Adlerstein

The Adlerstein stands in a quiet stretch of the Odenwald forest two kilometres south-west of Würzberg, a small village in the district of Odenwaldkreis. It is a sandstone slab set upright on a forest path, marking the spot where a supposed Roman legionary eagle was once said to have been found. The stone was raised soon after the discovery in 1820 by Count Franz I of Erbach, an enthusiastic collector of antiquities. The find was later exposed as a forgery, yet the monument remains in place. The story behind the Adlerstein is worth the short walk through the woods. The count published the discovery in scholarly journals and displayed the piece in his castle at Erbach as the centrepiece of a display of reconstructed Roman military standards. Experts quickly pointed out flaws: the metal was brass, not bronze, the patina was painted on, and the style did not match authentic Roman work. Christian Kehrer, the count’s secretary and painter, wrote a detailed report in 1820 explaining why the object could not be genuine. Kehrer’s honesty nearly cost him his position until the count’s sister intervened. Visitors today leave the marked paths and follow a narrow track into the high forest. The sandstone stele is about one and a half metres tall, topped by a shallow pyramid and bearing a single large initial A on its face. The surrounding woodland, once part of a larger hunting park, is now a peaceful mixed forest where oak and beech grow on gentle slopes. A nearby woodland compartment still carries the name Adlerschlag, recalling the old tale. The stone itself shows the faded inscription and a few patches of lichen, standing as a quiet reminder of a scholarly prank from the early 19th century.