C o by nght C hASS ' u C ' P' Ho llin er o g C rp. pH R d h l th e Fra n k lin I t t te 1 e t e t e 0 . ' ' prin from ' ourna of ns i u , ' anuary , 9 3 Mechan ical an d ' n gineerin g Section . ' in l T u r da D cem 1 2 Sla ted M eet ize a b s e b er 0 . g , y , 4 , 9 1 - in i R oman an d Pre Historic R ema s n C en tral German y . B ' ' D' I N S' I FT BALC H . In Central Germany , in the province of Hesse Nassau , there are numerous remains of the Romans and some even more interesting ones of the primitive Germans . German arch aeologists have given a good deal of attentio n to these rem ains during the last quarter of a century ; and they h ave brought to light many facts in connecti o n with the 2 th e m early history of man in Germany . Passing over ti es of feudalism , when the barons planted their strongholds on many a steep hill , and going back to the beginning of the t d Chris ian era , one fin s that about the middle of the first e A . D . c ntury , the Romans invaded the plains of Hesse n h Nassau , the in abited by Germanic tribes , and established themselves south of the Taunus . The Romans soon found the need of protecting themselves in their new ' sphere of in' uence and they erected a line of fortifications fro m the Rhine to the Danube . The peasants formerly called this 1 C t 1 02 d t B . opyrigh , 9 ,by ' win Swif alch 2 T his paper is based partly on consid erabl e personal observation and partly o n th e k e d e t te e t th e Kdn i lich B t boo s , pap rs an v rbal s a m n s of g aura L ' acobi , d e te d l e to th e ex t t e e e d e who has vo his i f plora ion of h s r mains, an whos writ r e t I to ex e d e ed o ings a e a min of informa ion . wish pr ss my in bt n ess t this d t ed e e t is inguish G rman arch ologis . A th e t t R e Ge are mong publica ions abou oman r mains in rmany , Baum eister Das R merk ast l i H L . o e l b e der ' acobi , , Saalburg omburg vor ' H H e H der o e 1 8 . ' n e e t d t oh , omburg vor h , 97 volum , wi h maps an pla es T k d ex e te e t e . s para . his boo inclu s an haus iv bibliography ' h u n r omis b e z l D C o a se A. De R c G e e t d , von r n wal in u schlan , ' ies de 1 88 . ba n , 4 h au s n A Da s R o m rk astell C o e . d . : e H o m , von , an ' acobi , L Saalburg , de r H t dt 1 2 de B k o e 0 . G . burg vor h , S au Supp, 9 ui oo ' Bliimlein K l D ie l 1 0 1 , ar Saa burg , 9 . z e D r . ' t R om isc h es ld te e e den T K te e Schul , rns So a nl b n in aunus as ll n , r k t A M H B t d 1 8 F . e 8 an fur , rch ol , 9 . T H AA B ' R ' S L G . F th e B t rom maps of aura L. ' acobi . 4 w l the Teufelsmauer, but it is now kno n as the Pfah graben , a name explained by some students as meaning a bound L ary, while others consider that it comes from the atin ve llum . The Pfahlgraben consisted of an earthen wall , o f t and in some places a wall and a di ch , and it can still be followed with ease throughout most of its length , a n d especially in hilly wooded places , where peasant farm i ers have had no opportunity of level ng it . The Pfahl 2 graben , which is about 5 4 kilometers long , begins near e H nningen on the Rhine , follows roughly the watershed of n a the Taunus Ra ge , and after m king a big curve north M It ward , strikes the ain a little east of Frankfurt . starts M again at the southerly bend of the ain , goes some distance nearly south , and then almost due east a good distance to a it the D nube , which reaches near Hienheim in the neigh b orh o o d of Regensburg . Although it is not known exactly when the Pfahlgraben was built , nor when i t was aban do n ed e R 0 , yet it is certain that it was construct d by the o f mans, and that during portions the first three centuries of the Ch ristian era Roman soldiers stood on guard upon it . The Pfahlgraben , which from a political standpoint was ' a n not unlike the great Chinese ll , was u doubtedly mainly intended to ward o ff the attacks of the unsubdued tribes of N orthern and Eastern Germany , of whom the Chatten and t h e Allem an n en were the most hostile ; but it must also ‘ f v have been used as a tari f frontier , to le y tribute on any n persons who cro ssed to the south . The reasons for locati g . a part of it north of the natural frontier of the Main are not s elf - evident ; still it is noticeable that the mineral springs o f ' n iesbade , Homburg and Nauheim are south of it , and th e desire to profit by their b e n e fic en t waters may have b een one of the causes which m ade the Romans enclose t Fo r his country . a time the barrier appears to have served i ts purpose , until , with the increasing degeneracy of the R m oman empire , the sturdy northern barbaric ele ent over n w helmed the e ervated southern race . n m h Behind the Pfahlgrabe , at co paratively s ort intervals , w ere about eighty large and sm all fortified camps and t s . ower , where bodies of troops were held in garrison The most important of these posts in the Taunus are known as ' K a ersb u r . the p g , the ugmantel and the Saalburg The u latter, situated in one of the gaps of the Ta nus , overlooks Bad H r ombu g , from which it can be reached in half an hour is by trolley . I t now being restored entirely , but as late as 1 8 2 th e 7 it was little but a ruin in the forest , where only foundations of fortifications and h ouse walls and a few holes in the ground were visible . There do not appear to be any written records from Roman times of the Pfahlgrab en o r the Saalburg ; neither an le en ds are there y g connected with them , and the valu o ff able help to history , therefore , occasi nally a orded by myths , is in this case wanting . Our present knowledge is based practically on the remains of the foundations and on B u t the relics found among them . little as we know of the fi history of these old forti cations , yet there can be no doubt that the Latins and the Teutons once struggled for supremacy o along them , and that the former were c nquered and retired . And as one follows the lines of the Pfahlgraben and the ruined Kastells one cannot avoid the reflecti o n that a great its empire , advanced and civilized though it was , but with members weakened physically and morally by centraliza d tion and the estruction of individualism , could not with its stand the assaults of a ruder but stronger race , with units undeteriorated by overcrowding and overgovernment . c se a l The name Saalburg may ome from the word , mean re ' th e ing hall , or , meaning boundary , but the origin of w name is still uncertain . The first writer kno n to use the th e name was the Homburger, Elias Neuhof, who mentions 1 t Saalburg in a letter in 74 7 , and who wrote a short accoun 1 of it in 7 77 . He saw it still in a state of tolerable repair, although it had served as a quarry of ready - cut blocks o f stone to the neighboring peasants , and although many of its stones had been ca rried o ff for building the castle and the Lutheran Church at Homburg in the seventeenth and l 1 8 1 8 eighteenth centuries . It was on y in that the taking o f th e wa s 1 8 away stone stopped , and not until 5 3 that the first diggings were undertaken by the antiquarian , F . G . I n 1 8 0 C o h a u s en Habel .