Sugambrer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roman Gaul and Germania on the right bank of the Rhine around AD 70.

The Sugambrer (also: Sigambrer , Sygambrer , Latin Sigambri , Sicambri , ancient Greek Σύγαμβροι ) were a West Germanic tribe that originally came from the Lower Rhine or the area between the Rhine and Lippe and which, completely or only partially, under Tiberius in 7 BC. Was resettled in areas on the left bank of the Rhine on the Meuse in the area of ​​the Sunuker . Strabo counted the Sugambrer together with the Cimbri to a Germanic tribal group that was located between the Rhine and the North Sea. The Sugambres are said to have had kings as the first of the Germanic tribal associations.

history

The origin of the trunk has not been finally clarified. The formation of the tribes was probably linked to the existing Celtic settlement and economic structures in the Sauerland and Siegerland . The Sugambri were believed to have been involved in the extraction or trade of lead from the Brilon area . Around 55 BC They were mentioned because they allowed the Romans to receive the Usipeters and Tenkers who were inferior to them and because they refused extradition to the Romans, citing the Rhine border. 53 BC They attacked the Roman military camp at Atuatuca , which was under the military leadership of Quintus Tullius Cicero .

In the year 16 BC BC Sugambrer, Usipeter and Tenkerer killed Romans in Germania on the right bank of the Rhine, then carried out a raid to Gaul and defeated the pursuing Roman troops of the governor Marcus Lollius , including the 5th Legion ( clades Lolliana ) . This defeat was undoubtedly a severe blow to Augustus' imperial prestige. The Germans withdrew from the dispute and entered into a (sham) peace.

The legionary camp Vetera controlled the settlement areas of the Sugambrer, Brukterer, Tenkerer and Usipeter tribes on the right bank of the Rhine opposite the mouth of the Lippe. It was precisely these peoples who were responsible for the incursions into Gaul. A connection between Veteras and the Westphalian Bay was established through the Lippetal .

Sugambrer under their king Maelo (or Melo) and allied Tenker and Usipeter broke in the year 12 BC. BC again entered Gaul when there was serious unrest there due to the first provincial census. Drusus pushed back the invaders with a troop contingent and opened on the other side of the Rhine immediately after August 1st, 12 BC. A punitive expedition that marked the beginning of the Drusus campaigns (12 to 8 BC). The invasion of Germania first went from the Lower Rhine area to the land of the Usipeters (southeast of today's province of Gelderland), then against the Sugambri, who settled between Lippe and Ruhr (whom Strabo calls the cause of the outbreak of war). The final subjugation of the Sugambres was only achieved by Tiberius in 8 BC. The tribal parts in the area on the left bank of the Rhine moved to the land of the Sunuker . In the area of Xanten they founded a settlement, from which the Colonia Ulpia Traiana emerged . Around this time the Roman camp in Oberaden was also abandoned, presumably because it had lost its function.

In the year 1 AD, the Sugambri probably took part in the immensum bellum ( 1-5 AD), an uprising of Germanic tribes. Deudorix, nephew of the former King Maelo, was taken as a prisoner in 17 AD in the triumphal procession of Germanicus in Rome. The name of the Sugambrer was preserved in the later tribal tradition of the Franks, so Clovis I was addressed as a "brave Sugambrer" when he was baptized by the Bishop of Reims.

Identification of the Sugambrer with other tribes

The tribe of the Cugernians (possibly "the cattle rich or cow-greedy") or Cuberner , who lived in the area of ​​the later Colonia Ulpia Traiana , probably emerged from the Sugambrians who settled there. Furthermore, some researchers are of the opinion that the Sugambrers are identical to the Gambrivians or Gamabrivians mentioned in Tacitus , one of the tribes who, together with Marsians , Suebi and Vandilians, claimed to be descended from the god Mannus . Pliny the Elder reported that this tribe settled directly on the Rhine, while Strabo localized it on the Weser together with Cheruscans and Chatten . There is also the opinion that the Martians can be identified with the Sugambri, who did not take part in the resettlement on the left bank of the Rhine.

Meaning of the name

The name of the Sugambrer has been handed down in different spellings; for example, “Sugambri”, “Sygambri”, “Sigambri”, “Sugambroi”, “Sugumbri”, “Sucambri” and “Sycambres” are mentioned. This makes a precise etymological interpretation of the name difficult, but mostly the Sugambrer and Gambrivier are put to a Germanic root "* Gambra" ("powerful, active, zeal"). There are also different interpretations of the name from the Celtic, e.g. B. from a root "* cam". "Su-" is a common Celtic prefix meaning "good" or "strong". The connection of the tribal name of the Sugambres with the regions Sauerland , Siegerland or the river Sieg are purely speculative and etymologically inconclusive.

Known members of the Sugambrians

Some Sugambrians are named in Augustus' deed and in Strabo : Maelo, king or prince of the Sugambrians, under whose command they were around 12 BC. Invaded Gaul, his brother Baitorix and his son Deudorix.

literature

supporting documents

  1. ^ Res Gestae Divi Augusti 32, 1 (reges) ; Strabon 7, 1, 4 ( ἠγεμῴν ).
  2. ↑ Gaius Iulius Caesar , De Bello Gallico 6, 35-41 .
  3. ↑ Res Gestae Divi Augusti 32, 1; Strabo 7, 1, 4.
  4. ↑ a b c Krüger, Die Germanen , Vol. 1, p. 408.
  5. ↑ Strabon 7, 1, 4.
  6. ↑ Krüger, Die Germanen , Vol. 1, p. 408; The Little Pauly , Vol. 2, Col. 689.
  7. ↑ Krüger, Die Germanen , Vol. 1, p. 523.
  8. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 4, 99.
  9. ↑ Reinhard Wenskus: Tribal formation and constitution , Böhlau, Cologne 1977 (2nd unchanged edition), p. 437 f.
  10. ↑ A. Sitzmann, FE Grünzweig, The old Germanic ethnonyms. A handbook on their etymology , p. 138.