ABSTRACT
The Roman frontier along the Danube was a central part of Roman defensive strategy for several centuries. The formation of the Alpine and Danube frontier as a whole was the work of Augustus, and especially the sector in Raetia and along the upper and middle Danube had as its primary aim the defense of Italy as the center of the Empire. The conquest of the Alpine regions was completed by the annexation of the kingdom of Noricum in 15 BC, although the building of a full-fledged line of fortifications there took until the end of the first century AD. The legionary fortress at Lauriacum was erected even later, after the Marcomannic wars of Marcus Aurelius at the end of the second century after a first try at Albing, which was given up. Noricum was on the periphery of the empire, but it maintained its importance as a source for iron, and therefore for weapons, but also for horses.
