The history of Roman-Germanic relations is still often reduced to a sequence of war and violence, attempts at conquest, robbery, and plunder. The excavation of a Roman civilian settlement, a city in the making at Lahnau-Waldgirmes from the time of Emperor Augustus, provided the occasion for the Marburg conference "Contact Zone Lahn. Encounter of Three Ancient Cultures: Romans - Germans - Celts" in May 2006. Here, the focus was increasingly directed towards the broader aspects and areas of contact between Romans, Germans, and Celts. Based on the excavation findings in Waldgirmes, political and economic, religious and cultural questions were examined, as well as fundamental issues related to the term "Germans." This conference resulted in the anthology "Contact Zone Lahn," which compiles the most important studies and findings on the cultural contact between Romans and Germanic tribes.