Editing Abnoba (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Bregquelle bei Furtwangen.jpg|thumb|right|The source of the Breg]]
Abnoba, sometimes spelt Arnoba or Arbona,<ref>{{Cite DGRG|wstitle=Abnoba}}</ref> has been used to refer to a mountain range comprising the [[Odenwald]], [[Spessart]], and [[Baar (region)|Baar]] mountains. This composite range extends from the [[Rhine]] to the [[Neckar]], and is referred to by one of the various names listed depending on the region it is passing through.<ref>{{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Abnoba}}</ref>

According to [[Tacitus]]'s ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'', Abnoba was the name of a mountain, from a grassy slope of which flows the source of the River [[Danube]].

[[File:Furtwangen Jan 05 fog GHB.jpg|thumb|right|Furtwangen in the mist]]
[[Pliny the Elder]] also gives us some statements about Abnoba (''Natural History'', 4.79). He says that it arises opposite the town of Rauricum in Gaul and flows from there beyond the Alps, implying that the river begins in the Alps, which it does not. If Rauricum is to be identified with the Roman settlement, Augusta Raurica, modern [[Augst]] in [[Basel-Landschaft]] canton of [[Switzerland]], Pliny must be confusing the [[Rhine]] and its tributaries with the Danube.

The Danube begins with two small rivers draining the [[Black Forest]]: the [[Breg River|Breg]] and the [[Brigach]], both Celtic names. The longest is the most favorable candidate: the Breg. The Abnobaei montes would therefore be the [[Baar (region)|Baar]] foothills of the [[Swabian Alb]] near [[Furtwangen im Schwarzwald]].

[[Ptolemy]]'s ''Geography'' (2.10) also mentions the mountain range, but incorrectly implies a position north of the [[Agri Decumates]] and [[Main (river)|Main river]]. It has been suggested that this error comes about through the use of differing and imperfect sources to make this section of the Geography. In effect Ptolemy has apparently confused the Abnoba with the Roman border, and therefore with what are today called the [[Taunus]] mountains.<ref>{{Citation|last=Schütte|title=Ptolemy's maps of northern Europe, a reconstruction of the prototypes |year=1917 |publisher=Kjøbenhavn, H. Hagerup |url=https://archive.org/details/ptolemysmapsofno00schrich}}</ref>