Theories and speculations about the location of the Varus Battle

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The theories and speculations to the site of the Varus Battle have emerged in large numbers, particularly since the beginning of the 16th century, when Tacitus -Werke Germania and Annales were rediscovered.

The activities of the Romans in Germania extended to central Germany . According to the traditions of various Roman authors, the Varus Battle , which lasted several days, took place in northern Germany in 9 AD when the army of Varus was ambushed by a Germanic army led by Arminius . The attack ended with the annihilation of three Roman legions .

Overview

Wall castles in the Weserbogen ( Babilonie , Dehmer Burg , Amelungsburg (Süntel) , Grotenburg , Tönsberg Lager , Hünenburg , Herlingsburg , Piepenkopf ).

The assumptions about the possible location of the battle are essentially based on the naming of place and river names as well as the description of the topography by the ancient writers, on investigations of the road network of that time, on field names and on archaeological finds. Only some of the assumptions are scientifically based theories.

The prehistorian and provincial archaeologist Harald von Petrikovits bundled the multitude into four units in 1966:

  • according to the northern theory on the northern edge of the Wiehengebirge and Wesergebirge
  • according to Lippe's theory in the eastern half of the Teutoburg Forest or between this and the Weser
  • according to the Münsterland theory south of the Teutoburg Forest near Beckum or just east of it and
  • according to the southern theory in the mountainous region southeast of the Münsterland Bay .

Other researchers suspect the site of the battle

Theories and speculations

Belgii Veteris by Abraham Ortelius

The hundreds of theories and speculations include:

  • Theodor Engelhusen set the battle site near Mainz in 1434 .
  • Georg Spalatin , who wrote the first biography of Arminius in 1535, suspected the battle site to be in Duisburg .
  • Friedrich Köhler located the Varus Battle in 1925 in the area around the Almetal and Möhnetal. He identified the burial mound built by the legions of Germanicus for the fallen Romans with the "mountain of bones" near Hemmern .
  • In 1930 Hermann Kreye suspected the slaughter site on the right side of the Weser.
  • In 1956 Walther Pflug localized the Varus Battle in the Tautenburg Forest near Jena in his book "Media in Germania" . In the districts of Vesta and Goddula of the city of Bad Dürrenberg he suspected the ramparts of the Varian camp and the burial mounds built by the legions of Germanicus for the fallen Romans (field name "Leichenhügel") - he could not provide archaeological evidence.
  • Heinz Winter , local researcher from Bochum, came to the conclusion in 1979 that the Varus Battle must have taken place in the central Ruhr .
  • Wilhelm Leise analyzed the routes of the foot troops along the watershed and in 1986 came to the conclusion that the Varus Battle took place in the area of ​​the Brilon plateau . However, he could not show any archaeological finds.
  • Heinz Ritter-Schaumburg , private scholar, said that Cassius Dio wrote incorrectly at Tacitus, because the exact report on the retreat battle of Germanicus at the "Long Bridges" (Knüppeldamm) reinterprets Dio as the Varus Battle. In his opinion, referring to Florus and Velleius , the surprise probably took place on the occasion of the birthday celebration of the Emperor Augustus on September 23rd in the main camp of Varus. He suspected the camp to be in the wider area of ​​the Externsteine .
  • Peter Glüsing , former Academic Senior Councilor at the Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory of the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster , suspects the battle site to be in eastern Westphalia.
  • Rainer Friebe , architect and hobby archaeologist, saw a camp near Hameln in Amisia in Rome and assumed the slaughter site to be a maximum of 100 km to the east. He believed that he could assign finds in Zilly near Halberstadt to the battle site.
  • In 2005, Wilm Brepohl , deputy head of the cultural affairs department of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association, put forward the theory that Varus had disrupted a festival of sacrifices on the Teutoburg with a troop deployment, at which all Germans capable of military service were gathered, and thus triggered a scandal that Arminius foresaw and exploited . He suspected the solution in the search for the high-ranking site on a hill still to be searched for.
  • Albert Bömer , innkeeper and historical researcher, wrote in 2006 that the Varus Battle took place in the Dutch Achterhoek. He equated the Klever Landwehr with the Limites mentioned in Paterculus and Tacitus . At Römerrast he suspected the place that Abraham Ortelius referred to as Aliso camp. He used place names such as Varsseveld in the German-Dutch border area.
  • In 2006 Peter Oppitz suspected that the Varus Battle had occurred in Paderborn . He claimed that Dio Cassius should not be taken seriously and that Velleius Paterculus, Tacitus and Florus should be translated differently in some places.
  • Annette Panhorst interprets Lupia as the river Hase (Latin Lepia) and in 2017 located the fighting between Melle and Bad Essen , in particular the district of Fledder in Osnabrück . It refers to the supply route between the Roman camps Xanten and Minden, which led from the Osnabrück Hasetor along the Hase and Else to the Werre Valley , i.e. across today's Grönegau .

In 2009 it was the two thousandth anniversary of the battle. The celebrations of this important event in the history of the Romans and Teutons took place in the Lippisches Landesmuseum , the Kalkriese Museum and Park and the Haltern Roman Museum .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald von Petrikovits: Arminius . In: Rheinisches Landesmuseum (ed.): Bonner Jahrbücher 166 . Bonn, 1966, p. 175 ff
  2. ↑ a b Elke Stein-Hölkeskamp, ​​Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp: Places of remembrance of antiquity: the Roman world. ( online ).
  3. ↑ Georg Spalatin: From the thewrern German prince Arminio: a brief excerpt from credible Latin histories: compiled by Georgium Spalatinum and translated into German. , Wittenberg, 1535.
  4. ^ Johannes Cincinnius: Van der niderlage drijer legionen , 1539.
  5. ↑ Justus Möser: Osnabrückische Geschichte , 1780, p. 159, quoted from [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.kalkriese-varusschlacht.de  
  6. ^ LWL: History of archeology in Westphalia.
  7. ^ Wilhelm Tappe: The true area and line of the three-day Hermann Battle with one map . Essen, 1820.
  8. ↑ J. Carl Friedrich Petersen: The church district Weitmar, or about the area where Hermann struck the Varus. Along with a card. Bädeker, Essen 1823.
  9. ↑ Theodor Mommsen: The locality of the Varus battle . Berlin 1885.
  10. ↑ Tony Clunn: In Search of the Lost Legions. 1998, ISBN 978-3-932147-45-6 .
  11. ↑ Friedrich Knoke: The Varus camp near Iburg. 1900.
  12. ↑ Friedrich Köhler: Where was the Varus Battle? New research and discoveries. Dortmund 1925.
  13. ↑ Hermann's liberation struggles against Rome. The Varus Battle and its location. Hermann's fights against the legions of Rome. Helwingsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Hanover 1930.
  14. ^ Walther Pflug: Media in Germania. 1. A representation of the Roman expansion in Germania. Schröter, Gießen-Rödgen 1956.
  15. ^ Heinz Winter: Hochgericht und Herrlichkeit Stiepel. Varus battle between Bochum and Witten. Bochum 1979.
  16. ↑ Georg Schumacher: The Varus Battle in the Beckum Mountains and the Roemerlager Aliso near Lippborg. 1st edition. Self-published, Beckum 1982.
  17. ^ Wilhelm Leise: Where Arminius beat the Romans. Paths on watersheds lead to the site of the Varus battle. Aschendorf, Münster 1986, ISBN 3-402-05207-5 .
  18. ↑ Heinz Ritter-Schaumburg: The Cheruscan. Arminius fighting against the Roman world power. Herbig-Verlag, Munich-Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-7766-1544-3 , new edition with the same content under the title Hermann der Cherusker. The battle in the Teutoburg Forest and its consequences for world history. VMA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-928127-99-8 .
  19. ↑ Peter Glüsing: The true meaning of Kalkrieses.
  20. ^ Peter Glüsing: 2000 years of Romans in Westphalia , Münster 1989.
  21. ^ Rolf Bökemeier: The Varus Battle. Grabert-Verlag , 2000, ISBN 3-87847-190-4 .
  22. ^ Rolf Bökemeier: Romans on Lippe and Weser - New discoveries about the Varus Battle in the Teutoburg Forest. Höxter, 2004, ISBN 3-87847-190-4 .
  23. ↑ Rainer Friebe: Secured by towers, protected by the sword, ... Varus battle near Halberstadt. The solution to all the great riddles from Roman times in Germania. Halberstadt, 1999, ISBN 3-933046-36-X .
  24. ↑ Wilm Brepohl: New considerations on the Varus Battle. 2005.
  25. ^ Albert Bömer: Clades Variana.
  26. ↑ Peter Oppitz, Ursula Rudischer: The secret of the Varus battle . Zagara-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-019973-8 .
  27. ^ Siegfried Schoppe, Christian Schoppe, Stephan Schoppe: White Book Hermannsschlacht . Osning-Verlag, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-9814963-8-3 .
  28. ↑ Martin Hülsemann: Alisonensis.
  29. ↑ http://www.noz.de/lokales/melle/artikel/844510/varus-tappt-in-die-falle-in-melle