Augustan Alpine campaigns

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The Augustan Alpine campaigns were a coordinated military undertaking set up under the Roman emperor Augustus , which was intended to protect northern Italy (the former province of Gallia cisalpina ) from raids and raids by the Celtic and Raetian Alpine tribes. Strategically, however, the planning of the conquest of Germania was also prepared.

The Roman Empire before the Alpine campaigns

The conquest of the Alps can be divided into four spatial sections; the conquest of the western Alps , the conquest of the eastern Alps and the occupation of the central and foothills of the Alps . Finally, the Maritime Alps were conquered . Overall, the expansion process lasted from 25 BC. BC to 14 BC Chr.

Political background

The Augustan policy of Germania was part of a strategy aimed at securing the borders of the entire empire, which had been proclaimed as a peace program after the "consolidation and legalization" of the power of the emperor Augustus (closure of the temple of Janus ).

In detail, the “Augustan border and foreign policy” consisted of a series of “very costly military demonstrations and interventions” - in the east against the Parthians , in Asia Minor, Egypt, North Africa, Spain and in the Danube-Balkans region. The preparation and execution of these operations mostly took place in parallel.

"Since Caesar's forays across the Rhine [55-53 BC. Chr.] And the canal [55/54 BC. BC], Germania and Britain were in the Roman field of vision, [… but] in Gaul it remained an urgent task to anchor Roman rule institutionally. [...] In addition, there was the systematic expansion of the infrastructure, the close connection between Gaul and Italy and the securing of its borders. "

But there was a gap between the Balkans and Gaul: the area up to the lower Danube and the Alps and in particular the connection through the northern foothills of the Alps. The target area was populated by Celtic tribes, the Alps by Raetern .

“From a strategic point of view, the Alps are primarily a transit area. The Romans wanted to get their hands on the passports so that they could quickly move troops between Italy, Gaul and the Danube countries. ”An occupation of the northern foothills of the Alps also enabled a west-east connection between the Rhine border and the troops in Illyria and Moesia . In addition, access from the south via the Upper Rhine to Germania became possible.

Celtic settlement in the Alps and on the Upper Rhine

After "Octavian [Augustus] himself the positions in Dalmatia and Pannonia between 35 and 33 BC. BC ", the Roman power was first anchored on the flanks of the Alpine arc."

The conquest of the western Alps in 25 BC Chr.

“The conquest of the Alpine region began with the almost extinction of the wild Salasser in the Aosta Valley, which took place in 25 BC. By Terentius Varro Murena after years of fighting. The colony of Augusta Praetoria (Aosta) protected the newly acquired area. The Great and Little Saint Bernard were now in Roman hands, which made the connection from Northern Italy to Gaul much easier. In the following years the land of the Helvetii, who had been dependent on Rome since Caesar, was fully integrated into the Roman sphere of influence southwest of Lake Constance. "

This “integration” of the western foothills of the Alps took place as a “reconstruction of the late Celtic fortified towns and small towns since the middle of the 1st century BC. BC [...] as a result of the new rule and politics. […] Stationed Roman military is from the 2nd decade BC. Secured. "

Noricum (green), east of the Raetia and Vindelicia target areas in the following year, 15 BC. Chr.

The conquest of the Eastern Alps in 16 BC Chr.

East of the Inn was the then independent client kingdom of Noricum , which had been allied with the Romans since providing military support for Caesar. The proconsul of Illyria, Publius Silius Nerva , had "initially pacified the border areas to Noricum and Pannonia and caused the former to become closer to Rome."

“Turning west, Nerva had thrown down the Trumpilini , Camini and Vennonetes north of Brixia (Brescia) and Comum (Como) . [...] The central Alpine region and the land between Lake Constance and Inn were flanked on both sides by Roman-controlled areas. "

This created the prerequisites for the great campaign in the Central Alpine region.

Tiberius from the west along the High Rhine, Drusus over the Alpine passes

The conquest of the central and foothills of the Alps in 15 BC Chr.

In research and literature, the campaigns in the Western and Eastern Alps are considered preparatory and the 15 BC. The undertaking carried out by two Roman army groups in the central and foothills of the Alps called the actual "Alpine campaign".

Under the leadership of the step-sons of the emperor Augustus - Drusus and Tiberius - in just one summer (Strabo, Geographika 4, 6, 9) “the subjugation of the Alpine tribes and the occupation of the northern foothills of the Alps (carried out). While Drusus was advancing north through the Adige Valley, across the Brenner , to the Inn , a second army wedge, probably under one of his legates, was pulling over the Julier Pass through the valley of the Alpine Rhine to Lake Constance, at the same time another Roman army group under Tiberius was moving from the staging area on the plateau from Langres to the east. Via Vesontio , the Vindonissa area , she also reached Lake Constance. "

“The Vindelican tribes residing on the shores of this lake were defeated with the intervention of a flotilla, a great sea ​​battle hardly took place, Cassius Dio only reports of troop transports across the lake. Individual divisions advanced northwards, as can be seen from the fact that Tiberius personally visited the sources of the Danube, but the main thrust of his army was undoubtedly directed to the east and northeast. On August 1st - this date emerges from a statement by Horace - a 'grave proelium', a tough battle, took place in which Tiberius defeated the Vindeliker . "

After the campaign: Helvetia is assigned to Gaul, Raetia and Vindelicien are set up as a military district.

After the armies had been united and the source of the Danube had been explored, the Upper Rhine line was set up as a temporary border in the western section . At today's Bad Zurzach / Rheinheim, the XIX. Legion across the river and judged the 15 to 9 BC Roman camp in Dangstetten, which has been proven and excavated since 1967 . Presumably a larger bridgehead was formed from this base, because the destruction of the nearby Celtic oppidum in Altenburg-Rheinau also took place during this period .

Tiberius and Drusus subjugated the Breonen , Genaunen , Focunaten and Ambisonten, among others . The Tropaeum Alpium , a monument to victory, cannot be adequately interpreted with regard to the order in which the Alps were conquered, but it offers valuable information about the peoples in the Alps and the sub-tribes of the Helvetii, Raeter and Vindeliker.

"14 BC Finally the subjugation of the Ligurians in the Maritime Alps followed . "

The road connections across the Alps and in the foreland were expanded, the establishment of bases and civilian settlements was forced, the apron north of the High Rhine and to the Danube was secured, but since "there were no hostile peoples there, the area was already under [Kaiser]. Tiberius will be evacuated by legionary troops. ”“ In order to prevent possible unrest, Roman officers raised auxiliary troops ( auxilia ) from the youth of the subjugated people ; they removed this Raeter- and Vindeliker cohorts from their homes and sent them to the Rhine. "

Cassius Dio ( Roman History 54, 22) and Strabo ( Geographika 4, 6, 6-9 and 7, 1, 5) report on the Alpine campaign . Archaeological finds in the Roman camp in Dangstetten complement this knowledge .

The monument in the south of France

Victory Monument

The Tropaeum Alpium was 7/6 BC. Built in honor of Augustus and in memory of the conquest of the Alpine region. The remainder is at today's La Turbie in the Maritime Alps above Monaco . The text of an inscription, which names 46 subjugated tribes, has only survived in fragments, but has come down completely in the natural history of Pliny the Elder .

Further development

The northern border of the area along the Upper Rhine and Danube, which was occupied in the Alpine campaigns and then cultivated for a long time, was pushed forward by the Romans in several ventures to the line of the Upper German-Raetian Limes .

“Up to the late Iberian-Claudian period, Raetia , Vindelicien and the Vallis Poenina (Wallis) remained subordinate to the Germanic-Gallic command (province of Belgica) and were administered by an imperial prefect, then they received provincial status with one in the new under the collective name of Raetia founded capital Augusta Vindelicum (Augsburg) resident propraetoric legates at the head. Only under Marcus Aurelius was Raetia again the seat of a legion, the Legio III Italica in Castra Regina. "

Remarks

  1. ↑ In more recent archaeological research, after a renewed evaluation of existing finds, it is assumed that the Alpine foothills as far as the Upper Rhine began around 40 BC. After the fighting during the crossing of the Alps, the Roman armies were able to rely on a 'logistical network' during the march on the Upper Rhine and Danube after the Roman occupation was carried out in the manner of a Roman base (evaluations mainly in Vindonissa , and also today's Constance ). This (re) evaluation of archaeological material confirmed the long-term planning of the Alpine campaign: ( Stefanie Martin-Kilcher : Archaeological Traces of the Roman Occupation between the Alps and the Upper Rhine , p. 235 in: Lehmann / Wiegels (ed.): About the Alps and on the Rhine , Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Volume 37, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2015. ISBN 978-3-11-035447-8 .)
  2. ↑ M. Junkelmann: Die Legionen des Augustus , 1986, pp. 70 and 81. For the process, see also: Franz Schön: The beginning of Roman rule in Raetia. Sigmaringen 1986, pp. 36–38 .: Publius Silius Nerva penetrated into today's Val Trompia , through which the Mella flowed , and in which the Trumpilini lived, and into the valley of the Oglio , today's Val Camonica , which was inhabited by the Camunni . The defeated peoples were attributed to the nearest Roman city , i.e. That is, they were affiliated there with second-rate citizenship (“finitimis attributi municipiis”, Pliny 3, 20, 24).

literature

  • Karl Christ : History of the Roman Empire . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1995. ISBN 3-406-36316-4 .
  • Marcus Junkelmann : The Legions of Augustus. The Roman soldier in an archaeological experiment , ( Cultural History of the Ancient World . Vol. 33). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1986, ISBN 3-8053-0886-8 .
  • Jürg Rageth: Other early Roman militaria and other finds from the Oberhalbstein GR - evidence of the Alpine campaign. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Society for Prehistory and Protohistory 88, 2005.
  • Katrin Roth-Rubi among others: New view of the "Walensee towers". Complete find template and historical interpretation. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Society for Prehistory and Protohistory 87, 2004.
  • Werner Zanier : The Alpine Campaign 15 BC And the conquest of Vindelikiens. In: Bavarian history sheets . 64, 1999, pp. 99-132.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quotations in the section: Karl Christ : History of the Roman Empire . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1995, pp. 120-124. ISBN 3-406-36316-4 .
  2. ↑ Marcus Junkelmann : The legions of Augustus , cultural history of the ancient world, volume 33, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1986, p. 80. ISBN 3-8053-0886-8 .
  3. ↑ Christ: Kaiserzeit , 1995, p. 125.
  4. ↑ Marcus Junkelmann: Die Legionen des Augustus , Volume 33, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1986, p. 81.
  5. ↑ Junkelmann: Die Legionen des Augustus , 1986, p. 63 and 70. The unopposed connection is also confirmed in: Karl-Wilhelm Welwei : Römische Weltherrschaftsideologie und Augustische Germanienpolitik. In: Gymnasium 93, 1986, pp. 118-138.
  6. ↑ Christ: History of the Roman Empire , 1995, p. 126.
  7. ↑ a b Junkelmann: Die Legionen des Augustus , 1986, p. 70 f.
  8. ↑ Junkelmann: Die Legionen des Augustus , 1986, p. 81.
  9. ^ Philipp Filtzinger: The Roman Occupation of Baden-Württemberg , in: The Romans in Baden-Württemberg , Konrad-Theiss-Verlag, Stuttgart and Aalen 1976 (and later editions), p. 32. ISBN 3-8062-0133-1 .
  10. ↑ Marcus Junkelmann: The Legions of Augustus. The Roman soldier in the archaeological experiment. Mainz 1986, p. 71.