Romans on the Rhine: Archaeology in Germany

This excellent book brings alive the early history of the land we know as Germany. Using discoveries of modern archaeology, Paul MacKendrick illuminates the dim days of indigenous tribesmen, their years of bloody warfare with Roman legions, and the rise and fall of the 'Pax Romana'. 'Romans on the Rhine' re-creates the past in vivid detail. Recovered from a Jutland bog, the preserved cadaver of an ancient German shows us what his prehistoric countrymen looked like. Caesar’s Bridge takes us over the Rhine in the first Roman penetration of Germany, and on to a castle on the Danube built for a Greek princess by her German husband. A modern elevator carries us into the Roman past existing beneath the city hall of contemporary Cologne. We read of the crucial battle in the Teutoburg Forest in A.D. 9, when victorious German tribesmen nailed severed heads to trees and shattered the belief in the invincibility of Rome. 'Romans on the Rhine' also describes the lush Mosel wine country in the heyday of life in the Roman villas there, with central heating, hot baths, floor mosaics, marble sculpture, and ornamental pools. It summarizes archaeological evidence that demonstrates Roman tolerance for the Germanic supernatural — the god with stag’s antlers, the hammergod, the bear and horse goddesses, and exotic religions from the Near East. The book also describes arts and crafts brought by the Romans (including wine pressing), and, finally, the unequaled luxury of the last imperial capital at Trier, the city that flourished as barbarians besieged the gates of Rome. 'Romans on the Rhine' is an exciting book. It has been written for the general reader who enjoys well-documented history, for the archaeology buff who takes pleasure in unspoiled ruins, and for the tourist who avoids the beaten track. The author, who has traveled widely in Germany, presents in this richly illustrated volume the results of recent archaeological investigations never before available in English.