An aside about limes, the boundary between the Romans and the northern barbarians. The limes was roughly the Rhine and Danube. You can visit quite a fee archeological sites and museums about the limes if you are traveling by car in Europe. It is worth the effort. On of them, if memory serves, is at Xanten, where St. Norbert was from and where there is a partial reconstruction of a legion’s castra. In any event, the limes marked a real border of enduring cultural differentiation. For example, on one side, the peoples still tend to cook more with butter or olive oil and on the other lard. One side used wine and the other beer. One side remained Catholic while the other went Protestant. Some of these differences depend also on climate, but the ancient Roman limes marks a rough cultural boundary even to this day.
Wikipedia: Limes Germanicus.
interactive map HERE
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