Ebern () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the Haßberge district of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is situated southwest of

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

and northwest of Bamberg. Its population is about 8,000. Its mayor is Robert Herrmann. Ebern is about 1,000 years old and has an intact defensive wall. Its name derives from , the German word for boar.

Villages of Ebern

The borough of Ebern covers an area of within which are 18 villages as well as the town of Ebern itself. Besides the (castle) of Eyrichshof and the more modest manor house of Fischbach, Ebern has some interesting castle ruins: Bramberg Castle,

Rotenhan Castle Rotenhan Castle (german: Burg Rotenhan) is a castle ruin about two kilometres north of the village of Eyrichshof in Lower Franconia in the south German state of Bavaria. Eyrichshof lies within the borough of Ebern in the district of Haßberge. ...

and Raueneck Castle.

Founding legend

According to

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

, one day two hunters were chasing a wild

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

. It was finally struck by two

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

s, one from each of the hunters. They could not decide who threw the spear that killed the boar. The boar finally fell exactly on the border between

Seßlach Seßlach () is a town in the district of Coburg, in northern Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 12 km southwest of Coburg and has a population close to 4,000. Seßlach is notable for its largely intact medieval town wall and overall historic a ...

and Ebern, with its head in Ebern, and its body in Seßlach, so they divided it. Hence the

of Ebern is named after the boar, and the municipal

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

displays a boar's

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

Sons and daughters of the town

* Johann Georg Meusel (1743-1820),

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

lexicographical Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

and

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

Ingrid Schubert Ingrid Schubert (7 November 1944 – 12 November 1977) was a West German terrorist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF). She participated in the freeing of Andreas Baader from prison in May 1970 as well as multiple bank robberies bef ...

(1944-1977), a founding member of the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

Image: Eyrichshof Schloss 5311410.jpg, Schloss Eyrichshof Image:Burg Rauheneck Palas.jpg, Ruins of Rauheneck Castle Image:Burg Rotenhan 5.jpg, Ruins of Rotenhan Image:Burg Bramberg Haupt.jpg, Ruins of Bramberg Castle

References

{{Authority control Haßberge (district)