Römisches Weinshiff auf der Mosel

As early as the 3rd century AD the Moselle River had become an important waterway for shipping wine to the middle Rhine valley and upstream to Lorraine where Roman legions were replenished with the precious commodity. Also, troops and supplies would be shipped up the Rhône & Saône rivers, then carried across the Vosges mountains to be finally shipped at Épinal down the Moselle river. The photo above shows details of a sculpture found in Neumagen which served as a grave memorial at the tomb of a wealthy Roman wine trader. The town of Neumagen, Noviomagus in Latin, eventually became a fortification (Kastell) and embodies the last boom of Roman civilization under Constantin the great on the middle Moselle. When archeologists excavated the walls of the ancient fort in the late 1800s they were surprised to find such a wealth of sculptures and bas-reliefs that adorned the graves of wealthy Romans. Today these works of art can be admired at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in nearby Trier. A replica of the sculpture has been placed at Saint-Peter's chapel in Neumagen. A real wood replica of the wineship has been reconstructed and can be chartered to row up and down the Moselle river in summer. It can be manned with up to 40 diligent oarsmen who will be rewarded with some of the finest local wine at journey's end.