The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

It rained almost all night! We can understand why the countryside is so lush and green. Because of the rain we decided to give Osnabrück a miss. 

After many jobs early we set Thomas to take us to the Museum und Park Kalkriese, an important museum for Germans. 

The Roman soldier's face shield - one of the prize possessions of the Museum. 

 

It was here in 9 AD that German tribes annihilated theee Roman Legions  - about 15,000 men lost their lives! This was the beginning of the end of Roman expansion north of the Rhine, and in the process, Germany (then only scattered tribes) had a hero-leader in Arminius and he has been used by propagandist ever since the rediscovery of the battle by scholars in the 1600s. The Roman general, Varius, committed suicide after the battle. 

The dense Teutoburg Forest. 

A sectiion of where the battle was supposedly fought. 

Contrasting "uniforms" of the German tribesmen and the well resourced Roman soldier. 

We were given a special introduction by one of the young archeologist/historian  because there were no tours in English. The museum is part outdoors with a extensive indoor collection from the diggings. 

The metal sheets depicting the path of the Roman Legions. 

Coins found at the battle site. 

Mass graves discovered as well. 

As well, a special exhibition on Piracy in Antiquity was part of the museum complex. This was interesting with some of the collection coming from Comacchio, a village in Italy we visited last year. 

Greek artifacts in the Piracy exhibition. 

Beautifully carved sarcophagus. 

Time was getting on so after we had a late lunch we drove onto Bünde for our overnight stop. 

Other photos from today:

House in the yards of the museum. 

A famous legionnaire!