Cherusci

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The Cherusker ([ çeʁʊskɐ ] or [ keʁʊskɐ ], Latin Cherusci , ancient Greek Χηρούσκοι Cherouskoi or Χαιρουσκοί Chairouskoi ) were a tribal confederation in ancient Germania , the area on both sides of the upper river basin of the Weser in today's East Westphalia and Lower Saxony to the Elbe lived. Little information is known about its history.

Surname

In the 16th century at the latest, there was speculation about it, including daring speculations that Cheruscan could be translated as "Härzer" (from Harz ). This was already believed by Martin Luther , who in his table discussions of Arminius said that he was "a Hartzer or Hartzlender nomine Hermannus".

In 19th and 20th century research, there were several theories about the origin of the word. Jacob Grimm saw a connection to the Gothic word hairus or the Old English heoru for sword . The Old Norse horskr for “the clever” is also a possible connection. Others, such as Rudolf Much , Edward Schröder and Otto Höfler , derived the word totemistically from the common Germanic herut ( deer ) and justified this with the large role that the deer played in Germanic symbolism . This assessment is now considered the most likely and the ethnonym Germanic. As a result, the former district of Alfeld (Leine) has a deer in its coat of arms. Alternatively, Hans Kuhn pointed out that the suffix sk is not Germanic, or rather unusual as such. He sees a compound that is neither purely Roman nor Germanic and therefore linked to Indo-European linguistic material from the northwest block.

Settlement area

Map of the Germanic tribes around AD 50

The Cheruscan people were first mentioned in the font De bello Gallico by the Roman general Gaius Iulius Caesar . He reported that the Cherusci and Suebi were separated from each other by the great forest bacenis silva . There are few other indications of their geographical settlement area. Strabo only mentioned them as one of the smaller Germanic peoples, while Pliny the Elder counted them among the Herminones , along with the Suebi, Chattas and Hermundurs . Tacitus regarded them as neighbors chatting and Chauken . The most precise information was left by Claudius Ptolemy , who wrote that the Cherusci lived south of the Kalukonen living on the Elbe and that their area extended to the Harz . It is therefore assumed that the Cheruscan settlement area was between the Weser , Elbe and Harz mountains. However, other reports indicate that this area also extended west of the Weser. In the north, the Angrivarian Wall separated the Cherusci from the Angrivarians .

history

In the years between 12 BC BC and AD 16, the Romans under Drusus , Tiberius , Varus and Germanicus waged wars against the Cheruscans ( Auguste Teutonic Wars ). In the year 11 BC In the course of the Drusus campaigns (12 to 8 BC) Drusus penetrated as far as the Cheruscans, but this did not prevent them, in association with other tribes, from marching back the Roman army at Arbalo and almost destroying it to beat. In the year 9 BC Another campaign of Drusus took place. Possibly the Cherusci were pursued as far as the Elbe; however, the tribe did not cross the Elbe. The fatal accident of Drusus in 9 BC BC probably took place in Cheruscan territory. In the year 8 BC BC Tiberius achieved the subjugation of the Cheruscans presumably through diplomatic channels (Cheruscan embassy to Gaul to Augustus).

Between 7 BC The Cheruscans were considered friends of Rome. However, tensions seem to have arisen around the turn of the ages , which erupted in 1 AD in a general revolt of Germanic tribes, the immensum bellum (1–5 AD). 4 AD Tiberius was able to reintegrate the Cheruscans into the Roman system of rule. As a result, the Cherusci were considered allies ( socii , foederati ). Increasing interference in the internal affairs of the Cherusci, probably also violations of the Romans against contractual agreements, increased the anti-Roman resistance.

The climax of these disputes was the Varus Battle (9 AD), in the course of which three Roman legions were wiped out. In these battles the Cheruscans stood under their leader Arminius at the head of a tribal alliance of Brukterians and Marsers , perhaps also Chatters and attackers . The participation of other tribes such as the Usipeter , Chattuarier , Tubanten , Mattiaker or Landern at least in the fighting after the battle is possible, but not proven. In the years that followed, the Arminius coalition resisted the attempts of Tiberius and especially Germanicus (from 13 AD) to subjugate the tribes again, which was successful in the end . After heavy fighting and high Roman losses in the Germanicus campaigns (14 to 16 AD), Tiberius forbade further warfare in Germania. For Tacitus the Cheruscan prince Arminius was "without a doubt the liberator of Germania".

In 17 AD, the alliance, expanded to include Semnones and Lombards , also defeated the army of the Marcomannic king Marbod .

The internal feuds after the death of Arminius (21 AD) fell victim to almost the entire class of the Cherusci princes, so that in AD 47 they asked in Rome that Italicus , the last of the Arminius family, be given to the To be allowed to appoint a king. But its success in pacifying the tribe was also limited. One of his successors, King Chariomerus , was driven from the Chattas around the year 88 AD and appealed to Emperor Domitian for help in vain.

Tacitus reports that the Chatti subjugated the Cherusci. After that they can no longer be grasped. Later the name represents contemporary names in poetry as a reminiscence of a once threatening barbarian tribe.

Older research believed this to be evidence of the persistence of the ethnic group. It was not until the 4th century that their tribe should have risen up among the Saxons . A further existence of the Cherusci is also linked to features of the dialect and place names. But this is not considered convincing. The place name Harxbüttel z. B. is not derived from the name "Cherusker", but from the personal name Herike via the attested form Herikesgibutle .

It is assumed that the surviving Cheruscans have assimilated other ethnic groups into whose political communities they had to integrate .

Remarks

  1. ^ Wilhelm Raabe, Karl Hoppe, Jost Schillemeit, Eberhard Rohse (eds.): Complete works , The Odfeld. Der Lar, Vol. 17, Göttingen 1966, 2nd edition 1981, p. 405.
  2. ↑ Rainer Kipper: The Germanic myth in the German Empire: Forms and Functions , Göttingen 2002, p. 43.
  3. ^ Jacob Grimm: History of the German language , Vol. 2, 2nd edition, Leipzig 1853, p. 426. This is also the case with Friedrich Schmitthenner: Short German Dictionary for Etymology, Synonymics and Orthography , Darmstadt 1834, p. 244.
  4. Jump up ↑ Günter Neumann: Cherusker, § 1 Namenkundliches , in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 4, 1981, p. 430f. Rudolf Much: Die Germania des Tacitus , 3rd edition, Winter, Heidelberg 1967. S. 411f.
  5. ^ Hans Kuhn: Arminius . In: RGA, 1, 1973 pp. 420-21. That. In: Westfälische Forschungen 12, 1959, p. 36
  6. ↑ Caesar: De bello Gallico 6.10.
  7. ↑ Strabon 7,291.
  8. ↑ Pliny: Naturalis historia 4,100.
  9. ^ Tacitus: Germania 36.
  10. ↑ Ptolemy 2:11, 10.
  11. ↑ For example Velleius Paterculus 2.105 and Cassius Dio 54.33.
  12. ↑ Tacitus: Annales 2:19.
  13. ↑ a b c Kehne 2008, p. 18
  14. ↑ Kehne 2008, p. 21
  15. ↑ On this Ralf Günter Jahn, Der Römisch-Germanische Krieg (9–16 AD) , Bonn 2001, pp. 117f.
  16. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 2,88,2
  17. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 2, 44-46.
  18. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 11: 16-17.
  19. ^ Cassius Dio, epitome 67.5.
  20. ↑ Reinhard Wenskus: Cherusker , in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , Vol. 4 (1981), pp. 431-435; Reinhard Wolters: The battle in the Teutoburg Forest. Arminius, Varus and Roman Germania. 1st, revised, updated and expanded edition. Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-69995-5 , p. 174 f.
  21. ↑ 3 examples in Max Ihm , sv Cheruski , in: RE III, 2, 1899, col. 2272.
  22. ^ Colonel Streccius , sv Cherusker , in: Bernhard von Poten (ed.), Concise dictionary of the entire military sciences. Volume 2, Bielefeld and Leipzig 1877, p. 235.
  23. ↑ Reinhard Wenskus, Cherusker, Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Vol. 4 1981, 434.
  24. ↑ Reinhard Wenskus: Cherusker , in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , Vol. 4 (1981), here p. 434; Reinhard Wolters: The battle in the Teutoburg Forest. Arminius, Varus and Roman Germania. 1st, revised, updated and expanded edition. Munich 2017, p. 174 f.

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