1.
Weser
The Weser is a river in Northwestern Germany. On the opposite bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula, the Weser has an overall length of 452 kilometres. Together with its Werra tributary, which originates in Thuringia, its length is 744 kilometres, the Weser river is the longest river whose course reaches the sea and lies entirely within German national territory. The upper part of its course leads through a region called the Weserbergland. Between Minden and the North Sea, humans have largely canalised the river, eight hydroelectric dams stand along its length. It is linked to the Dortmund-Ems Canal via the Coastal Canal, a large reservoir on the Eder river, the main tributary of the Fulda, is used to regulate water levels on the Weser so as to ensure adequate depth for shipping throughout the year. The dam, built in 1914, was bombed and severely damaged by British aircraft in May 1943, causing destruction and approximately 70 deaths downstream. As of 2013 the Edersee reservoir, a summer resort area.
The Weser enters the North Sea in the southernmost part of the German Bight, in the North Sea, it splits up into two arms representing the ancient riverbed at the end of the last ice age. These sea-arms are called Alte Weser and Neue Weser and they represent the major waterways for ships heading for the harbors of Bremerhaven and Bremen. The Alte Weser lighthouse marks the northernmost point of the Weser and this lighthouse replaced the historic and famous Roter Sand lighthouse in 1964. The largest tributary of the Weser is the Aller, which south of Bremen. Dieter Berger, Geographische Namen in Deutschland, karsten Meinke, Die Entwicklung der Weser im Nordwestdeutschen Flachland während des jüngeren Pleistozäns. Ludger Feldmann und Klaus-Dieter Meyer, Quartär in Niedersachsen, exkursionsführer zur Jubiläums-Hauptversammlung der Deutschen Quartärvereinigung in Hannover. Hans Heinrich Seedorf und Hans-Heinrich Meyer, Landeskunde Niedersachsen, band 1, Historische Grundlagen und naturräumliche Ausstattung.
Ludger Feldmann, Das Quartär zwischen Harz und Allertal mit einem Beitrag zur Landschaftsgeschichte im Tertiär, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 2002, Seite 133ff und passim. Heinz Conradis, Der Kampf um die Weservertiefung in alter Zeit, J. W. A. Hunichs, Practische Anleitung zum Deich-, Siel- und Schlengenbau. Herausgegeben von der Mittelweser AG, Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 1960, kuratorium für Forschung im Küsteningenieurswesen, Die Küste
2.
Hermannsdenkmal
The Hermannsdenkmal is a monument located southwest of Detmold in the district of Lippe, in Germany. It stands on the densely forested Grotenburg, a hill in the Teutoburger Wald range, the monument is located inside the remains of a circular rampart. The hill is called the Teutberg or Teut for short. The monument commemorates the Cherusci war chief Arminius and the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in which the Germanic warriors under Arminius defeated three Roman legions under Varus in 9 AD. This event came to be seen as a turning point in Middle-European history as it may have been instrumental in limiting the advance of the Roman Empire into Germania. In the 16th century, Arminius was translated into German as Hermann in the writing of Ulrich von Hutten, Germany was among those countries where nationalism became a rising force in the 18th century as opposition to aristocratic rule increased. Equating the nation with all of its people rather than just with its rulers was an idea at the time. In Germany, it became entwined with the hopes of many for an end to the disunity that had ruled the Holy Roman Empire at least since the Peace of Westphalia, nationalists wanted one of the German princes to unite all of Germany under a single rule.
In this regard, Arminius came to be seen as a symbol, reports by Roman historians on internecine fighting among the tribes were deliberately ignored. Arminius thus became a subject of literature such as Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstocks three dramas on this topic. However, Heinrich von Kleist likely did most to popularise Arminius in Germany with his Hermannsschlacht, against this backdrop Ernst von Bandel came to the Teutoburg Forest in 1836 to put into action his lifes dream of erecting a monument to Arminius. He considered building it near the Externsteine, but eventually settled on the Grotenburg, similar organisations were founded in other parts of the Germany and donations started to come in. That same year, Prince Leopold II gave his permission to build the monument and he provided the property rights for the project. The local residents agreed to forfeit their wood pasture rights on the peak, in 1838, Bandel changed his original draft idea for the figure of 1834 to take into account that a pedestal would be needed in this location, to make the statue visible from afar.
Earthworks began in July 1838, and the stone was laid in October 1838. Bandel traveled to Italy and met King Ludwig I of Bavaria en route, thus the rock that was supposed to cap the temple and serve as the base for the figure was to be replaced by a dome surrounded by a gallery. Bandel included this in his draft of 1840. Problems emerged as Bandels designs were subject to criticism and the viability of the project came to be questioned
3.
Saxons
The Saxons were a group of Germanic tribes first mentioned as living near the North Sea coast of what is now Germany, in the late Roman empire. They were soon mentioned as raiding and settling in many North Sea areas, as well as pushing south inland towards the Franks. Significant numbers settled in parts of Great Britain in the early Middle Ages. Many Saxons however remained in Germania, where they resisted the expanding Frankish Empire through the leadership of the semi-legendary Saxon hero, the Saxons earliest area of settlement is believed to have been Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein. This general area included the probable homeland of the Angles, along with the Angles and other continental Germanic tribes, participated in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain during and after the 5th century. The British-Celtic inhabitants of the isles tended to refer to all of these collectively as Saxons. It is unknown how many Saxons migrated from the Continent to Britain, the Saxons may have derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known.
The seax has a symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon. The Elizabethan era play Edmund Ironside suggests the Saxon name derives from the Latin saxa, Their names discover what their natures are, More hard than stones, in the Celtic languages, the words designating English nationality derive from the Latin word Saxones. The most prominent example, a loanword in English, is the Scottish Gaelic Sassenach and it derives from the Scottish Gaelic Sasunnach meaning, Saxon, from the Latin Saxones. Scots- or Scottish English-speakers in the 21st century usually use it as a term for an English person. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of the word in English. Sasanach, the Irish word for an Englishman, has the same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people, Cornish terms the English Sawsnek, from the same derivation.
In the 16th century Cornish-speakers used the phrase Meea navidna cowza sawzneck to feign ignorance of the English language, England in Scottish Gaelic is Sasainn. Other examples include the Welsh Saesneg, Irish Sasana, Breton saoz, and Cornish Sowson, the label Saxons was applied to German settlers who migrated during the 13th century to southeastern Transylvania. From Transylvania, some Saxons migrated to neighbouring Moldavia, as the name of the town, Sas-cut, sascut is located in the part of Moldavia that is today part of Romania. The Finns and Estonians have changed their usage of the term Saxony over the centuries to denote now the country of Germany
4.
Germanicus
Germanicus, formally Germanicus Julius Caesar, was heir-designate of the Roman Empire under Tiberius and a prominent general known for his campaigns in Germany. He was born at Rome into a prominent branch of the patrician gens Claudia, to Nero Claudius Drusus and his name at birth is uncertain, but was probably Nero Claudius Drusus after his father. The agnomen Germanicus was added to his name in 9 BC when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honour of his victories in Germania. In AD4, he was adopted out of the Claudii and into the Julii and he enjoyed an accelerated political career as a Caesar, entering the office of quaestor five years before the legal age in AD7. He held that office until AD11, and was elected consul for the first time in AD12, the year after, he was made proconsul of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, and all of Gaul. From there he commanded eight legions, about one-third of the entire Roman army and his successes made him famous after avenging the defeat of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, and retrieving two of the three legionary eagles that had been lost during the battle.
In AD17 he returned to Rome to receive a triumph before leaving to reorganize the provinces of Asia, whereby he incorporated the provinces of Cappadocia, while in the eastern provinces, he came into conflict with the governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. During their feud, Germanicus became ill in Antioch, where he died on 10 October AD19 and his death has been attributed to poison by ancient sources, but that was never proven. Beloved by the people, he was considered to be the ideal Roman long after his death. The Roman people have said to consider him as Romes Alexander the Great due to the nature of his death at a young age, his virtuous character, his dashing physique. His praenomen is unknown, but he was probably named Nero Claudius Drusus after his father, in 9 BC, the agnomen Germanicus was added to his full name when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honor of his victories in Germania. Though the name was inherited by his siblings too, the title seems at first to have been used exclusively by him, by AD4 he was adopted as Tiberius son and heir.
As a result, Germanicus was adopted out of the Claudii, in accordance with Roman naming conventions, he adopted the name Julius Caesar while retaining his agnomen, becoming Germanicus Julius Caesar. Upon Germanicus adoption into the Julii, his brother Claudius became the legal representative of his father. Germanicus was born at Rome in 15 BC and his parents were the general Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor. Livilla was his sister and the future emperor Claudius was his younger brother. As a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was a relative to all five Julio-Claudian emperors. On his mothers side Germanicus was a great-nephew of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome and he was born the nephew of the second emperor, Tiberius
5.
Thusnelda
Thusnelda was a Germanic noblewoman captured by Germanicus, the grandson of Augustus and leader of an army that invaded Germania. The ancient Roman historians Tacitus and Strabo cite her capture as evidence of both the firmness and restraint of Roman arms and she was the daughter of the Cheruscan prince Segestes. Her father had intended her for someone else, but Arminius abducted and impregnated her, Arminius subsequently led a coalition of Germanic tribes that lured the legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus to near-annihilation at Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. This disaster generally is seen as stifling Romes ambitions of conquering Germania and her husband much grieved over her loss and did not marry again. During her captivity, Thusnelda gave birth to her and Arminius only child, on May 26,17 AD, Thusnelda and her son were displayed as prized trophies of the triumph granted to Germanicus, during the triumphal parade, her father was forced to watch from the stands. Contemporary historians seem to evince a discomfort with her display as evidence of a German victory, the next year, just prior to the Battle of the Weser River, Arminius engaged in a famous disputation with his brother Flavus, who was still serving in the Roman army.
Flavus informed Arminius that Thusnelda was being well-treated — as, he claimed, was typical of Rome, Thumelicus was trained at the gladiator school in Ravenna and is believed to have died in a gladiator show at a fairly young age. Tacitus wrote that he would report on Thumelicus fate at the proper time — i. e. when he discussed the year in question in his chronicle. The main gap in the text of the *Annales* is for 30 and 31 AD — so it could be that Thumelicus died then, part of the Encyclopædia Romana by James Grout
6.
Harz
The Harz is a Mittelgebirge that has the highest elevations in Northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart, the Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz with an elevation of 1,141.1 metres above sea level. The Wurmberg is the highest peak located entirely within the state of Lower Saxony, the Harz has a length of 110 kilometres, stretching from the town of Seesen in the northwest to Eisleben in the east, and a width of 35 kilometres. The following districts fall wholly or partly within the Harz and Osterode am Harz in the west and Mansfeld-Südharz in the north and east, and Nordhausen in the south. The districts of the Upper Harz are Goslar and Osterode, whilst the Lower Harz is on the territory of Harz and Mansfeld-Südharz districts. The Upper Harz is generally higher and features fir forests, whilst the Lower Harz gradually descends into the area and has deciduous forests interspersed with meadows.
The dividing line between Upper and Lower Harz follows approximately a line from Ilsenburg to Bad Lauterberg, which separates the catchment areas for the Weser. Only on the perimeter of the Upper Harz, which is called the High Harz. Its highest peak is the Brocken, its peaks are the Heinrichshöhe to the southeast. Other prominent hills in the Harz are the Acker-Bruchberg ridge, the Achtermannshöhe, in the far east, the mountains merge into the East Harz foothills, which are dominated by the Selke Valley. Part of the south Harz lies in the Thuringian district of Nordhausen, the Harz National Park is located in the Harz, the protected area covers the Brocken and surrounding wilderness area. Approximately 600,000 people live in towns and villages of the Harz Mountains, because of the heavy rainfall in the region the rivers of the Harz Mountains were dammed from an early date. Examples of such dams are the two largest, the Oker Dam and the Rappbode Dam. The clear, cool water of the streams was dammed by early mountain folk to form the various mountain ponds of the Upper Harz waterways.
The 17 dams in the Harz block a total of twelve rivers, because the Harz is one of the regions of Germany that experiences the most rainfall, its water power was used from early times. Today the dams are used to generate electricity, to provide drinking water, to prevent flooding. Modern dam-building began in the Harz with the construction of the Söse Valley Dam, the dams of the Upper Harz lakes are some of the oldest dams in Germany that are still in operation. → See List of dams in the Harz The largest rivers in the Harz are the Innerste, the Oker and the Bode in the north, the Wipper in the east, the Innerste merges into the Leine and its tributaries are the Nette and the Grane
7.
Chauci
The Chauci were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rivers Ems and Elbe, on both sides of the Weser and ranging as far inland as the upper Weser. Along the coast they lived on artificial hills called terpen, built high enough to dry during the highest tide. A dense population of Chauci lived further inland, and they are presumed to have lived in a similar to the lives of the other Germanic peoples of the region. Their ultimate origins are not well understood, in the Germanic pre-Migration Period the Chauci and the related Frisians and Angles inhabited the Continental European coast from the Zuyder Zee to south Jutland. All of these shared a common material culture, and so cannot be defined archaeologically. The Chauci originally centered on the Weser and Elbe, but in c, AD58 they expanded westward to the River Ems by expelling the neighboring Ampsivarii, whereby they gained a border with the Frisians to the west. The Romans referred to the Chauci living between the Weser and Elbe as the Greater Chauci and those living between the Ems and Weser as the Lesser Chauci.
The Chauci entered the record in descriptions of them by classical Roman sources late in the 1st century BC in the context of Roman military campaigns. For the next 200 years the Chauci provided Roman auxiliaries through treaty obligations, accounts of wars therefore mention the Chauci on both sides of the conflict, though the actions of troops under treaty obligation were separate from the policies of the tribe. The Chauci lost their identity in the 3rd century when they merged with the Saxons. The circumstances of the merger are an issue of scholarly research. The Germans of the region were not strongly hierarchical and this had been noted by Tacitus, for example when he mentioned the names of two kings of the 1st century Frisians and added that they were kings as far as the Germans are under kings. Haywood says the Chauci were originally neither highly centralised nor highly stratified, speaking of the 5th century, describes the Continental Saxons as having powerful local families and a dominant military leader.
Writing in AD79, Pliny the Elder said that the Germanic tribes were members of groups of people. He said that the Chauci and Teutoni—the people from the River Ems through Jutland, writing in AD98, described the inland, non-coastal Chauci homeland as immense, densely populated, and well-stocked with horses. Pliny had visited the region and described the Chauci who lived there. He said that they were wretched natives living on a barren coast in small cottages on hilltops and they fished for food, and unlike their neighbors they had no cattle, and had nothing to drink except rainwater caught in ditches. They used a type of dried mud as fuel for cooking and heating and he mentioned their spirit of independence, saying that even though they had nothing of value, they would deeply resent any attempt to conquer them
8.
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the term Germanic originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. Tribes referred to as Germanic by Roman authors generally lived to the north, in about 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term Germani appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ. This may simply be referring to Gaul or related people, the term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios, but is merely a quotation inserted by the author Athenaios who wrote much later. Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius Caesar, from Caesars perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Gaul, which Caesar left outside direct Roman control.
This usage of the word is the origin of the concept of Germanic languages. In other classical authors the concept sometimes included regions of Sarmatia, also, at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar and others noted differences of culture which could be found on the east of the Rhine, but the theme of all these cultural references was that this was a wild and dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance. Caesar used the term Germani for a specific tribal grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine. He made clear that he was using the name in the local sense and these are the so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and descended from immigrants into Gaul. Caesar described this group of both as Belgic Gauls and as Germani. Gauls are associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not discuss languages in detail.
It has been claimed, for example by Maurits Gysseling, that the names of this region show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages. The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain, the likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes from a Gaulish compound of *ger near + *mani men, comparable to Welsh ger near, Old Irish gair neighbor, Irish gar- near, garach neighborly. Another Celtic possibility is that the name meant noisy, cf. Breton/Cornish garm shout, here the vowel does not match, nor does the vowel length ). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology *gēr-manni, spear men, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old High German Ger, Old Norse geirr. However, the form gēr seems far too advanced phonetically for the 1st century, has a vowel where a short one is expected. The term Germani, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language
9.
Rome
Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was taken up by Ovid and Livy. Rome is called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism.
Famous artists, painters and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum.
Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
10.
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was a German philologist and mythologist. Jacob Grimm was born in Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel and his father, Philipp Grimm, was a lawyer, but he died while Jacob was a child, and his mother was left with very small means. His mothers sister was lady of the chamber to the Landgravine of Hesse, Jacob was sent to the public school at Kassel in 1798 with his younger brother Wilhelm. In 1802, he proceeded to the University of Marburg where he studied law and his brother joined him at Marburg a year later, having just recovered from a long and severe illness, and likewise began the study of law. Up to this time, Jacob Grimm had been driven only by a general thirst for knowledge, savignys lectures awakened in him a love for historical and antiquarian investigation, which forms the structure of all his work. In the beginning of 1805, he received an invitation from Savigny, Grimm passed a very happy time in Paris, strengthening his taste for the literatures of the Middle Ages by his studies in the Paris libraries.
Towards the close of the year, he returned to Kassel, where his mother and Wilhelm had settled, the next year, he obtained a position in the war office with the very small salary of 100 thalers. One of his grievances was that he had to exchange his stylish Paris suit for a stiff uniform, but he had full leisure for the pursuit of his studies. In 1808, soon after the death of his mother, he was appointed superintendent of the library of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. Bonaparte appointed him an auditor to the council, while Grimm retained his superintendent post. His salary was increased in a period of time from 2000 to 4000 francs. After the expulsion of Bonaparte and the reinstatement of an elector, Grimm was appointed Secretary of Legation in 1813, accompanying the Hessian minister to the headquarters of the allied army. In 1814, he was sent to Paris to demand restitution of books carried off by the French, upon his return from Vienna, he was sent to Paris a second time to secure book restitutions.
Meanwhile, Wilhelm had received an appointment to the Kassel library, they moved the following year to Göttingen, where Jacob received the appointment of professor and librarian, and Wilhelm that of under-librarian. Jacob Grimm lectured on legal antiquities, historical grammar, literary history, and diplomatics, explained Old German poems, during this period, he is described as small and lively in figure, with a harsh voice, speaking a broad Hessian dialect. Grimm joined other academics who signed a protest against the King of Hanovers abrogation of the constitution which had established some years before. As a result, he was dismissed from his professorship and banished from the Kingdom of Hanover in 1837 and he returned to Kassel with his brother, who had signed the protest. Jacob was not under any obligation to lecture and he seldom did so, during their time in Kassel, Jacob regularly attended the meetings of the academy, where he read papers on widely varied subjects
11.
Alemanni
The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the upper Rhine river. In 496, the Alemanni were conquered by Frankish leader Clovis, mentioned as still pagan allies of the Christian Franks, the Alemanni were gradually Christianized during the 7th century. The Pactus Alamannorum is a record of their customary law during this period, until the 8th century, Frankish suzerainty over Alemannia was mostly nominal. But after an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, Carloman executed the Alamannic nobility, during the and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire the Alemannic counts became almost independent, and a struggle for supremacy took place between them and the Bishopric of Constance. According to Asinius Quadratus their name means all men and it indicates that they were a conglomeration drawn from various Germanic tribes. Other sources say the name derives from alahmannen which means men of sanctuary and not all men. The Romans and the Greeks called them as such mentioned and this etymology has remained the standard derivation of the term.
Walafrid Strabo, a monk of the Abbey of St, the name of Germany and the German language in several languages is derived from the name of this early Germanic tribal alliance. For details, see Names of Germany, the Alemanni were first mentioned by Cassius Dio describing the campaign of Caracalla in 213. At that time they dwelt in the basin of the Main. Cassius Dio portrays the Alemanni as victims of this treacherous emperor and they had asked for his help, says Dio, but instead he colonized their country, changed their place names and executed their warriors under a pretext of coming to their aid. When he became ill, the Alemanni claimed to have put a hex on him, Caracalla, it was claimed, tried to counter this influence by invoking his ancestral spirits. In retribution Caracalla led the Legio II Traiana Fortis against the Alemanni, the legion was as a result honored with the name Germanica. Not on good terms with Caracalla, Geta had been invited to a reconciliation, at which time he was ambushed by centurions in Caracallas army.
True or not, pursued by devils of his own, Caracalla left for the frontier, where for the rest of his short reign he was known for his unpredictable and arbitrary operations launched by surprise after a pretext of peace negotiations. If he had any reasons of state for such actions they remained unknown to his contemporaries, whether or not the Alemanni had been previously neutral, they were certainly further influenced by Caracalla to become thereafter notoriously implacable enemies of Rome. This mutually antagonistic relationship is perhaps the reason why the Roman writers persisted in calling the Alemanni barbari, most of the Alemanni were probably at the time in fact resident in or close to the borders of Germania Superior. At that time the frontier was being fortified for the first time
12.
Suebi
The Suebi was a large group of related Germanic peoples who lived in Germania in the time of the Roman Empire. They were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with his battles against Ariovistus in Gaul and they actually occupy more than half of Germania, and are divided into a number of distinct tribes under distinct names, though all generally are called Suebi. At one time, classical ethnography had applied the name Suevi to so many Germanic tribes that it appeared as if, in the first centuries AD, classical authors noted that the Suevic tribes, compared to other Germanic tribes, were very mobile and not reliant on agriculture. Various Suevic groups moved from the direction of the Baltic Sea, towards the end of the empire, the Alemanni, referred to as Suebi, first settled in the Agri Decumates and crossed the Rhine and occupied Alsace. An area in southwest Germany is still called Swabia, which derives from the Suebi. Other Suebi entered Gaul and some moved as far as Gallaecia, where they established the Kingdom of the Suebi, which lasted for 170 years until its integration into the Visigothic Kingdom.
Notably, the Semnones, known to classical authors as one of the largest Suebian groups, seem to have a name with this same meaning, alternatively, it may be borrowed from a Celtic word for vagabond. Caesar placed the Suebi east of the Ubii apparently near modern Hesse, in the position where writers mention the Chatti, some commentators believe that Caesars Suebi were the Chatti or possibly the Hermunduri, or Semnones. Later authors use the term Suebi more broadly, to cover a number of tribes in central Germany. Whether or not the Chatti were ever considered Suevi, both Tacitus and Strabo distinguish the two partly because the Chatti were more settled in one territory, whereas Suevi remained less settled. The definitions of the greater ethnic groupings within Germania were apparently not always consistent and clear, whereas Tacitus reported three main kinds of German peoples, Irminones and Ingaevones, Pliny specifically adds two more genera or kinds, the Bastarnae and the Vandili. The Vandals were tribes east of the Elbe, including the well-known Silingi and Burgundians, the modern term Elbe Germanic similarly covers a large grouping of Germanic peoples that at least overlaps with the classical terms Suevi and Irminones.
In the time of Caesar, southern Germany was Celtic, in addition, near the Hercynian forest Caesar believed that the Celtic Tectosages had once lived. All of these peoples had for the most part moved by the time of Tacitus, Cassius Dio wrote that the Suebi, who dwelt across the Rhine, were called Celts, which could mean that some Celtic groups were absorbed by larger Germanic tribal confederations. Strabo, in Book IV of his Geography associates the Suebi with the Hercynian Forest and the south of Germania north of the Danube. He describes a chain of mountains north of the Danube that is like an extension of the Alps, possibly the Swabian Alps. In Book VII Strabo specifically mentions as Suevic peoples the Marcomanni, some of these tribes were inside the forest and some outside of it. Tacitus confirms the name Boiemum, saying it was a survival marking the old population of the place
. Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 89.
