History of the Romans in Germania
The history of the Romans in Germania spans a period of about five hundred years. 55 BC BC Caesar first crossed the Rhine with troops, from 13/12 BC. The general Drusus led several campaigns to Germania under Augustus . The ultimately unsuccessful attempts to make the area on the right bank of the Rhine up to the Elbe a province lasted almost 30 years ( Augustan German Wars ). The south of today's Germany was cultivated Roman. The traces of this time include a large number of archaeological finds from the street layout and manors to the founding of cities. In the 5th century AD, the Western Roman Empire collapsed under pressure from Germanic tribes .
Germania
The term "Germania" was first used in 80 BC. Passed down by the writer Poseidonios . It was also used by Gaius Iulius Caesar .
In his work Germania from AD 98, Tacitus represented Germania as a region that was settled by various Germanic tribes and was mainly bordered by the Rhine ( Rhenus ), Danube ( Danuvius ) and Vistula ( Vistula ).
Tacitus called among other tribes of the Batavians , chat , Tencteri , Usiper , Brukterer , chamavi , Angrivarii , Dulgubner , Chasuvarier , Friesen , Chauken , Cimbri , Suevi , Lombards , Reudigner , Avionen , Angher , Variner , Eudosen , Suardonen , Nuitonen , varisci , Marcomani , Quades , Marsigner , the Gallic Kotiner that Illyric Oser , Buren, Harier , Helvekonen , Manimer , Helisier , Nahanarvalen , Lugier , Goth , Suionen and Sitonen . The Peukiner , Venether and Finns , he expects more of the Sarmatians to.
The Ubier lived in what is now Hesse . The remains of the La Tène culture on the right bank of the Rhine are evidence of the Celtic influence.
First conflicts
The first battles with the Germans took place in 113 BC. When Boiorix defeated the Romans in the battle of Noreia . 105 BC BC the Romans lost the battle at Arausio .
The Roman general Gaius Marius , an uncle of Gaius Julius Caesar , succeeded in defeating the Teutons and Ambrones in the battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC. And the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae 101 BC To defeat BC.
Caesar's advances
Gaius Julius Caesar initially fought under Ariovist been discharged onto the left-bank side of the Germanic tribes charudes , Marcomanni , Triboci , Vangiones , Nemeter , Eudusier and Swabians . In September 58 BC BC he won the decisive battle in Alsace . Caesar subsequently conquered Bellum Gallicum in the years 58 to 50 BC. All settlement areas of the Celts in today's France and Belgium . Among other things, he had the Roman camp Hermeskeil built in the Hunsrück .
In his De bello Gallico report , Caesar also describes the geographic situation. After that, the Rhine represented the border with Germania. Between two naval expeditions to Britain (in the summer of 55 BC and in the spring of 54 BC), Caesar let in the late summer of 55 BC. Built a bridge over the Rhine and undertook an 18-day advance into Germania.
After the Teutons for their part had advanced across the Rhine, Caesar initiated 53 BC. A second expedition across the Rhine. The Suebi avoided a confrontation so that Caesar preferred to take action against Ambiorix . Caesar's two Rhine bridges are believed to be in the Neuwied Basin . Two Roman camps discovered in Limburg in 2012 are attributed to these expeditions.
Under the governorship of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa , 39/38 BC. Another crossing of the Rhine by the Romans took place. Until about 19/18 BC The Ubier were resettled to the left bank of the Rhine.
Expansion under Augustus
Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD), the great-nephew and heir of Gaius Julius Caesar, was from 31 BC. To the sole ruler of the Roman Empire.
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was governor of Gaul twice and had a road network built up to the Rhine and the junctions secured by troops. The foundation of Augusta Treverorum today Trier , fell in this period.
The Sugambres passed in 16 BC. BC probably north of today's Bonn the Rhine. The 5th Legion was destroyed in the Clades Lolliana and their legionary eagle captured. Emperor Augustus reformed the administration of Gaul. His next goal was to gain control of the Alpine passes and the foothills of the Alps .
Around 15 BC He had his step-sons Drusus and Tiberius , who later became emperor, perform in two army groups - in just one summer "the subjugation of the Alpine tribes and the occupation of the northern Alpine foothills " (Strabon, Geographika 4, 6, 9). To the west, Tiberius crossed the Upper Rhine with the bridgehead of the Roman camp Dangstetten , in the northeast of the Alpine region the province of Raetia was later formed. From the 15 BC The Augusta Vindelicorum military camp, which was laid out in BC , was later developed into Augsburg .
Drusus secured the left bank of the Rhine and its ways with forts. From 13/12 BC onwards Camps laid out in BC include: Bonna as today's Bonn , Asciburgium (today: Asberg ), a district of Moers, and Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum in today's Nijmegen . They later became part of the Lower Germanic Limes . The two legion camp Mogontiacum , today's Mainz, was also established . Due to its strategically favorable location on the Rhine opposite the mouth of the Main, the camp became one of the most important military bases on the Rhine. He had the Roman bridge near Mainz over the Rhine secured by the Castellum Mattiacorum (today Mainz-Kastel ) on the right bank of the Rhine .
The Vetera camp near today's Xanten served as the base for the campaigns and as the main base for the fleet, the Classis Germanica , the Drusus from 13 BC onwards. Was built. He caused 12 BC. The construction of the Drusus Canal and possibly other canals in order to reach the North Sea with ships from the Rhine via the Zuidersee ( Flevu Lacus ).
In the years 12 BC Until his death Drusus carried out exploratory expeditions east of the Rhine and reached the Elbe and Saale . His fleet sailed the Ems across the North Sea . He set up two camps inside the Germania magna . On the Lippe ( Lippia ) Drusus encountered the Sugambres and on the Elbe the Cheruscans.
In the year 11 BC The battle of Arbalo fell .
In the year 9 BC BC Drusus defeated Marbod in the Main area, which retreated far to the east and from 3 BC BC organized a powerful tribal union around the Marcomanni, which included Hermundurs , Lombards, Semnones and Vandals ; his royal seat became Marobudum . Drusus died 9 BC Chr. From the consequences of a broken leg, according to another source from an illness. Cassius Dio , Florus and Velleius Paterculus described his work .
Tiberius took over in 8 BC The supreme command in Germania until 6 BC. He moved around 40,000 Sugambrers and Suebi to the area on the left bank of the Rhine. Ports and forts were built along the Lippe to support the advance to the east. Among other things, the ships transported building materials.
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus invaded Illyricum as governor in 1 BC. In the area beyond the Elbe . As the commander of the army in Germania, he built the pontes longi ("long bridges").
Between the years 1 to 4 AD, there was unrest in Germania ( immensum bellum ) , as Velleius Paterculus reports.
After his return from Rhodes , Tiberius subjugated the Teutons as far as the Elbe between 4 and 5 AD. The Roman camp Anreppen an der Lippe was possibly built in 4 AD as Tiberius' winter camp.
Publius Quinctilius Varus was appointed commander on the Rhine in 7 AD. On the way back to the Vetera winter camp on the left bank of the Rhine in today's Xanten , a devastating battle was forced upon Varus in the autumn of 9 AD. His opponents in the Varus Battle were Cheruskers, Marser, Chatten, Brukterer and Chauken under the leadership of Arminius . Three legions ( XVII , XVIII , XIX ), three ales and six cohorts were lost. In particular, the cavalry tried to escape by escaping, and Gaius Numonius Vala was killed. Some refugees from the foot troops made it to the Aliso fort .
The Romans withdrew from the area on the right bank of the Rhine (the " Barbaricum "). Among other things, they left behind mining facilities. The Dorlar and Waldgirmes sites on the Lahn were also left . After this debacle, Tiberius was given the command. He drew Legions II , XIII and XX to the Rhine, but behaved reluctantly.
In 13 AD, Nero Claudius Germanicus , the nephew and adopted son of Tiberius, was given supreme command of eight legions.
Campaigns under Tiberius
In the spring of 14 AD Tiberius took over the imperial office. The legions stationed in Pannonia and Germania mutinied because of the harshness of the service, the length of the service period and the low wages. The Legio XIIII Gemina refused the oath of allegiance, and in a summer camp the four legions of the Lower Germanic army joined the mutiny. Germanicus stood by Tiberius. There were concessions.
Gaius Silius was appointed commander-in-chief of the Upper Germanic Army in AD 14 and remained in this position until AD 21. He commanded the legions II Augusta, XIII Gemina, XIIII Gemina and XVI Gallica. It is known that three of these four legions were based near Mainz.
Aulus Caecina Severus commanded the Lower Rhine legions I Germanica and XX Valeria Victrix from Cologne as well as the V Alaudae and XXI Rapax from Vetera. In the autumn of 14 AD Germanicus led a campaign against the Martians. In 15 AD, Germanicus took action against the Chatti and, according to Tacitus, destroyed their main town, Mattium , the location of which has not yet been clarified. Germanicus then led the Upper Rhine Legions II, XIII, XIIII and XVI into the area between Ems and Lippe. It came into the possession of the eagle of the Legion XIX (Minervia) and visited the battlefield of the Varus Battle. Arminius' father-in-law, the Cheruscan prince Segestes , who was friendly to Rome , delivered his pregnant wife Thusnelda to Germanicus in 15 AD .
Aulus Caecina Severus led the Lower Rhine Legions I, V, XX and XXI. In the summer of 15 Caecina was ambushed by Arminius on her way back from the Weser. The battle of the Pontes longi broke out . The news for the Roman troops on the Rhine was so alarming that Germanicus' wife Agrippina had to expressly forbid the demolition of the Rhine bridge at Vetera.
During his main campaign in 16 AD, Germanicus advanced as far as the Weser. Some of his troops were brought in via the North Sea and the Ems. In a victory over the Marser under Mallovendus , another legionary eagle was recovered. In the late summer of 16 AD there was a battle against Arminius on the Idistavisian field . Finally, on the way back, there was the battle of the Angrivarian Wall . The fleet also suffered losses from severe autumn storms. Germanicus was then recalled; his triumphal procession in Rome took place in May 17 AD. The warfare in Germania had become too expensive for Tiberius.
The total number of Roman losses in the Germanic campaigns of Germanicus is estimated at 20,000 to 25,000 men.
In 17 AD, Marbod waged war against Arminius. The Semnones and Lombards now supported Arminius, but Arminius' uncle Inguiomer had defected to competitor Marbod. Arminius defeated Marbod in an open field battle based on the Roman model.
In the year 21 AD Arminius was murdered by relatives. The Germanic aristocrats were crushed in the power struggle that followed.
Around 28 AD, the Frisians revolted against the Romans.
Time after Tiberius
Around AD 41, after a victory over the Chauken, the third legionary eagle lost in the Varus Battle is said to have been found.
Around 47 AD the Frisians rose again and were repulsed by Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo .
In AD 47, the situation of the Cherusci had become so desolate that they had to seek a suitable prince in Rome. Rome then granted them Italicus , son of Flavus . Flavus was Arminius' brother and always friendly to Rome. Chariomerus was one of the successors to Italicus .
In 69 AD the Batavian Rebellion began under the leadership of Iulius Civilis . The seer Veleda foresaw the successes of the Batavians. 5000 Roman soldiers were trapped in Vetera in September 69 AD. They had to surrender in March 70 AD. The fort was destroyed by the Batavians, as were a number of other camps. However, Iulius Civilis suffered a defeat in a battle near Trier against Quintus Petilius Cerialis in the summer of 70 AD. In the autumn there was a decisive battle at Vetera. Civilis had to give up. The Vetera II camp was rebuilt. Veleda was captured in AD 77 and led to Rome by Gaius Rutilius Gallicus . Then the trail of the two is lost.
In the years 83 to 85 AD, Titus Flavius Domitianus had the Chattas pushed back from the Wetterau to their home area on Fulda , Werra and Weser. Chariomerus was 88 AD by the.. Chat marketed; he asked Emperor Domitian for help in vain.
Around the year 85 AD Domitian established the provinces Germania superior and Germania inferior . The seat of the governor of Germania superior was Mogontiacum , today's Mainz .
The capital of the Germania inferior province was Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium , today's Cologne . Around the year 80 AD, Roman soldiers had already built the 95.4 km long Eifel aqueduct. In operation until around AD 260, it supplied Cologne with 20,000 m³ of water a day.
In the year 89 AD the Roman troops in Mainz proclaimed their commander Lucius Antonius Saturninus to be anti-emperor. However, the uprising was suppressed and Saturninus was killed. A campaign was carried out against the Chattas who had sympathized with him.
Around 98 AD, in Trajan's time , Tacitus sums up:
- “Our city was going into the six hundred and forty year - Caecilius Metellus and Papirius Carbo were consuls (113 BC) - that was when we first heard of the weapons of the Cimbri. If we calculate from then to the second consulate of Emperor Traian, it will be about 210 years. That is how long Germania has been defeated. In this long time there were heavy losses on both sides ... "
In 110 AD a Cugernian settlement near Xanten was elevated to the status of Colonia Ulpia Traiana .
Time of the Limes in Germania
The borders of the Roman Empire were marked by so-called limits . The planning and preparation goes back to Emperor Domitian . One of its main tasks was the prevention of goods smuggling , and as a military defense facility it is usually no longer understood by recent research.
From 120 AD the approximately 548 kilometers long Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes was built between the Rhine near Rheinbrohl and the Eining fort near the later legionary camp of Castra Regina ( Regensburg ). It eventually comprised around 900 watchtowers and 120 large and small troop camps. In Regensburg began Donaulimes , also with numerous camps as Vindobona ( Vienna ) and Carnuntum provided. The Danube formed the natural border between the provinces of Noricum and Pannonia to the north. However, there were close economic and political contacts between the empire and "Free Germania". The province of Germania superior included the Civitas Taunensium (administrative headquarters Nida , today Frankfurt-Heddernheim ), the Civitas Auderiensium , Civitas Ulpia Sueborum Nicrensium (administrative headquarters Lopodunum , today Ladenburg ) and others.
The year 145 AD is considered to be a point in time at which an epoch with lower temperatures and unfavorable climatic factors began, which is said to have lasted until 285 AD. What is certain is that the unrest increased. The Chattin invaded Upper Germany in 162 AD. The Marcomanni, Quaden , Narisker and Jazygen advanced as far as northern Italy and threatened Verona in 167 AD . Mark Aurel had two new legions set up and crossed the Danube in the counteroffensive 169. In 179 the new legion camp Castra Regina was built in what is now Regensburg .
In the 3rd century, new Germanic tribal associations had developed that were larger and more powerful than the earlier ones. Since at the same time the threat to the Roman borders in the Orient increased massively, where the attacks of the Sassanids began around this time , the Teutons were able to benefit from the ties to Rome on other fronts. The Alemanni appeared for the first time in 213 and were initially defeated by Emperor Caracalla am Main, later disputes ended in a draw. Caracalla could buy peace. In 233 the Alemanni broke through the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes and plundered Roman territory. In 235 Severus Alexander negotiated a peace with them, but was murdered by his own disaffected soldiers.
His successor Maximinus Thrax pushed the Alemanni back in 235 and led his troops deep into Germanic territory: The so-called Harzhorn event in what is now the district of Northeim in Lower Saxony is interpreted as a trace of Roman soldiers from that year. In 241 the Alamanni broke through the Limes again. Emperor Gallienus is said to have repulsed the Teutons five more times. In the battle of Abrittus on the lower Danube against the Goths, 251 Emperor Decius and his son were killed.
In 259/260 Franks and Alamanni broke through the Upper German-Rhaetian Limes again ( Limesfall ). The Juthungen were defeated by the Romans in a two-day battle in the spring of 259, to which the Augsburg victory altar testifies, when they were on their way home with their booty and prisoners. The Colonia Ulpia Traiana were destroyed by the Franks. In view of the changed situation, the Romans cleared the Limes and the Dekumatland in the following period ; the imperial troops withdrew to the militarily more sensible river borders on the Rhine and Danube, which were secured by numerous fortresses ( Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes ).
Under Postumus , in the years 259 to 274, there was a separate Gallic empire, the Imperium Galliarum , because the Roman headquarters were temporarily not trusted to effectively defend Gaul and Britain. First Cologne became the residence, then Trier. Aurelian subjugated the territories again to Rome, and Marcus Aurelius Probus pushed the Franks and Alemanni back from Gaul in 277 and pursued them over the Neckar and into the Swabian Alb . He drove Burgundians , Goths and Vandals from Raetia in 278 .
Late antiquity
In late antiquity , Emperor Diocletian fought against the Alamanni in 288 and penetrated as far as the sources of the Danube . Constantine the Great came to Cologne in 310 and left the soldiers of the XXII. Legion build a solid wooden bridge over the Rhine with stone river pillars in order to be able to carry out campaigns on the right bank of the Rhine. The bridgehead was secured by the Divitia fort , now Cologne-Deutz . In late antiquity, the settlement near today's Xanten in the former Colonia Ulpia Traiana was re-established as a smaller Tricensimae . Around 300 the border of the empire was re-fortified by the Danube-Iller-Rhein-Limes .
In 352 the Franks and Alemanni attacked what is now Palatinate, Alsace and Switzerland. The Caesar Julian , who was later elevated to the emperor, first won the 355/56 occupied city of Cologne by the Franks back. At the Battle of Argentoratum in the autumn of 357 he defeated the Alamanni under Chnodomar . In 358 he defeated the Franks . According to a note from Ammianus Marcellinus , he even temporarily reoccupied part of the old Limes.
Emperor Gratian led the great battle of Colmar against the invading Lentiens in 378 . The decision brought the battle of Argentovaria , about which Ammianus Marcellinus also reports. Gratian then carried out the last Roman campaign on the right bank of the Rhine, which, however, delayed his campaign to the east, where he had been called to support: The Eastern Emperor Valens was defeated in 378 in the Battle of Adrianople against the Visigoths , which traditionally marked the beginning of the great Migration of peoples (378-568) applies.
After the death of Emperor Theodosius I and the division of the empire in 395 , a large part of the western Roman troops were withdrawn from the Rhine to secure Italy against the Visigoths. Several Germanic tribes used this to invade the Roman Rhine provinces and all of Gaul in the year 406 after the Rhine crossing (probably near Mainz). The Suebi came to northern Spain, the Burgundians established themselves along the Rhine. The sphere of influence of the western Roman state decreased more and more, even if under Constantius III. Once again a certain consolidation could be achieved: Around 420 the Romans controlled the Rhine border again together with the Burgundian foederati . But there was no real recovery. In the battle of the Catalaunian fields in 451 a Roman-Visigoth army under Aëtius defeated the Huns under Attila , who had previously devastated northern Gaul. Teutons fought on both sides. The Western Roman Empire finally ended in 476 when Odoacer and barbaric auxiliaries deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus in Rome and banished them to Naples.
In 486 the Franks defeated Syagrius in the battle of Soissons , who saw himself as a Roman ruler in Gaul and who had probably maintained a remnant of Roman rule on the Rhine. In 493 the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great defeated the Roman-Germanic troops in the Battle of Ravenna under Odoacer; the area up to the Danube and Lake Constance initially remained under Ostrogothic rule, which preserved many Roman-ancient traditions, but fell to the Franks in the 530s at the latest.
See also
Source collections
- Hans-Werner Goetz , Karl-Wilhelm Welwei : Old Germania. Extracts from ancient sources about the Germanic peoples and their relationship to the Roman Empire . 2 volumes. WBG, Darmstadt 1995, ISBN 3-534-05958-1 .
- Hans-Werner Goetz, Steffen Patzold , Karl-Wilhelm Welwei: The Teutons in the Migration Period. Excerpts from the ancient sources about the Germanic peoples from the middle of the 3rd century to the year 453 AD . Selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages, Freiherr-vom-Stein commemorative edition. WBG, Part I. Darmstadt 2006; Part II Darmstadt 2007.
literature
- Rudolf Aßkamp, Kai Jansen (ed.): Triumph without victory. Rome's end in Germania. Zabern, Darmstadt 2017.
- Heinz Günter Horn : The Romans in North Rhine-Westphalia. Theiss, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-8062-0312-1 . Reprinted by Nikol Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-933203-59-7 .
- Ralf Günter Jahn: The Roman-Germanic War (9–16 AD) . Dissertation. Bonn 2001.
- Johann Sebastian Kühlborn: Germaniam pacavi - I pacified Germania. Archaeological sites of the Augustan occupation. Munster 1995.
- Johann-Sebastian Kühlborn : On the march into the Germania Magna. Rome's war against the Teutons . In: Martin Müller, Hans-Joachim Schalles and Norbert Zieling (eds.): Colonia Ulpia Traiana. Xanten and its surroundings in Roman times . Zabern, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3953-7 , pp. 67-91.
- Ulrike Riemer: The Roman policy on Germania. From Caesar to Commodus. Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-17438-0 . ( Review by H-Soz-u-Kult , Review by Sehepunkte ).
- Helmuth Schneider (ed.): Hostile neighbors. Rome and the Teutons . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20219-4 .
- Dieter Timpe: Roman-Germanic encounter in the late republic and early imperial times. Requirements - confrontations - effects. Collected Studies . Saur, Munich & Leipzig, 2006, ISBN 3-598-77845-7 .
- Herwig Wolfram : The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples: A narrative of origin and arrival. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2018.
- Reinhard Wolters : The Romans in Germania . 5th edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-44736-8 .
- Reinhard Wolters: The battle in the Teutoburg Forest. Arminius, Varus and Roman Germania. 1st, revised, updated and expanded edition. CH Beck, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-69995-5 .
Remarks
- ^ Tacitus, Germania
- ↑ For the first time Roman castles of Gaius Julius Caesar in Hesse recorded. hessenARCHEOLOGY ( online )
- ↑ Kerst Huisman: De Drususgrachten: een nieuwe hypothesis . In: Westerheem, 44 (1995), 188-194.
- ^ Velleius Paterculus 2, 104.2
- ↑ a b Klaus-Peter Johne : The Romans on the Elbe: The Elbe river basin in the geographical world view. Akademie-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-05-003445-9
- ↑ Peter Kehne : Germanicus . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , Volume 11, 1998, ISBN 3-11-015832-9 , pp. 438-448
- ↑ Cassius Dio 67, 5; Maximilian Ihm : Cherusci. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 2, Stuttgart 1899, Col. 2270-2272.
- ↑ Cassius Dio 67, 5; Maximilian Ihm : Cherusci. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 2, Stuttgart 1899, Col. 2270-2272.
- ^ Tacitus, Germania 37
- ↑ Why the Romans suddenly wore boots , 2007
- ^ Günther Moosbauer : The forgotten Roman battle. The sensational find on the Harzhorn. Munich 2018.