Mattiaker

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Map of the Germanic tribes around 50 AD (excluding Scandinavia)

The Mattiaci (Latin Mattiaci , Greek: οι Ματτιακοί) were probably a Germanic part tribe of chat that around Wiesbaden ( Aquae Mattiacorum ) , in the Taunus and the Wetterau sat. In addition to the local proximity and the similarity of the name to Mattium , the main place of the Chatti, the naming directly after the Batavern at Tacitus , for which he also describes a descent from the Chatti, would speak for an ancestry.

The Mattiaker did not have to pay any taxes, but they did help the Romans in the fight, making them an outpost of Roman rule on the border with Germania. Tacitus writes in his Germania in chapter 29 about the Mattiaker:

“Free of burdens and taxes and reserved solely for combat purposes, the Batavians are saved like defense and weapons for wars. The Mattiaker tribe is equally dependent. Because the sovereignty of the Roman people has earned respect beyond the Rhine and beyond the old imperial borders. So they have territory and residence on the Germanic side, but heart and disposition with us. Otherwise they are similar to the Batavern, only that the soil and climate of their country have endowed them with even greater liveliness. "

In the course of the 1st century AD, the Mattiakers increasingly emancipated themselves from the Chattas and mostly, with the exception of the Batavian uprising , pursued a policy that was friendly to Rome. Last but not least, the location of their settlement area opposite the Mogontiacum / Mainz double region camp will have forced them to act in this way. The Romans regarded the tribe and its area as an area of ​​influence, which is well documented by the construction of the forts Wiesbaden, Mainz-Kastel ( Castellum Mattiacorum ) and Hofheim under the Julio-Claudian emperors. Again Tacitus mentions in the Annales the establishment of mines in search of silver in the Mattiaker area in AD 47 by the legate Curtius Rufus . However, the company brought the soldiers little effort and little income and was soon abandoned, however, Curtius Rufus was awarded the triumph insignia by Emperor Claudius .

With the Chat Wars of Emperor Domitian and the establishment of the Limes , the tribe finally became part of the empire. The area became the civil administration of the Civitas Mattiacorum . According to a milestone found in Mainz-Kastel , this is to be set before the year 122 AD, probably still in the Trajan period, since the civitas possibly also bore his name.

In addition to the numerous finds from the area around Wiesbaden from the Roman Empire, the inscriptions confirm the Tacitus report and the Romanization of the Mattiakers. Several inscriptions from the Roman province of Moesia inferior (Lower Moesia ) name a cohors II Mattiacorum . It is also proven there by brick stamps in the Dinogetia fort . There is also a cohors III Mattiacorum (AE 1916, 00065) from Moesia Inferior, for which no other written evidence is available. Even after the fall of the Limes , when the Alemannic Germans settled in the former area of ​​the Mattiaker, their name does not seem to have completely disappeared. The late antique Notitia dignitatum names Mattiaci iuniores in Gaul and Mattiaci seniores in Italy as part of the late antique Roman army.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Moritz Schönfeld: Mattiaci. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIV, 2, Stuttgart 1930, Sp. 2320-2322 .; Wolfgang Jungandreas:  Chatting. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 4, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-006513-4 , p. 378 .; Harald von Petrikovits ibid. P. 379.
  2. ↑ Tacitus, Annales 11:20 .
  3. ↑ CIL 13,9125 .
  4. ↑ Assumed after reading an inscription from Mainz C (ivitas) U (lpia) M (attiacorum) ( CIL 13, 7061 ).
  5. ↑ u. a. CIL 3, 7620 ; CIL 3, 12449 ; CIL 3, 14428 as well as several military diplomas .
  6. ↑ distress. dign. occ. V 61 = 209.
  7. ↑ distress. dign. occ. V 164 = VII 15.