Burgstall Alter Rothenberg, archaeological site in Simmelsdorf, Bavaria, Germany

The Burgstall Alter Rothenberg is a two-part hilltop castle site on the 505.3 m high Alten Rotenberg, also called Reisberg, above the Lochhof hamlet in Simmelsdorf. No standing walls remain, but a 220 m long and up to 100 m wide oval plateau is divided into a forecourt and a main castle by a ditch, with a ring ditch and outer rampart still visible.

The castle was probably built in the first half of the 12th century; archaeological finds date to around 1200. In 1254 Hiltpold von Hiltpoltstein called himself Hilteboldus de Rotenberge. Through marriage the castle passed to the von Wildenstein family by 1289. It was destroyed in 1301 during a feud involving Count Gebhard VII of Hirschberg and King Albert I; Dietrich I von Wildenstein then built the predecessor of Rothenberg Fortress near Schnaittach around 1330.

The name Rothenberg comes from the reddish iron sandstone of the hill; the alternative Reisberg, recorded since 1366, derives from Middle High German rîs for brushwood or coppice. The ministerials of Lauf-Hiltpoltstein-Rothenberg called themselves after the castle from 1254, and through marriage their arms passed to the Wildenstein family.

The castle site lies on the wooded 505 m summit of the Alte Rotenberg, about 640 m north-northwest of the Lochhof hamlet; the presumed manorial farm stood at Lochhof. No walls survive, only the section ditch between the outer and main castle, the ring ditch and faint traces of the outer bailey's ditch. The ground is uneven forest terrain, so wear sturdy shoes.

The hill's name Rothenberg comes from the reddish Eisen sandstone (Dogger) beneath it, while Reisberg, recorded from 1366, derives from Middle High German rîs for brushwood or coppice. The oval plateau measures about 220 by 100 metres, which once led researchers to mistake it for a prehistoric earthwork.