Austrian Danube: Early History

The images below show  a statue in Willendorf, where the Venus of Willendorf was found buried in silt.  The actual statue is 11 cm tall limestone, whereas this reproduction is 5-6 ft.  The statue is estimated to have been made 25,000 - 28,000 BC in the Upper Paleolithic.

The Donau/Danube marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire from 15 to 488 AD.  There were towns, forts, towers, roads, camps  and many soldiers in the three provinces of Pannonia, Noricum and Raetia (the area of present day Austria).  "Limes"  is the word used to describe the defensible limits of the Roman Empire.

The Nibelungenlied is an epic German poem from about 1200; in fact, it was the first recorded epic poem that has survived.  There are markers in many cities that figure in the story of love, treasure, war and death.  The statue below, in Tulln, shows Krumhilde of the Burgundy court meeting King Etzel (Attila  the Hun).  She agreed to marry Etzel in order to revenge the killing of her first husband Siegfried by her brother and  his  knight Hagen.

Marker below shows flags from some of the many places and cities of the Nibelungenlied:
Metz, Zanten, Worms, Passau, Eferding, Pochlarn, Melk, Tulln, Wien, Eztergom.  These cities span the countries of Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and the great rivers of the Rhine and Danube.