The western fringe of what is now Western Germany formed the boundary between the Roman province of Germania and unconquered lands beyond. This site doesn't go deep into the very interesting Roman history of this area, but a link is provided elewhere for those who wish it.
In the first couple of centuries AD, the Romans built a fortification, not a grand stone wall like Hadrians Wall, but nevertheless a wood and earth barrier, with milecastles every half-kilometre, and a large fort just outside the present town of Walldürn, sort of like this...
Another artist's impression of what a milecastle would consist of. Deceptively spacious, these residences would accommodate farm animals on the ground floor, people (i.e. the unfortunate Roman soldiers on duty, grateful they were not posted to Hadrian's Wall) on the first floor, and the working area was the top floor. These soldiers were of whatever nationality had already been conquered, not necessary Italians, but more likely from Eastern Europe or the Middle East.
And here's how one of them looks today. Hopefully this is just the foundations and the walls above were thinner, otherwise you couldn't have swung a cat in there, even assuming the Romans had domesticated them by then...
Alun helpfully stands by the structure to give us an idea of scale...
Moving on, elsewhere just outside Walldürn are the ruins of a Roman bath house. Courtesy of a museum display again, here is an impression of what the full building would have looked like...
...and here is what we can see today, looking at the left hand end according to the model. This would house the changing rooms...
... and at the other end, the right hand end according to the model, would be the hot and cold rooms. The group visiting the ruins today was taking part in a special series of Roman events being held along the "Limesstrasse" route at different points through the season. The guide is the guy in the red baseball hat, we have a couple of Roman youths in white togas to add to the atmosphere, and Alun is in there somewhere.
Here we see the hypocaust, an under-floor heating system. The people are standing in the steam area, and at the top of the little pillars would be the actual floor...
And finally, the Romans had quite a lot of gods, and a shrine to the goddess Fortuna is to be found at the entrance to the baths. On the day we had to make a quick exit as a thunderstorm was brewing, otherwise we would have been standing in the bath having a shower!
