a pitch in and after the 250's that it seriously endangered Roman rule in Europe. The Goths broke through the Danube frontier into Moesia several times from 238 onwards, and Roman morale was gravely affected when they killed Decius and his son in the disastrous battle of Abrittus (251). The northern barbarians fell upon towns in Greece and Asia Minor, and plundered them; only in the years following 268 did some emperors succeed in mastering the danger.