River
Fluvius Renus
Rhein · Rhine
Listen to the story
The Rhine, Fluvius Rhenus, is labelled twice on the Tabula: once in red along its lower course, and once in black out in the sea before its mouth, where the letters are hard to read on water that has darkened from turquoise green to brown. It runs as a single stream from the Alps through Lake Constance to the sea, and beside the Danube it is one of the longest rivers on the map, a northern counterpart to the Nile. It ends in two mouths, which Romans pictured as the two horns of the river god. Only two roads cross it, and beyond lies a narrow strip of tribes without roads or towns.