A map of the Middle Rhine in the Roman Age

This map which I have created myself covers the broader area in which the main parts of the six-volume "Romanike" series are set, centering on the modern territory of Mainz-Wiesbaden-Frankfurt at the Middle Rhine and Lower Main: a territory that has been little explored by historical novelists so far.

The time, the early 10th century A.V.C. (ab Urbe Condita) or mid 2nd century A.D., corresponds to the period of outward peace between the vanquishing of the second Jewish Uprising and the outbreak of the Marcomannic Wars when it is just becoming visible for those who have eyes to see how the Romanike - the Roman Empire - has begun to rot in her core. Right through the map runs the upper Germanic Limes , the fortified border between the Roman Empire and the Barbaricum that has never been contested - so far.

Most names on the map are archaeologically attested except for Castellum Taunensium, Mount Dounobriga and Cirmacium that I have made up because it is not known what these places were called by the Romans.

The healing waters of Sirona

Did the Romans from Mogontiacum "yonder the Brook" who visited us in Aquae Mattiacorum find that as strange? Wiesbaden has founded its status as a spa of global fame, as everybody knows, on 27 thermal springs. Whenever I visit the town centre, I have made the habit, that was already cultivated by my grandfather, to fill a few bottles with water from the mineral spring that must already have flowed through the temple of the goddess Sirona who is revered by our protagonist, Restitutus, so much. This time a young mother from abroad was sitting at the bank in front of the spring, observing me surprised and asking, finally, what I was going to do with that water.
"You may cook a soup from that," I said, "but, primarily, we drink it. If you got a sore throat, for example, it's quite an effective cure, I found." When we walked away, I turned once again and saw how the young lady was filling an emptied coffee mug from the spring and tried a gulp.
Her "Bah!" resounded through the whole lane. As she slapped her hand on her mouth in horror, I shouted at her from the next inlet, "You only have to get used to the taste!"
It is possible. Really. My wife has managed, too.