Marser (Germania)

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Outline of the Germanicus campaign in AD 14.

The Marser (Latin: Marsi , Greek  οἱ Μαρσοί ) were a small Germanic tribe that settled between the Rhine ( Rhenus ), Ruhr and Lippe ( Lupia ). The Martians tribe arose from a split from the remains of the Sugambrers on the right bank of the Rhine . This tribe was under Tiberius in the year 8 BC. During the Drusus campaigns (12 to 8 BC) it was relocated to the left bank of the Rhine around Xanten ( Roman camp Vetera ) in the area of ​​the Kugerner . The Martians were first mentioned by Strabo and several times by Tacitus , the latter especially in connection with the Germanicus campaigns when the Romans attacked them in AD 14. The unsuspecting Martians, who were celebrating a festival in their villages and were too drunk to react to this surprise attack, were killed by the Roman soldiers, whether men or women, old or young.

The Martians had taken part in the uprising against the Romans in 9 AD ( Varus Battle ) and were now defeated in Germanicus' vengeance campaigns. According to Tacitus ( Annals 1, 51), in addition to the central Tanfana sanctuary , which cannot be precisely located, a land area of ​​50 Roman miles was completely devastated with fire and sword: "No gender, no age found mercy."

In the campaign against the Martians, Germanicus led not only at least 12,000 legionary soldiers but also 26 cohorts of auxiliary troops (sociae cohortes) and 8 cavalry squadrons (equitum alae) . Also because of these atrocities, which Germanicus had wreaked not only on the Martians, but also on the Chattas in the spring of 15 AD, the Germanic tribes, who were often at odds with one another, found themselves together again in order to be able to take action against the Romans. Germanicus had an army more than twice as strong as Varus at the time . In 16 AD, the Aquila of Legio XVII of Germanicus was regained by the Martians. The Germanicus campaigns were broken off after two years of intense but not decisive fighting, and the Romans withdrew behind the Rhine.

The sources say nothing about the further history of the Martians.

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literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Wolters: The Romans in Germania (= Beck'sche series. Vol. 2136). 6th revised and updated edition. Munich 2011, p. 37.
  2. ^ Matthew Bunson: Encyclopedia of the Roman empire , Sonlight Christian, 2002, ISBN 978-0816045624 , p. 313.
  3. ↑ Klaus-Peter Johne : The Romans on the Elbe. The river basin of the Elbe in the geographical world view and in the political consciousness of Greco-Roman antiquity , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-05-003445-4 , p. 171.