The Roman frontiers in Germania
The Romans had their own name for the Barbarian World that lay along the Rhine river and beyond: Germania. Areas on the west bank of the Rhine were incorporated into the Roman Empire by Caesar as part of his conquest of Gaul and became known as Lesser Germania, divided into two provinces. Lower Germania (Germania Inferior) corresponded to the Benelux countries and the Rhineland, while Upper Germania (Germania Superior) covered modern Alsace and northwestern Switzerland. Beyond the Rhine lay Greater Germania (Germania Magna), stretching indefinitely to the east. While the border between Lesser and Greater Germania was permeable, Caesar never went beyond the Rhine during his conquests. Instead, relationships were developed with client kings and dynasties similar to those with the elites in Britain. Barbarian warlords in Germania Magna became cosy with Roman authorities across the Rhine, and their subjects not only traded with Roman-occupied zones but also picked up Roman cultural practices. Some served in the Roman army, starting a tradition that culminated several centuries later.
Cross-section of Roman wine amphora of the Dressel 1B type, one of the most common found in Gaul and Britain during the first millennium BC.
Client kings and warlords
In Gaul and Lesser Germania, Roman authorities did not replace the native elites but rather were layered on top of them. They could enforce their wishes through military force, so native leaders did not dare cross them. The Romans also took advantage of highly elastic tribal affiliations among the barbarians to manipulate and restructure their ethnic identities.
As an example of such top-down restructuring, Dutch archaeologist Nico Roymans describes three aspects of Roman Imperial policy towards conquered peoples in frontier zones, with specific reference to Germania Inferior between about 50 BC and AD 70.21 In this area, the Romans ruthlessly destroyed tribes such as the Eburones and Aduatuci who resisted or revolted, created new tribal polities such as the Batavians and Ubii by resettling groups who crossed the Rhine from Germania Magna, and fostered new tribal identities as ethnic soldiers. An analogy can be made between Batavians as troop suppliers to the Roman Empire and Nepalese Gurkhas as ethnic fighting units in the British Army.
Roman rule also provided social mobility strategies for barbarian elites in the occupied territories and adjacent regions. Some hitched their wagons to the Romans, welcoming their new overlords and being good clients, making money through trade and soldiering. Others saw anti-Romanism as a way to advance, by fomenting revolt and conspiracies against the occupiers, obviously a much riskier strategy. Some natives tried to do both, as we will see below in the case of Arminius. Roman Imperial policy in the frontier zone during the final decades BC and through the first century AD was an unstable mix of colonization, repression, collaboration with local dynasties and fear of rebellion. Underneath Roman authority was competition among barbarian elites for leadership and prestige in their own polities.
Things end badly beyond the Rhine
During the final decades BC and the first decades AD, Roman forces made several forays beyond the Rhine. Knowledge of these activities has come down to us through the classical writers and recently through archaeology, but it is likely that more such adventures were not documented. Although eventual conquest may have been a strategic goal, these expeditions were not designed to occupy territory. Instead, their near-term goal was to demonstrate Roman power and intimidate the barbarian tribes into submission. They also had the goal of establishing working relationships with tractable elites in barbarian polities.
These expeditions resemble the Spanish marches through what is now the southeastern United States during the sixteenth century, in which heavily armed groups of professional soldiers made deep penetrations into territory controlled by Mississippian tribes. The most famous is the de Soto Expedition, or entrada, which started from Florida and took a route through most of the southern states, crossed the Mississippi and was eventually evacuated from the Texas coast. The de Soto entrada left few physical traces, but its route has been reconstructed from contemporary accounts and connections with archaeological sites. It seems similar to Roman entradas in Germania Magna 1,500 years earlier, although the latter were over shorter distances and across terrain that became increasingly familiar to the Romans.
The first expeditions into Germania Magna were undertaken by Drusus, a stepson of Augustus. In 11 BC, he crossed the Rhine and marched to the Weser, a river that drains into the North Sea near the modern city of Bremen. One of his camps has been found at Oberaden, where timbers dated by tree rings were felled in the late summer or autumn of 11 BC.22 Drusus’ entrada aroused the hostility of native tribes so he had to carry out a fighting retreat to the Rhine. Two years later, Drusus marched all the way to the Elbe, the next great northward-draining river beyond the Rhine. This expedition was conducted more assertively, but upon reaching the Elbe, Drusus turned around and marched back to the Rhine. On the return route, he fell from his horse and died from his injuries. Other than providing propaganda for consumption back in Rome, Drusus’ entradas did little to expand Rome’s authority.
In AD 5, Tiberius, the other stepson of Augustus, came north from Pannonia and led a fighting expedition to the lower Elbe, where he met Roman ships coming in from the North Sea. Tiberius set up several advanced bases east of the Rhine. The most important one was at Haltern on the Lippe river, 18 kilometres (11 mi.) from where it flows into the Rhine. The Lippe is one of the few west–east river corridors in this part of Europe, and the Romans regarded it as a prime route into Germania Magna. Haltern quickly developed into a complex of fortified camps and a naval harbour.
Reconstructed statue of Augustus at Waldgirmes, Lahnau, Germany.
As the United States found out in Vietnam, fortified camps do not exert control over the surrounding area. Nonetheless, Augustus seems to have believed that the Rhine–Elbe zone was under Roman control and shifted his attention elsewhere. An open question, however, is whether he intended to turn this area into a proper Roman province with an administrative structure to carry out activities such as taking a census and collecting taxes.
A Roman complex at Waldgirmes seems to point in this direction.23 Waldgirmes is about 100 kilometres (60 mi.) from the Rhine, deep in Germania Magna. The site covers 7.7 hectares (19 acres) and is surrounded by ditches backed by a timber palisade. Yet Waldgirmes was not a military camp, for it lacks the typical layout of a Roman fort. Instead, its buildings have a non-military character, including a forum and a basilica, and houses and pottery kilns mark it as a Roman civilian community. In addition to civic and domestic buildings, the Romans also installed visual trappings of Augustan authority. A gilded bronze equestrian statue depicted Augustus in his glory.
The problem was that the surrounding territory was not dominated by Romans. Instead, the area between the Rhine and the Elbe at the start of the first millennium AD was a patchwork of small polities, chiefs and kings with varying degrees of affection for Rome, warlords and fluid allegiances. In other words, it was a typical High Iron Age heterarchy, which the Romans had difficulty figuring out. Since they seemed reluctant to conquer Germania Magna by overwhelming force as they had done in Gaul, the area remained a complicated borderland, both desirable and mysterious.
Publius Quinctilius Varus, a long-time Roman provincial administrator linked to Augustus by marriage, became governor of the Rhineland in AD 7. Two years later, he led three legions, about 20,000 men, plus auxiliary troops on an expedition across the Rhine. Returning, Varus learned of a rebellion against a Roman client and decided to suppress it. To get there, he took an unfamiliar route along the northern edge of hills known today as the Teutoberg Forest north of the modern city of Osnabrück.
According to written sources, which the reader always must remember were composed decades or centuries later, Varus learned about the rebellion from a Roman client named Arminius. Arminius is an interesting character who steps out of the Barbarian World into history. He was a member of the social elite
in the Cherusci who lived along the lower Weser. The Cherusci seem to have had a love–hate relationship with the Romans, at times being allies or clients and at others being mortal enemies. Arminius came out of this ambivalent relationship to serve in a Roman auxiliary unit in Pannonia. Back in Germania Magna, however, he loathed the Romans and quietly mobilized an alliance of tribes against them.
The route taken by Varus led through unfamiliar terrain covered with forests and bogs. His legionaries entered a narrow defile between a hill known as the Kalkriese on the south and a large bog on the north. This was a bad idea. Roman equipment and tactics were developed for dryland areas with room for manoeuvre. Legionaries were not accustomed to fighting among wetlands. Moreover, Arminius and his tribesmen had literally shaped the battlefield by building a large sod wall along the bottom of the hill. When Varus and his legions tried to thread this narrow valley, Arminius sprang his trap.
There are no eyewitness accounts of the slaughter that followed, but Varus’ legions were wiped out. Even the site of the battle was unknown until 1987. Here is where archaeology takes over from fragmentary and conflicting third-hand accounts.
In 1987, Tony Clunn (1946–2014) was an officer with the British Army of the Rhine.24 He was also a metal detector enthusiast. In Osnabrück, he contacted local archaeologists about promising places to conduct his hobby. Surprisingly, given how archaeologists then viewed metal-detectorists, they directed him towards an area near the Kalkriese where Roman coins had previously been found. Clunn soon came across three Roman lead slingstones, which would have been used by legionaries who specialized in the use of the sling. He informed his archaeologist colleagues, who commenced excavations that resulted in an immense find of Roman weaponry, numbering in the thousands, along with bones of adult men and mules. Among the finds were Roman spear points; ballista bolts; bronze, gold and silver trim from weapons and belts; thousands of hobnails from boots; and many coins no later than AD 9. The likely site of Arminius’ ambush had been found.
The slaughter at the Kalkriese: Varusschlacht by Otto Albert Koch, 1909.
Cache of silver denarii discovered in 1987 at the site of the ambush of the Roman legions in the Teutoberg Forest.
The finds from the area between the Kalkriese and the bog permit the reconstruction of the slaughter and its aftermath. American archaeologist Peter Wells has woven the sources together into a compelling narrative, which is well worth reading.25 In particular, the foot of the turf wall was the scene of exceptional violence. Roman tactics and body armour were no match for heavy barbarian spears hurled from above.
The weapons and the bodies of the dead Romans were left in place after the battle. Why would the victorious tribesmen have done this? Here, war-booty offerings like the Hjortspring Boat provide an explanation. It seems that the site was treated as a weapons sacrifice, a giant ritual deposit. The bog at the Kalkriese had previously been used for offerings, so its proximity to the ambush made it a natural candidate for such a sacrifice. Rotting Roman corpses and eventually skeletons must have formed a macabre tableau that held powerful significance for the victorious Cherusci and their allies.26
The defeat of Varus effectively ended Roman plans to turn the land beyond the Rhine into a province. Terror swept the Roman camps and towns established in this area. Again, archaeology provides details. The base at Haltern was abandoned quickly as fear of Arminius swept the Lippe valley. Whole terra sigillata (fine pottery made in workshops in Italy and Gaul) vessels were left in place. The skeletons of 24 individuals in a Haltern kiln are a mystery.27 Were they Romans or Germans, civilians or soldiers? If Germans, were they on the Roman or the barbarian side?
It had been thought that Waldgirmes was abandoned about the same time. Recently, however, evidence has emerged that it may have been active a bit longer.28 A well yielded waterlogged wooden objects, including containers, building elements and pieces of ladders. Tree rings indicate that the ladders were made in the autumn or winter of AD 9, shortly after Varus’ defeat. Assuming they remained in use for a while, it seems that Waldgirmes persisted a few more years. By the middle of the next decade, however, Waldgirmes was certainly empty of Romans and deserted.
The defeat of Varus marked the end of Roman Imperial expansion beyond the Rhine. Loss of three legions (their numbers were never reused) caused anguish in Rome. It also permanently changed the course of history by leaving the Barbarian World beyond the Rhine to the Baltic Sea and Scandinavia to develop in its own distinctive way. Archaeologically, Roman entradas into the Rhine–Elbe borderland provide glimpses into barbarian practices and customs that complement findings from discoveries elsewhere in northern Europe, as well as filling in details unavailable from written narratives.
Roman impact beyond the continental frontier
Despite Roman setbacks in Germania Magna, interaction and contact along the Rhine and the Danube continued. In the frontier zone, commerce flourished as local warlords and elites sought Roman goods. During the first century AD, Roman impact was felt even further into the Barbarian World. People living as far away as Poland and southern Scandinavia were aware that something big was happening to the west and southwest. Again, we must keep in mind the connectedness of the Barbarian World. People communicated with each other, and boundaries between small-scale polities were highly permeable, enabling travel by entrepreneurial people.
Of particular note are finds of Roman legionary equipment far beyond the Imperial frontier. At Siemiechów in central Poland, a Roman helmet was found in a cremation burial from the first century AD.29 It was accompanied by a long sword that had been bent in three and other artefacts that point towards an origin in southern Germany. Was this individual an actual Roman legionary wandering deep in the Barbarian World? Or did the helmet, sword and other items arrive via trade or war booty from a barbarian raid on Roman legions along the Danube? Or were they sold, illegally, to barbarians and traded north along well-established routes?
Michael Meyer distinguishes between Roman goods entering the Barbarian World and ‘intangible imports’ that penetrated the frontier.30 Roman objects that crossed the early Imperial frontier functioned either as status symbols or as raw materials. In Meyer’s view, there is little evidence for ‘constant and directed’ long-distance trade with the Barbarian World. Once they found their way across the frontier, certain objects were highly valued for their Roman origin and authenticity, and in some cases, their superior characteristics. The quality of the Roman swords could not be matched by barbarian metalsmiths. Use of Roman objects did not signal a wish to ‘become Roman’ but rather they served as status markers within barbarian society.
Of equal significance, in Meyer’s view, are what he calls ‘intangible imports’ adopted by barbarians. These include ceramic and metal technologies, styles of dress, table customs, perhaps religious practices and aspects of the organization of production and trade. For example, iron-working centres were established separately from settlements, such as the Holy Cross Mountains in central Poland.
Yet certain aspects of life in the Barbarian World remained untouched by Roman influence. Settlement structure in Germania Magna and beyond continued unchanged, and there was no adoption of Roman architecture. Crops and livestock also show no Roman influence. There was no trend towards breeding larger Roman-type cattle, for example.
The Gundestrup Cauldron: an icon of the High Iron Age
In 1891, peat-diggers in northern Jutland came upon a collection of curved silver plates. They fitted together to form the base, sides and rim of a large silver bowl, which has become familiar to archaeologists as the Gundestrup Cauldron.31 The word ‘cauldron’ is more evocative than ‘bowl’, but the Gundestrup Cauldron was not meant for cooking over a fire but rather to be displayed, admired and read by all who saw it. It depicts a complicated spiritual world inhabited by gods, goddesses and exotic animals.
Made between 150 BC and AD 1, the Gundestrup Cauldron represents a convergence of major themes for understanding the Barbar
ian World. Almost certainly it came to Denmark from the Balkans. In technique and style, it is akin to objects found in Thracian kingdoms in Romania and Bulgaria. It is not the only imported bowl known from Iron Age Scandinavia. Others, such as a decorated bowl from Mosbæk, are of Etruscan, Greek or western European origin. Thus, the routes by which so many bronze objects ended up in Denmark over the previous two millennia had reached a point where a silverworker in the Balkans could produce an object whose iconography appealed to a Scandinavian.
The Gundestrup Cauldron is composed of a base, seven outer plates, five inner plates and a rim. Raised human and animal figures were embossed from behind. The outer plates show exotic figures interpreted as gods and goddesses along with animals, while the inner plates portray activities such as processions of warriors and bull sacrifices. Considerable planning went into the arrangement of the motifs and figures. Disassembly and inspection of the plates in 2002 revealed additional inscribed images, including a horn blower and a leonine figure, perhaps intended as patterns for embossing never carried out.
The Gundestrup Cauldron embodies many prominent features of the High Iron Age: long-distance acquisition, elite prestige, outstanding craftsmanship and complex spirituality. All had been prevalent in the Barbarian World for centuries, but here they reach a pinnacle in a single artefact. It travelled nearly 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi.) to reach its destination, across lands populated by diverse communities and along dangerous roads and rivers. With it came knowledge of distant lands, transmitted from mouth to mouth and transmuted as information passed through filters in retelling. The deities it depicts inhabit an exotic universe, alien to everyday experience, populated by beings who consorted with lions, elephants and snakes. When displayed, before it was sacrificed in the bog, it must have been an object of awe and veneration. Whoever owned it was the master of his realm.
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