Uprising of the Sacrovir

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The uprising of the Sacrovir was a revolt against the Roman Empire in Eastern Gaul in 21 AD. The uprising was initiated by the Haedu prince Iulius Sacrovir and the Trever prince Iulius Florus .

prehistory

Map of Roman Gaul.

In the course of the Augustan restructuring of the Gallic provinces, large parts of the tribal area of ​​the Treveri and neighboring Gallic peoples were placed under military administration in 17 AD . At the same time, the Treverians lost tax privileges. They had to set up and maintain a military cavalry unit, the ala treverorum . Their area was downgraded from a civitas libera to a lower-ranking, tributary civitas foederata . After the persistently high tax burden, which the Roman government justified with the costs of the Germanic campaigns, the Haedu prince Sacrovir and the Trever prince Florus used the general discontent in the Gallic population for a rebellion against the Roman Empire. The elevations of the two allied tribal leaders are perceived in historical terms as a coherent event. In addition to Haeduern and Treverern, members of other East Gaulish tribes were also involved, but the rebels had no lasting support from the Gaulish population.

course

In retrospect, the uprising planned by Sacrovir took place in three phases.

While Sacrovir was preparing for the rebellion in the province of Lugdunensis , the Andecavers and Turons , spurred on by him , were rehearsing the uprising in central Gaul . The Legate Acilius Aviola was able to nip this attempt in the bud. Local dignitaries stood by the Roman troops. To divert attention from his own plans, Sacrovir also pretended to side with Aviola. During interrogation, the Turons who were captured revealed Sacrovir, but the Romans obviously saw no need for action and did not initiate any persecution of the Haeduer prince.

At the Treverians Florus began to rally armed men. Among other things, he influenced soldiers of the ala Treverorum in order to win them over to his side. The soldiers were supposed to kill Roman merchants and wage war against Rome. In his efforts to induce the entire tribe to revolt against Rome, he met resistance from Iulius Indus , who set up an association of mounted warriors loyal to the Roman Empire. When the followers of Florus in the Ardennes forest gathered Indus attacked the unorganized insurgents with his cavalry and defeated the rebellion of Treverians down. Florus escaped arrest by suicide. The cavalry of the Indus was adopted as a regular ala under the name ala Gallorum Indiana for the Roman army.

In the main phase, Sacrovir occupied Augustodunum , the main town of the civitas Aeduorum , where he took young students there as hostages with a group of armed Gauls . The students came from influential Gallic families. With the hostage-taking, Sacrovir tried on the one hand to put pressure on the families of the students, on the other hand he influenced the young people in order to draw them to the side of the rebels. In 21 AD Sacrovir had about 40,000 men under arms. This development was favored by a power struggle between the legates Gaius Silius and Lucius Visellius Varro , which bought Sacrovir time. Only after Silius was able to win this dispute did he take action against Sacrovir with both legions. A Roman vanguard first devastated the fields and villages of the Sequaner, allied with Sacrovir . Subsequently, Silius marched against Augustodunum. The insurgents faced the Roman army in an open field battle. The Gauls were outnumbered, but could not compete in terms of weapons. Of his 40,000 men, Sacrovir was only able to equip around 8,000 combat-ready with smuggled or self-made weapons. The remaining trailers were equipped with light hunting weapons. There was also a group of gladiator slaves who had heavy full-body armor in the style of Gallic crupellarians .

The Roman legions defeated the rebel army. Sacrovir fled from the battlefield and hid in a nearby villa rustica . There he evaded the threat of arrest by suicide. The uprising was over.

Rumors had spread in Rome during the uprising that all of Gaul and the two Spanish provinces had fallen away. The Teutons should also have joined the uprising. These rumors also put the imperial family in distress. Tiberius , however, sat out the crisis. He visited Gaul only after the rebellion was put down.

swell

literature

  • John F. Drinkwater: Roman Gaul. The Three Provinces, 58 BC-AD 260, 1983, pp. 27-50.
  • Albert Grenier : Tibère et la Gaule. In: Revue des Etudes latines , Volume 14, 1936, pp. 373-388.
  • Heinz Heinen : 2000 years of Trier. Volume 1. Trier and the Treverland in Roman times. Spee-Verlag, Trier 1985, ISBN 3-87760-065-4 , p. 56 ff.
  • Peter Herz : The revolt of Iulius Sacrovir (21 AD). Thoughts on Roman politics in Gaul and their burdens. In: Laverna , Volume 3, 1992, pp. 42-93.
  • Ralf Urban : Gallia rebellis. Surveys in Gaul as reflected in ancient evidence (= Historia individual writings. Volume 129). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-515-07383-3 , pp. 39-45.