It is commonplace to assert that the old boundary between capitalist West Germany and the socialist East can still be seen on virtually every statistical map, ranging from how people vote, how regularly they eat sausages and what they cook on Christmas Eve.
Yet a study has suggested that the legacy of the Berlin Wall is a mere flash in the pan compared to a divide that is nearly 1,900 years older.
If you really want to understand how modern Germany is structured, it argued, you should look instead to the ancient frontier of Roman rule.
West Berliners watching East German border guards demolishing a section of the Berlin Wall on November 11,1989
GERARD MALIE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By about AD150, after a number of disastrous attempts to pacify the Germanic tribes, the Romans had cut their losses and built a gigantic line of fortifications.
The walls,