This paper, originally published in 1906 by the Oxford historian Henry Francis Pelham (1846-1907) in The Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, details the development and history of the Imperial Roman limes (frontier, actually "frontier road") in Germany, reaching from the Rhine north of Koblenz to the Danube near Regensburg. Thanks to the work of the German National Limes Commission (Reichslimeskommission) from 1892 to 1938, this was the first section of the Imperial Roman border that was properly understood.

Although plenty of new information (most of it published only in German, for instance in the excellent series of reports from the Limesmuseum, Aalen) has been unearthed since Pelham's paper was written, the fundamentals remain unchanged. Pelham's summary can accordingly still be read with considerable profit. The construction of the limes (pl. limites) in Germany began from 83 AD, under Domitian (ruled 81-96). Work continued until into the mid-third century, when the Alamanni and their confederates compelled the Romans to evacuate the frontier and abandon the area behind it.

By then the border had gradually changed its role from that of a simple customs and observation line into a sometimes massive fortification, apparently more aimed at indulging the feelings of security among the citizens behind it (and to prevent impoverished citizens and slaves from escaping the Empire) than being a real barrier against invaders. Pelham offers an interesting comparison with the 'Customs Hedge' of British India, built to ensure the payment of salt duties, which consisted of an "impenetrable hedge of thorny bushes and trees, supplemented in places by a stone wall or a ditch and earth mound...guarded and patrolled, night and day". Pelham published several works on Roman history, including the book The Roman Frontier System (1895). He belonged to that lost generation of Anglo-Saxon academics who could actually communicate in foreign languages. Pelham died less than a year after concluding this paper. Recommended to anybody with an interest in the Imperial Romans.

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