1.
Hadrian
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Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrians Wall, which marked the limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus, philhellene in most of his tastes, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, and he is regarded as the third of the Five Good Emperors. Hadrian was born Publius Aelius Hadrianus into a Hispano-Roman family, although Italica near Santiponce is often considered his birthplace, his actual place of birth remains uncertain. It is generally accepted that he came from a family with roots in Hispania. His predecessor, Trajan, was a cousin of Hadrians father. Trajan did not designate an heir officially, but according to his wife Pompeia Plotina, Trajans wife and his friend Licinius Sura were well disposed towards Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to them. During his reign, Hadrian travelled to every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire and he used his relationship with his Greek lover Antinous to underline his philhellenism, and this led to the establishment of one of the most popular cults of ancient times. Hadrian spent a deal of time with the military, he usually wore military attire and even dined. He ordered rigorous military training and drilling and made use of reports of attacks to keep the army on alert. On his accession to the throne, Hadrian withdrew from Trajans conquests in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia, late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina. In 138 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his own heirs and they would eventually succeed Antoninus as co-emperors. Hadrian died the year at Baiae. In Hadrians time, there was already an established convention that one could not write a contemporary Roman imperial history for fear of competing with the emperors themselves. Information on the history of Hadrians reign comes mostly from later. A general account of his reign is Book 69 of the early 3rd century Roman History by Cassius Dio and his original Greek text of this book is lost, what survives is a brief, much later, Byzantine-era abridgment by the 11th century monk Xiphilinius. He selected from Dios account of Hadrians reign based on his religious interests
2.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
3.
Germanic peoples
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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, Upper, 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, Tacitus 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, however, 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, therefore, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language
4.
Bohemia
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Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, after World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945, border regions with sizeable German-speaking minorities of all three Czech lands were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland, in 1990, the name was changed to the Czech Republic, which become a separate state in 1993 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Until 1948, Bohemia was a unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its lands. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria, in the west by Bavaria and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia, in the northeast by Silesia, and in the east by Moravia. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy, the Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia and the Battle of Mutina. After this, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps, much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied as Boiohaemum. The earliest mention was by Tacitus Germania 28, and later mentions of the name are in Strabo. The name appears to include the tribal name Boi- plus the Germanic element *haimaz home and this Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobods kingdom was centred, within the Hercynian forest. The Czech name Čechy is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group, the Czechs, Bohemia, like neighbouring Bavaria, is named after the Boii, who were a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, to the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast in Hungaria, were Sarmatian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king Marobodus and he took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. In late classical times and the early Middle Ages, two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni, many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals, other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia. These are precursors of todays Czechs, though the amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves, the first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia. Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by Samos tribal confederation and his death marked the end of the old Slavonic confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia. Other sources divide the population of Bohemia at this time into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare, Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but only became dominant much later, in the 10th or 11th century
5.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
6.
Tacitus
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Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and an historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus, in AD14, to the years of the First Jewish–Roman War, There are substantial lacunae in the surviving texts, including a gap in the Annals that is four books long. Tacitus is considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians, details about his personal life are scarce. What little is known comes from scattered hints throughout his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger, and an inscription found at Mylasa in Caria. Tacitus was born in 56 or 57 to an equestrian family, one scholars suggestion of Sextus has gained no approval. Most of the aristocratic families failed to survive the proscriptions which took place at the end of the Republic. The claim that he was descended from a freedman is derived from a speech in his writings which asserts that many senators and knights were descended from freedmen, but this is generally disputed. His father may have been the Cornelius Tacitus who served as procurator of Belgica and Germania, Pliny the Elder mentions that Cornelius had a son who aged rapidly, which implies an early death. There is no mention of Tacitus suffering such a condition, the friendship between the younger Pliny and Tacitus leads some scholars to conclude that they were both the offspring of wealthy provincial families. The province of his birth remains unknown, though various conjectures suggest Gallia Belgica, Gallia Narbonensis and his marriage to the daughter of Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola implies that he came from Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus dedication to Fabius Iustus in the Dialogus may indicate a connection with Spain, no evidence exists, however, that Plinys friends from northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Plinys letters hint that the two men had a common background. Pliny Book 9, Letter 23 reports that, when he was asked if he was Italian or provincial, he gave an unclear answer, since Pliny was from Italy, some infer that Tacitus was from the provinces, probably Gallia Narbonensis. His ancestry, his skill in oratory, and his depiction of barbarians who resisted Roman rule have led some to suggest that he was a Celt. This belief stems from the fact that the Celts who had occupied Gaul prior to the Roman invasion were famous for their skill in oratory, and had been subjugated by Rome. As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for a career in law and politics, like Pliny, in 77 or 78, he married Julia Agricola, daughter of the famous general Agricola. Little is known of their life, save that Tacitus loved hunting. He started his career under Vespasian, but entered political life as a quaestor in 81 or 82 under Titus
7.
Strabo
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Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus, Strabos life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus. He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, in 29 BC, on his way to Corinth, he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae and it is not known precisely when Strabos Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 BC, others around 17 or 18 AD, the latest passage to which a date can be assigned is his reference to the death in AD23 of Juba II, king of Maurousia, who is said to have died just recently. He probably worked on the Geography for many years and revised it steadily, on the presumption that recently means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next, when he died. The first of Strabos major works, Historical Sketches, written while he was in Rome, is completely lost. Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialties throughout his life at different stops along his Mediterranean travels. His first chapter of education took place in Nysa under the master of rhetoric Aristodemus, Strabo was an admirer of Homers poetry, perhaps a consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus. At around the age of 21, Strabo moved to Rome, where he studied philosophy with the Peripatetic Xenarchus, despite Xenarchuss Aristotelian leanings, Strabo later gives evidence to have formed his own Stoic inclinations. In Rome, he learned grammar under the rich and famous scholar Tyrannion of Amisus. Although Tyrannion was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected authority on geography, the final noteworthy mentor to Strabo was Athenodorus Cananites, a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus endowed to Strabo three important items, his philosophy, his knowledge, and his contacts, moreover, from his own first-hand experience, Athenodorus provided Strabo with information about regions of the empire which he would not otherwise have known. Strabo is most notable for his work Geographica, which presented a history of people. Although the Geographica was rarely utilized in its antiquity, a multitude of copies survived throughout the Byzantine Empire. It first appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued around 1469, the first Greek edition was published in 1516 in Venice
8.
Suebi
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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, also referred to as Suebi, first settled in the Agri Decumates and then 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, also 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 later writers mention the Chatti, some commentators believe that Caesars Suebi were the later 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, Istvaeones, 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, Goths, 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, also 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, nevertheless, 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 also 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
9.
Proto-Germanic
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Proto-Germanic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. The end of the Common Germanic period is reached with the beginning of the Migration Period in the fourth century, the Proto-Germanic language is not directly attested by any coherent surviving texts, it has been reconstructed using the comparative method. Fragmentary direct attestation exists of Common Germanic in early runic inscriptions, the Proto-Germanic language developed in southern Scandinavia, the Urheimat of the Germanic tribes. Proto-Germanic developed out of pre-Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, Proto-Germanic itself was likely spoken after c. Early Germanic expansion in the Pre-Roman Iron Age placed Proto-Germanic speakers in contact with the Continental Celtic La Tène horizon, a number of Celtic loanwords in Proto-Germanic have been identified. By the 1st century AD, Germanic expansion reaches the Danube and the Upper Rhine in the south, at about the same time, extending east of the Vistula, Germanic speakers come into contact with early Slavic cultures, as reflected in early Germanic loans in Proto-Slavic. By the 3rd century, LPGmc speakers had expanded over significant distance, the period marks the breakup of Late Proto-Germanic and the beginning of the Germanic migrations. The earliest coherent text in Proto-Norse become available c.400 in runic inscriptions, the delineation of Late Common Germanic from Proto-Norse about then is largely a matter of convention. Early West Germanic becomes available in the 5th century with the Frankish Bergakker inscription, between the two points, many sound changes occurred. Phylogeny as applied to historical linguistics involves the descent of languages. The Germanic languages form a tree with Proto-Germanic at its root that is a branch of the Indo-European tree, borrowing of lexical items from contact languages makes the relative position of the Germanic branch within Indo-European less clear than the positions of the other branches of Indo-European. In the course of the development of linguistics, various solutions have been proposed, none certain. In the evolutionary history of a family, philologists consider a genetic tree model appropriate only if communities do not remain in effective contact as their languages diverge. The internal diversification of West Germanic developed in an especially non-treelike manner, Proto-Germanic is generally agreed to have begun about 500 BC. Its hypothetical ancestor between the end of Proto-Indo-European and 500 BC is termed Pre-Proto-Germanic, whether it is to be included under a wider meaning of Proto-Germanic is a matter of usage. The fixation of the led to sound changes in unstressed syllables. For Lehmann, the boundary was the dropping of final -a or -e in unstressed syllables, for example, post-PIE *wóyd-e > Gothic wait. Antonsen agreed with Lehmann about the boundary but later found runic evidence that the -a was not dropped, ékwakraz … wraita, I, Wakraz
10.
Julius Caesar
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Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
11.
Jastorf culture
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The Jastorf culture was an Iron Age material culture in what are now southern Scandinavia and north Germany, spanning the 6th to 1st centuries BCE, forming the southern part of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The culture evolved out of the Nordic Bronze Age, through influence from the Halstatt culture farther south, the cultures of the Pre-Roman Iron Age are sometimes hypothesized to be the origin of the Germanic languages. Herwig Wolfram locates the initial stages of Grimms Law here, 7th century BC, Jastorf A 6th century BC, Jastorf B 400–350 BC, Jastorf C 350–120 BC, Ripdorf 120–1 BC, Seedorf It is named after a site near the village of Jastorf, Lower Saxony. The Jastorf culture was characterized by its use of cremation burials in extensive urnfields, Jastorf culture extended south to the fringes of the northern Hallstatt provinces, while towards the north a general congruence with the late phases of the Northern Bronze Age can be noted. Gravefields in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, western Pomerania, in Brandenburg and in Lower Saxony show continuity of occupation from the Bronze Age far into the Jastorf period and its area was first restricted to northern Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The Nienburg group has characteristics of material culture closer to Celtic cultures, isolated finds are scattered as far as Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Finds are mostly from tumuli, flat graves and Brandgruben graves, there are few and modest grave goods, with the weapon deposits characteristic of migration period graves completely absent. Nordic Bronze Age Germanic peoples J. Brandt, Jastorf und Latène,66 W. Künnemann, Jastorf - Geschichte und Inhalt eines archäologischen Kulturbegriffs, Die Kunde N. F.46, 61-122. Heinrich Krüger, Die Jastorfkultur in den Kreisen Lüchow-Dannenberg, Lüneburg, Uelzen und Soltau
12.
Oppidum
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An oppidum is a large fortified Iron Age settlement. They continued in use until the Romans began conquering Europe, north of the River Danube, where the population remained independent from Rome, oppida continued to be used into the 1st century AD. Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, enclosed space, possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age settlements he encountered in Gaul during the Gallic Wars in 58 to 52 BC as oppida. Although he did not explicitly define what features qualified a settlement to be called an oppidum and they were important economic sites, places where goods were produced, stored and traded, and sometimes Roman merchants had settled and the Roman legions could obtain supplies. They were also political centres, the seat of authorities taking decisions that affected large numbers of people, Most of the places that Caesar called oppida were city-sized fortified settlements. However, Geneva, for example, was referred to as an oppidum, Caesar also refers to 20 oppida of the Bituriges and 12 of the Helvetii, twice the number of fortified settlements of these groups known today. That implies that Caesar likely counted some unfortified settlements as oppida, a similar ambiguity is in evidence in writing by the Roman historian Livy, who also used the word for both fortified and unfortified settlements. In his work Geographia, Ptolemy listed the coordinates of many Celtic settlements, however, research has shown many of the localisations of Ptolemy to be erroneous, making the identification of any modern location with the names he listed highly uncertain and speculative. An exception to that is the oppidum of Brenodurum at Bern, in particular, Dehn suggested defining an oppidum by four criteria, Size, The settlement has to have a minimum size, defined by Dehn as 30 hectares. Topography, Most oppida are situated on heights, but some are located on areas of land. Fortification, The settlement is surrounded by a wall, usually consisting of three elements, a facade of stone, a construction and an earthen rampart at the back. Chronology, The settlement dates from the late Iron Age, the last two centuries BC and they could be referred to as the first cities north of the Alps. The period of 2nd and 1st centuries BC places them in the known as La Tène. A notional minimum size of 15 to 25 hectares has often been suggested, however, the term is not always rigorously used, and it has been used to refer to any hill fort or circular rampart dating from the La Tène period. One of the effects of the inconsistency in definitions is that it is uncertain how many oppida were built, in European archaeology, the term oppida is also used more widely to characterize any fortified prehistoric settlement. For example, significantly older hill-top structures like the one at Glauberg have been called oppida, the Spanish word castro, also used in English, means a walled settlement or hill fort, and this word is often used interchangeably with oppidum by archaeologists. According to prehistorian John Collis oppida extend as far east as the Hungarian plain where other settlement types take over, central Spain has sites similar to oppida, but while they share features such as size and defensive ramparts the interior was arranged differently
13.
Ore Mountains
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The Ore Mountains or Ore Mountains Range in Central Europe have formed a natural border between Saxony and Bohemia for around 800 years, from the 12th to the 20th centuries. Today, the border between Germany and the Czech Republic runs just north of the main crest of the mountain range, the highest peaks are the Klínovec, which rises to 1,244 metres above sea level and the Fichtelberg. The Ore Mountains are a Hercynian block tilted so as to present a steep face towards Bohemia. They were formed during a process, During the folding of the Variscan orogeny, metamorphism occurred deep underground, forming slate. In addition, granite plutons intruded into the metamorphic rocks, by the end of the Palaeozoic era, the mountains had been eroded into gently undulating hills, exposing the hard rocks. As the rock of the Ore Mountains was too brittle to be folded, it shattered into an independent fault block which was uplifted and tilted to the northwest. This can be clearly seen at a height of 807 m above sea level on the mountain of Komáří vížka which lies on the Czech side, east of Zinnwald-Georgenfeld. This process is known as dissection, the Ore Mountains is geologically considered to be one of the most heavily researched mountain ranges in the world. The main geologic feature in the Ore Mountains is the Late Paleozoic Eibenstock granite pluton and this pluton is surrounded by progressive zones of contact metamorphism in which Paleozoic slates and phyllites have been changed to spotted hornfels, andalusite hornfels, and quartzites. Late Tertiary faulting and volcanism gave rise to basalt and phonolite dikes, Ore veins include iron, copper, tin, tungsten, lead, silver, cobalt, bismuth, uranium, plus iron and manganese oxides. The soils consist of rapidly leaching grus, in the western and central areas of the mountains it is formed from weathered granite. Phyllite results in a loamy, rapidly weathered gneiss in the east of the mountains producing a light soil, today the land is predominantly used for pasture. But it is not uncommon to see near-natural mountain meadows, to the north of the Ore Mountains, west of Chemnitz and around Zwickau lies the Ore Mountain Basin which is only really known geologically. Here there are deposits of coal where mining has already been abandoned. A similar but smaller basin with abandoned coal deposits, the Döhlen Basin, is located southwest of Dresden on the edge of the Ore Mountains. It forms the transition to the Elbe Valley zone, the Ore Mountains are part of a larger mountain system and adjoin the Fichtel Mountains to the west and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains to the east. Past the River Elbe, the chain continues as the Lusatian Mountains. While the mountains slope gently away in the part, the southern slopes are rather steep
14.
Helvetii
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The Helvetii were a Gallic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Julius Caesar, the Helvetians were divided into four subgroups or pagi, of these Caesar only names the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, while Posidonius mentions the Tigurini and the Tougeni. They feature prominently in the Commentaries on the Gallic War, with their failed attempt to southwestern Gaul serving as a catalyst for Caesars conquest of Gaul. The endonym Helvetii is mostly derived from a Gaulish elu-, meaning gain, prosperity or mulititude, cognate with Welsh elw and Old Irish prefix il-, meaning many or multiple. The second part of the name has sometimes been interpreted as *etu-, terrain, grassland, the earliest attestation of the name is found in a graffito on a vessel from Mantua, dated to c.300 BC. The inscription in Etruscan letters reads eluveitie, which has interpreted as the Etruscan form of the Celtic elu̯eti̯os. The name of the personification of Switzerland, Helvetia. The star 51 Pegasi was named Helvetios after them and this was the first main-sequence star found to have an exoplanet orbiting it. Of the four Helvetian pagi or sub-tribes, Caesar names only the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, Posidonius the Tigurini, there has been substantial debate in Swiss historiography on whether the Tougeni may or may not be identified with the Teutones mentioned by Titus Livius. According to Caesar, the territory abandoned by the Helvetii had comprised 400 villages and 12 oppida and his tally of the total population taken from captured Helvetian records written in Greek is 263,000 people, including fighting men, old men, women and children. However, the figures are generally dismissed as too high by modern scholars, like many other tribes, the Helvetii did not have kings at the time of their clash with Rome but instead seem to have been governed by a class of noblemen. When Orgetorix, one of their most prominent and ambitious noblemen, was making plans to himself as their king. Caesar does not explicitly name the tribal authorities prosecuting the case and gathering men to apprehend Orgetorix, in his Natural History, Pliny provides a foundation myth for the Celtic settlement of Cisalpine Gaul in which a Helvetian named Helico plays the role of culture hero. The Greek historian Posidonius, whose work is preserved only in fragments by other writers, offers the earliest historical record of the Helvetii. Posidonius described the Helvetians of the late 2nd century BC as rich in gold but peaceful and that the Helvetians originally lived in southern Germany is confirmed by the Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemaios, who tells us of an Ἐλουητίων ἔρημος north of the Rhine. Tacitus knows that the Helvetians once settled in the swath between Rhine, Main, and the Hercynian forest, at the later Vicus Turicum, probably in the first 1st century BC or even much earlier, the Celts settled at the Lindenhof Oppidium. In 1890, so-called Potin lumps were found, whose largest weights 59.2 kilograms at the Prehistoric pile dwelling settlement Alpenquai in Zürich, the pieces consist of a large number of fused Celtic coins, which are mixed with charcoal remnants. Some of the 18,000 coins originate from the Eastern Gaul, others are of the Zürich type, that were assigned to the local Helvetii, which date to around 100 BC
15.
Taurisci
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The Taurisci were a federation of Gallic tribes who dwelt in todays northern Slovenia before the coming of the Romans According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same people known as the Norici. The denotation probably stems from Celtic taur meaning mountain, as in Tauern, affiliated with the Celto-Ligurian Taurini, the Taurisci settled on the upper Sava river after their defeat at the Battle of Telamon in 225 BC. In the wake of the Boii they migrated to northern Italia, the Greek chronicler Polybius mentioned Tauriscian gold mining in the area of Aquileia. With the troops of the Roman Republic they were defeated by invading Germanic Cimbri, other people settling in the region were the Pannonians in the south-east of Carniola, in the south-west lived the Iapydes, an Illyrian tribe, and the Carni, a Venetic tribe
16.
Nero Claudius Drusus
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Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, born Decimus Claudius Drusus, also called Drusus Claudius Nero, Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his fathers side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the stepson of her second husband. He launched the first major Roman campaigns across the Rhine and began the conquest of Germania, becoming the first Roman general to reach the Weser, in 12 BC, Drusus led a successful campaign into Germania, subjugating the Sicambri. Later that year he led an expedition against Germanic tribes along the North Sea coast, conquering the Batavi and the Frisii. In 11 BC, he conquered the Usipetes and the Marsi, in 10 BC, he launched a campaign against the Chatti and the resurgent Sicambri, subjugating both. The following year, while serving as consul, he conquered the Mattiaci and defeated the Marcomanni and the Cherusci, however, Drusus died later that year, depriving Rome of one of its best generals. Drusus was the youngest son of Livia Drusilla from her marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero, Drusus was born between mid-March and mid-April 38 BC, three months after Livia married Augustus on 17 January. Gerhard Radke has proposed the date of March 28 as his most likely birthday, rumors arose that Augustus was the childs real father, although this has never been authoritatively proven. Claudius, however, encouraged the rumor during his reign as emperor to create an impression of more direct lineage from Augustus. According to Suetonius, Drusus was originally given Decimus as his praenomen, Nero was a traditional cognomen of the Claudii, whereas Drusus was given to a branch of the gens Livia. Using a cognomen such as Nero as a first name was unusual, Drusus was raised in Claudius Neros house with his brother, the future emperor Tiberius, until his legal fathers death. The two brothers developed a close relationship that would last the rest of their lives. Tiberius named his eldest son after his brother, and Drusus did likewise, Drusus married Antonia Minor, the daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus sister, Octavia Minor, and gained a reputation of being completely faithful to her. Their children were Germanicus, Claudius, a daughter named Livilla, after Drusus death, Antonia never remarried, though she outlived him by nearly five decades. Three emperors were direct descendants of Drusus, his son Claudius, his grandson Caligula, Augustus bestowed many honors on his stepsons. In 19 BC, Drusus was granted the ability to hold all public offices five years before the minimum age, when Tiberius left Italy during his term as praetor in 16 BC, Drusus legislated in his place. He became quaestor the following year, fighting against Raetian bandits in the Alps, Drusus repelled them, gaining honors, but was unable to smash their forces, and required reinforcement from Tiberius
17.
Tencteri
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The Tencteri or Tenchteri or Tenctheri were an ancient tribe, who moved into the area on the right bank of the lower Rhine in the 1st century BC. They are known first from the works of ancient authors such as Julius Caesar. In December 2015, archaeologists found remains of the Tencteri in The Netherlands, while the Tencteri were referred to by the Romans as Germanic rather than Gauls, their recorded names are most reasonably explained as Celtic, Tencteri is generally translated as the faithful. It would also explain the apparently friendly relations of the Tencteri and Usipetes with the Sigambri, alarmed by the scale of the incursion, the Menapii had withdrawn from their territories east of the Rhine and successfully resisted the Germani bid to cross it for some time. The Germani feigned a retreat, allowing the Menapii to return to their territories east of the Rhine and their cavalry then returned and made a surprise night attack. They crossed the river and seized Menapian boats, occupied Menapian villages and towns, Caesar, fearing how the Gauls on the left bank might react, hurried to deal with this threat to his command of the region. Caesar convened a meeting of the Gaulish chiefs, and, pretending he did not know of their attempts at bribery, demanded cavalry and provisions for war against the Tencteri, the Tencteri and Usipetes sent ambassadors to Caesar as he advanced. While they boasted of their strength, claiming that they could defeat anyone but the Suebi, they offered an alliance. Caesar refused any alliance so long as the Tencteri and Usipetes remained in Gaul and he proposed settling them in the territory of the Ubii, another Germanic tribe who had sought his help against the aggression of the Suebi, there being no land available in Gaul. The ambassadors requested a truce of three days, during which neither side would advance towards the other, and they took Caesars counter-proposal to their leaders for consideration. But Caesar would not accept this, believing the Germani were buying time for the return of their cavalry, as Caesar continued to advance, further ambassadors requested a three-day truce for them to negotiate with the Ubii about his settlement proposal, but Caesar refused for the same reason. He offered a day, during which he would advance no more than four miles. The Germanic cavalry, although outnumbered by Caesars Gallic horsemen, made the first attack, Caesar describes a characteristic battle-tactic they used, where a horsemen would leap down to their feet and stab enemy horses in the belly. Accusing them of violating the truce, Caesar refused to accept any more ambassadors, arresting some who came requesting a further truce, the Usipetes and Tencteri were thrown into disarray and forced to flee, pursued by Caesars cavalry, to the confluence of the Rhine and Meuse. Many were killed attempting to cross the rivers and they found refuge on the other side of the Rhine amongst the Sicambri. Of those who had crossed the Rhine into Gaul four hundred thousand were cut to pieces, and the few who succeeded in making their way back were received by the Sugambri, a German nation. This action Caesar made a ground of complaint against the Sugambri, in 16 BC, the Tencteri, Usipetes and Sicambri once again crossed the Rhine and attacked Gaul. Marcus Lollius was defeated and the Germanic tribes took the standard of the 5th legion
18.
Chatti
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The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser. They settled within the region in the first century B. C, while Julius Caesar was well informed about the regions and tribes on the eastern banks of the Rhine, he never mentioned the Chatti by name. He did make note of the Suebi though, and suggested that they had driven out the Celts to the south of the region corresponding to modern north Hesse in the prior centuries BC. Some commentators believe that Caesars Suebi were possibly the later Chatti and they were poor because they had fought the Romans, and had been defeated and plundered. He says that, settlements begin at the Hercynian forest, where the country is not so open and they are found where there are hills, and with them grow less frequent, for the Hercynian forest keeps close till it has seen the last of its native Chatti. Hardy frames, close-knit limbs, fierce countenances, and a peculiarly vigorous courage and their whole strength is in their infantry, which, in addition to its arms, is laden with iron tools and provisions. Other tribes you see going to battle, the Chatti to a campaign, seldom do they engage in mere raids and casual encounters. It is indeed the peculiarity of a force quickly to win. Fleetness and timidity go together, deliberateness is more akin to steady courage, Tacitus also notes that like other Germanic tribes, the Chatti took an interest in traditions concerning haircuts and beards. The coward and the unwarlike remain unshorn, the bravest of them also wear an iron ring until they have released themselves by the slaughter of a foe. Most of the Chatti delight in these fashions, even hoary-headed men are distinguished by them, and are thus conspicuous alike to enemies and to fellow-countrymen. To begin the battle always rests with them, they form the first line, nor even in peace do they assume a more civilised aspect. It is possible that at first the Chatti moved into place on the Rhine, Cassius Dio describes Drusus establishing a fort in Chatti territory on the Rhine in 11 BC, and that in 10 BC they moved out of an area where the Romans had permitted them. To the north of the Chatti, Tacitus places the area of the Chauci. To the east, the neighbours of the Chatti and Chauci were the Cherusci, after the early third century AD, however, the Chatti virtually disappear from the sources and are only called upon as a topical element or when writing about events of the first century. Cassius Dio is most likely not only the first author to mention the Alamanni, writing about the Germanic war of Caracalla in 213 AD, he has the emperor fight Κέννους, Kελτικòν ἔθνος. This is taken from an excerpt of Dio in the writings of Joannes Xiphilinus, however, the usage of Kελτικός for Germanic peoples was an archaic tradition among Greek writers. After Cassius Dio, the name Chattus appears among others in a panegyric by Sidonius Apollinaris in the fifth century
19.
Cherusci
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The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany, in the area possibly near present-day Hanover, during the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. They led an important war against the Roman Empire, subsequently they were probably absorbed into the tribal confederations such as the Franks and Allemanni. The etymological origin of the name Cherusci is not known with certainty, according to the dominant opinion in scholarship, the name may derive from the ancient Germanic word *herut. The tribe may have named after the deer because it had a totemistic significance in Germanic symbolism. A different hypothesis, proposed in the 19th century by Jacob Grimm and others, derives the name from *heru-, hans Kuhn has argued that the derivational suffix -sk-, involved in both explanations, is otherwise not common in Germanic. He suggested that the name may therefore be a compound of ultimately non-Germanic origin, the first historical mention of the Cherusci occurs in Book 6.10 of Julius Caesars De Bello Gallico, which recounts events of 53 BC. Caesar relates that he crossed the Rhine again to punish the Suebi for sending reinforcements to the Treveri and he mentions that the Bacenis forest separated the territory of the Cherusci from that of the Suebi. In 12 BC, the Cherusci and other Germanic tribes were subjugated by the Romans and they appear to have been living in the same homeland when Tacitus wrote,150 years later, describing them as living east of the Chauci and Chatti. This is generally interpreted to be an area between the rivers Weser and Elbe, as Rome tried to expand in northern Europe beyond the Rhine, it exploited divisions within the Cherusci, and for some time the tribe was considered a Roman ally. At this time the tribe was split between Arminius and Segestes, Arminius advocated breaking allegiance to Rome and declaring independence, while Segestes wanted to remain loyal. By about 8 AD, Arminius had gained the upper hand, Segestes repeatedly warned Publius Quinctilius Varus, the governor of Gaul, that rebellion was being planned, but Varus declined to act until the rebellion had broken out. In the year 9, in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the legions eagle standards, of great symbolic importance to the Romans, were lost. The numbers of three legions, Legio XVII, Legio XVIII, and Legio XIX, were never used again. After the mutinies of the German legions in the year 14, Germanicus decided, at the urging of his men, to march into Germany to restore their lost honor. In 15, after a raid on the Chatti, invaded the lands of the Marsi in 14 AD with 12,000 legionnaires,26 cohorts of auxiliaries. According to Tacitus, an area 50 Roman miles wide was laid to waste with fire and sword, No sex, a Legion eagle from Varuss defeat, either from the XVII or XVIII, was recovered. Then he began a campaign against the Cherusci and he received an appeal to rescue Segestes, who was besieged by Arminius. Segestes was rescued along with a group of relatives and dependents, including Thusnelda, Segestes daughter, Germanicus spared them and gave them land in Gaul
20.
Pliny the Elder
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In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Pliny is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncles now missing work on the History of the German Wars. The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption would not allow his ship to leave the shore, and Pliny probably died during this event. Plinys dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 and a statement of his nephew that he died in his 56th year, Pliny was the son of an equestrian, Gaius Plinius Celer, and his wife, Marcella. Neither the younger nor the elder Pliny mention the names and their ultimate source is a fragmentary inscription found in a field in Verona and recorded by the 16th century Augustinian monk Onofrio Panvinio at Verona. The reading of the inscription depends on the reconstruction, but in all cases the names come through, whether he was an augur and whether she was named Grania Marcella are less certain. Jean Hardouin presents a statement from a source that he claims was ancient, that Pliny was from Verona. Hardouin also cites the conterraneity of Catullus, additional efforts to connect Celer and Marcella with other gentes are highly speculative. Hardouin is the scholar to use his unknown source. He kept statues of his ancestors there, a statue of Pliny on the facade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native son. He had a sister, Plinia, who married into the Caecilii and was the mother of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, whose letters describe his work and study regimen in detail. In one of his letters to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger details how his uncles breakfasts would be light and simple following the customs of our forefathers. This shows that Pliny the Younger wanted it to be conveyed that Pliny the Elder was a good Roman and this statement would have pleased Tacitus. Two inscriptions identifying the hometown of Pliny the Younger as Como take precedence over the Verona theory, one commemorates the youngers career as imperial magistrate and details his considerable charitable and municipal expenses on behalf of the people of Como. Another identifies his father Lucius village as Fecchio near Como and it is likely therefore that Plinia was a local girl and Pliny the Elder, her brother, was from Como. Gaius was a member of the Plinii gens and he did not take his fathers cognomen, Celer, but assumed his own, Secundus. As his adopted son took the same cognomen, Pliny founded a branch, no earlier instances of the Plinii are known. In 59 BC, only about 82 years before Plinys birth, Julius Caesar founded Novum Comum as a colonia to secure the region against the Alpine tribes, whom he had been unable to defeat
21.
Boii
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The Boii were a Gallic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul, Pannonia, parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia, and Gallia Narbonensis. In addition the archaeological evidence indicates that in the 2nd century BC Celts expanded from Bohemia through the Kłodzko Valley into Silesia, now part of Poland and the Czech Republic. They first appear in history in connection with the Gallic invasion of north Italy,390 BC, after a series of wars they were decisively beaten by the Romans in a battle near Mutina and their territory became part of the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul. Around 60 BC, a group of Boii joined the Helvetiis ill-fated attempt to land in western Gaul and were defeated by Julius Caesar, along with their allies. Caesar settled the remnants of that group in Gorgobina, from where they sent two thousand to Vercingetorixs aid at the battle of Alesia six years later, the eastern Boii on the Danube were incorporated into the Roman Empire in 8 AD. From all the different names of the same Celtic people in literature and inscriptions it is possible to abstract a continental Celtic segment, There are two major derivations of this segment, both presupposing that it belongs to the family of Indo-European languages, from cow and from warrior. The Boii would thus be either the people or the warrior people. The cow derivation depends most immediately on the Old Irish legal term for outsider, ambue, from Proto-Celtic *ambouios, not a cattle owner. The latter were presumably the *ambouii, as opposed to the man of status, who was *bouios, an owner, and the *bouii were originally a class. Boii would be from the o-grade of *bhei-, which is *bhoi-, such a connection is possible if the original form of Boii belonged to a tribe of Proto-Indo-European speakers long before the time of the historic Boii. If that is the case, then the Celtic tribe of central Europe must have been a final population of a linguistically diversifying ancestor tribe. Indo-European reconstructions can be made using *gʷou- cow as a basis, contemporary derived words include Boiorix and Boiodurum in Germany. According to the ancient authors, the Boii arrived in northern Italy by crossing the Alps and it remains therefore unclear where exactly the Central European origins of the Boii lay, if somewhere in Gaul, Southern Germany or in Bohemia. Polybius relates that the Celts were close neighbors of the Etruscan civilization, invading the Po Valley with a large army, they drove out the Etruscans and resettled it, the Boii taking the right bank in the center of the valley. Strabo confirms that the Boii emigrated from their lands across the Alps and were one of the largest tribes of the Celts, the Boii occupied the old Etruscan settlement of Felsina, which they named Bononia. Their possessions consisted of cattle and gold, because these were the things they could carry about with them everywhere according to circumstances. They treated comradeship as of the greatest importance, those among them being the most feared and most powerful who were thought to have the largest number of attendants and associates. The archaeological evidence from Bologna and its vicinity contradicts the testimony of Polybius and Livy on some points and it much rather indicates that the Boii neither destroyed nor depopulated Felsinum, but simply moved in and became part of the population by intermarriage
22.
Quadi
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The Quadi were a Suebian Germanic tribe who lived approximately in the area of modern Moravia in the time of the Roman empire. They associated the Quadi with their neighbours the Marcomanni, and described both groups as having entered the region after the Celtic Boii had left it deserted and it is said that the Quadi also lived in the same general region, and were also Suebian Germans, like the Marcomanni. They came to be part of the Marcomannic confederation that fought the future emperor Tiberius in 6 AD, there may be an earlier reference to the Quadi in the Geography of Strabo. In a parenthetical expression, often removed from the text, he mentions a branch of the Suevi called the Koldouoi. Part of their range is Bohemia, the domain of Maroboduus, the emendment of Coldui to Coadui is generally considered correct. Tacitus mentions the Quadi in the breath as the Marcomanni, alike in warlike spirit, alike governed by kings of their own noble stock. The royal powers of both tribes were also alike, according to Tacitus, in being supported by Roman silver, in The Annals, Tacitus writes that Maroboduus was deposed by the exile Catualda around 18 AD. Catualda was in turn defeated by the Hermunduri Vibilius, after which the realm was ruled by the Quadian Vannius, Vannius was himself also deposed by Vibilius, in coordination with his nephews Vangio and Sido, who divided his realm between themselves as Roman client kings. Tacitus writes, Behind them the Marsigni, Gotini, Osi, of these, the Marsigni and Buri, in their language and manner of life, resemble the Suevi. The Gotini and Osi are proved by their respective Gallic and Pannonian tongues, as well as by the fact of their enduring tribute, tribute is imposed on them as aliens, partly by the Sarmatæ, partly by the Quadi. The Gotini, to complete their degradation, actually work iron mines, all these nations occupy but little of the plain country, dwelling in forests and on mountain-tops. These Gotini, or Cotini, are mentioned in other Roman sources. In the later 2nd century AD, Marcus Aurelius fought them in the Marcomannic Wars, the troubles began in late 166 when the Langobardi and Obii crossed the Danube into Roman Moesia. They must have done so with the consent of the Quadi, presumably, the Quadi wished to avoid trouble themselves by allowing these tribes to pass through into Roman territory. After initial Roman losses, the Marcomanni were defeated in 171, but in 172, he launched a major attack into the territory of the Marcomanni, and then turned on the Quadi, who had been aiding Marcomanni refugees. In a major battle in that year, his troops were almost defeated, the Quadi were ultimately eliminated as a direct threat in 174. Marcus planned counteroffensive across the Danube was prevented in 175, however, though Marcus Aurelius successfully suppressed the revolt, it was not until 178 that he was able to pursue the Quadi over the Danube into Bohemia. He executed a successful and decisive battle against them in 179 at Laugaricio Trenčín - Slovakia under the command of legate and he was planning to advance the Roman border east and north to the Carpathian Mountains and Bohemia when he became ill and died in 180
23.
Hercynian Forest
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The ancient sources are equivocal about how far east it extended. All agree that the Black Forest, which extended east from the Rhine valley, across the Rhine to the west extended the Silva Carbonaria and the forest of the Ardennes. All these old-growth forests of antiquity represented the original post-glacial temperate broadleaf forest ecosystem of Europe, the Mittelgebirge seem to correspond more or less to a stretch of the Hercynian mountains. Hercynian has a Proto-Celtic derivation, from perkuniā, later erkunia, Julius Pokorny lists Hercynian as being derived from *perkʷu- oak. He further identifies the name as Celtic, Proto-Celtic regularly loses initial *p preceding a vowel, hence Hercynia. The corresponding Germanic forms have an f- by Grimms Law, Old English firgen = mountains, the assimilated *kwerkwu- would be regular in Italo-Celtic, and Pokorny associates the Celtiberian ethnonym Querquerni, found in Hispania in Galicia. It is possible that the name of the Harz Mountains in Germany is derived from Hercynian, also, the Old High German name Fergunna apparently refers to the Erzgebirge and Virgundia to a range between Ansbach and Ellwangen. The name of Pforzheim in southwest Germany and the village of Hercingen are also derived from Hercynian. Hercyne was the name of a small rapid stream in Boeotia that issued from two springs near Lebadea, modern Livadeia, and emptied into Lake Copais. It did not have any association with the Hercynian Forest. The name is cited dozens of times in classical authors. The Hercynian Forest is Pomponius Melas silvis ac paludibus invia, trackless forest and swamps, the earliest reference is in Aristotles. He refers to the Arkýnia mountains of Europe, but tells us only that, remarkably in his experience, during the time of Julius Caesar, this forest blocked the advance of the Roman legions into Germania. His few statements are the most definitive, in De Bello Gallico he says that the forest stretches along the Danube from the territory of the Helvetii to Dacia. Its implied northern dimension is nine days march and its eastern dimension is indefinitely more than sixty days march. The concept fascinated him, even the old tales of unicorns, caesars references to moose and aurochs and of elk without joints which leaned against trees to sleep in the endless forests of Germania, were probably later interpolations in his Commentaries. Caesars name for the forest is the one most used, Hercynia Silva, pliny the Elder, in Natural History, places the eastern regions of the Hercynium jugum, the Hercynian mountain chain, in Pannonia and Dacia. He also gives us some dramaticised description of its composition, in which the close proximity of the forest trees causes competitive struggle among them, but even he—if the passage in question is not an interpolated marginal gloss—is subject to the legends of the gloomy forest
24.
Augustus
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Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
25.
Bellum Batonianum
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The Bellum Batonianum was a military conflict fought in the Roman province of Illyricum in which an alliance of the native peoples of Illyricum rebelled against the Romans. There were two regions in this Roman province, Dalmatia and Pannonia, the rebellion began among native peoples who were recruited as auxiliary troops for the Romans. They were led by Bato the Daesitiate and they were joined by the Breuci led by Bato the Breucan. Many other tribes in Illyria also joined the revolt, the Roman called this conflict bellum batonianum after these two leaders who had the same name. Velleius Paterculus called it the Pannonian and Dalmatian war because it involved both regions of Illyricum, in English it has been called the Great Illyrian revolt, Pannonian-Dalmatian uprising and Bato uprising. This four-year war, which lasted from 6 AD to 9 AD, saw a large deployment of Roman forces in the province, with whole armies operating across the western Balkans and fighting on more than one front. In 8 AD the Breuci of the Sava valley surrendered, but it took another winter blockade, the Roman historian Suetonius described this war as the most difficult conflict faced by Rome since the Punic Wars two centuries earlier. Illyricum saw some fighting during the Great Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Senate led by Pompey, the Romans who lived in some of the coastal towns supported Caesar, while the native peoples supported Pompey. Quintus Cornificius, a Caesarian, repulsed Quintus Octavius, a Pompeian, the Dalmatians routed Aulus Gabinius, a Caesarian who had been ordered by Caesar to join Cornificius in Illyricum. The Dalmatians later asked Caesar for pardon, Caesar demanded a tribute and hostages as compensation and sent Publius Vatinius with three legions to enforce this. When Caesar was murdered in 44 BC the Dalmatians ignored these demands, with the disruptions caused by the further Roman civil wars Dalmatian piracy in the Adriatic Sea became a problem again. In 35 BC the Iapydes of northern Illyricum carried out raids into north-eastern Italy and they attacked Aquileia, and plundered Tergestus. In 35-33 BC Octavian undertook military campaigns in the region and he defeated the Iapydes, the northernmost tribe of Dalmatia. He then pushed into southern Pannonia and seized the city of Segesta, the then turned on the Dalmatians and seized Promona on the coast, the main city of the Liburnians, which had been seized by the Dalmatians. After that he seized the Dalmatian cities of Sunodium and Setovia and he then moved on the Derbani, who sued for peace. He also destroyed the settlements on the islands of Melite and Melaina Corcyra because its inhabitants practiced piracy and he deprived the Liburnians of their ships because they practiced piracy, too. Octavians lieutenants conducted various operations in the region. Octavian temporarily restored Roman authority in Dalmatia and pushed into southern Pannonia, in 27 BC the first settlement between Octavian and the Roman senate formalised Octavians absolute rule, bestowed the title on Augustus on him, and made him the first Roman emperor
26.
Illyria
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In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians. The prehistory of Illyria and the Illyrians is known from archaeological evidence, the Romans conquered the region in 168 BC in the aftermath of the Illyrian Wars. The Roman term Illyris was sometimes used to define an area north of the Aous valley, in Greek mythology, the name of Illyria is aetiologically traced to Illyrius, the son of Cadmus and Harmonia, who eventually ruled Illyria and became the eponymous ancestor of the Illyrians. A later version of the myth identifies Polyphemus and Galatea as parents of Celtus, Galas, ancient Greek writers used the name Illyrian to describe peoples between the Liburnians and Epirus. In the Roman period, Illyricum was used for the area between the Adriatic and Danube, the term was in a way of pars pro toto. The earliest recorded Illyrian kingdom was that of the Enchele in the 8th century BC, the era in which we observe other Illyrian kingdoms begins approximately at 400 BC and ends at 167 BC. The Autariatae under Pleurias were considered to have been a kingdom, the Kingdom of the Ardiaei began at 230 BC and ended at 167 BC. The most notable Illyrian kingdoms and dynasties were those of Bardyllis of the Dardani and of Agron of the Ardiaei who created the last, Agron ruled over the Ardiaei and had extended his rule to other tribes as well. As for the Dardanians, they always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians, the Illyrian kingdoms were composed of small areas within the region of Illyria. Only the Romans ruled the entire region, polybius gives as an image of society within an Illyrian kingdom as peasant infantry fought under aristocrats which he calls in Greek Polydynastae where each one controlled a town within the kingdom. The monarchy was established on hereditary lines and Illyrian rulers used marriages as a means of alliance with other powers, pliny writes that the people that formed the nucleus of the Illyrian kingdom were Illyrians proper or Illyrii Proprie Dicti. They were the Taulantii, the Pleraei, the Endirudini, Sasaei, Grabaei and these later joined to form the Docleatae. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was governed by Rome and organized as a province. The Roman province of Illyricum replaced the independent kingdom of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern Albania to Istria in the west, although this division occurred in 10 AD, the term Illyria remained in use in Late Latin and throughout the medieval period. After the division of the Roman Empire, the bishops of Thessalonica appointed papal vicars for Illyricum, the first of these vicars is said to have been Bishop Acholius or Ascholius, the friend of St. Basil. The patriarchs of Constantinople succeeded in bringing Illyria under their jurisdiction in the 8th century, several armorials of the Early modern period, popularly called the Illyrian Armorials, depicted fictional coats of arms of Illyria
27.
Hermunduri
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At times, they apparently moved to the Danube frontier with Rome. The Thuringii may have been the descendants of the Hermunduri, claudius Ptolemy mentions neither tribe in his geography but instead the Teuriochaemae, who may also be connected to both. Strabo treats the Hermunduri as a nomadic Suebian people, living east of the Elbe, pliny the elder, in his Historia Naturalis, lists the Hermunduri as one of the nations of the Hermiones, all descended from the same line of descent from Mannus. In the same category he places the Chatti, Cherusci, consequently they, alone of the Germans, trade not merely on the banks of the river, but far inland, and in the most flourishing colony of the province of Rætia. It is in their lands that the Elbe takes its rise, ger.41 In his Annales, Tacitus recounts how the Hermundurian Vibilius in 18 AD led the overthrow of the Marcomannic king Catualda in favor of the Quadian Vannius. Around 50 AD, allied with Vannius nephews Vangio and Sido and allied Lugii, the Hermunduri shared a disputed border with the Chatti, along a river with salt reserves near it, possibly the Werra or the Saxon Saale. When Marcus Aurelius died in 180 AD, he was involved in conflict with an alliance of the Marcomanni, the Hermunduri, the Sarmatians, Vibilius, c.18 - c.50 Herminones Armalausi Alamanni List of Germanic peoples Tacitus, Germania. XLI
28.
Marcomannic Wars
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The Marcomannic Wars were a series of wars lasting over a dozen years from about 166 until 180 AD. During the years succeeding the rule of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire began to be attacked on all sides, a war with Parthia lasted from 161 to 166 and, although it ended successfully, its unforeseen consequences for the Empire were great. The returning troops brought with them a plague, which would kill an estimated 5 million people. As a result, Germanic tribes and other nomadic peoples launched raids south and west across Romes northern border, particularly into Gaul, beginning in 162 and continuing until 165, an invasion of Chatti and Chauci in the provinces of Raetia and Germania Superior was repulsed. In late 166 or early 167, a force of 6,000 Langobardi and this invasion was defeated by local forces with relative ease, but they marked the beginning of what was to come. In their aftermath, the governor of Pannonia, Marcus Iallius Bassus. In these negotiations, the Marcomannic king Ballomar, a Roman client, in the event, a truce was agreed upon and the tribes withdrew from Roman territory, but no permanent agreement was reached. In the same year, Vandals and the Sarmatian Iazyges invaded Dacia, to counter them, Legio V Macedonica, a veteran of the Parthian campaign, was moved from Moesia Inferior to Dacia Superior, closer to the enemy. During that time, as plague was ravaging the empire, Marcus Aurelius was unable to do more, in the spring of that year, Marcus Aurelius, together with Lucius Verus set forth from Rome, and established their headquarters at Aquileia. The two emperors supervised a reorganization of the defences of Italy and the Illyricum, raised two new legions, Legio II Italica and Legio III Italica, and crossed the Alps into Pannonia. The two emperors returned to Aquileia for the winter, but on the way, in January 169, Marcus returned to Rome to oversee his co-emperors funeral. In the autumn of 169, Marcus set out from Rome, together with his son-in-law Claudius Pompeianus, the Romans had gathered their forces and intended to subdue the independent tribes, who lived between the Danube and the Roman province of Dacia. The Iazyges defeated and killed Claudius Fronto, Roman governor of Lower Moesia, however, while the Roman army was entangled in this campaign, making little headway, several tribes used the opportunity to cross the frontier and raid Roman territory. To the east, the Costoboci crossed the Danube, ravaged Thrace and descended into the Balkans, reaching Eleusis, near Athens, the most important and dangerous invasion, however, was that of the Marcomanni in the west. Their leader, Ballomar, had formed a coalition of Germanic tribes and they crossed the Danube and won a decisive victory over a force of 20,000 Roman soldiers near Carnuntum. Ballomar then led the larger part of his host southwards towards Italy, the Marcomanni razed Opitergium and besieged Aquileia. This was the first time hostile forces had entered Italy since 101 BC. The army of praetorian prefect Furius Victorinus tried to relieve the city, there is no consensus amongst scholars as to the year that the great Gemanic invasion towards Aquileia took place
29.
Vandals
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The Vandals are believed to have migrated from southern Scandinavia to the area between the lower Oder and Vistula rivers during the 2nd century BC and to have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. They are associated with the Przeworsk culture and were possibly the people as the Lugii. Around 400 the Vandals were pushed westwards again, this time by the Huns, in 409, the Vandals crossed the Pyrenees into the Iberian Peninsula, where their main groups, the Hasdingi and the Silingi, settled in Gallaecia and Baetica respectively. In 429, under king Genseric, the Vandals entered North Africa, by 439 they established a kingdom which included the Roman province of Africa as well as Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta and the Balearic Islands. They fended off several Roman attempts to recapture the African province and their kingdom collapsed in the Vandalic War of 533–4, in which Justinian I managed to reconquer the province for the Eastern Roman Empire. Renaissance and Early Modern writers characterized the Vandals as barbarians, sacking and looting Rome and this led to the use of the term vandalism to describe any senseless destruction, particularly the barbarian defacing of artwork. However, modern historians tend to regard the Vandals during the period from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages as perpetuators, not destroyers. The connection would be that Vendel is the homeland of the Vandals prior to the Migration Period. Further possible homelands of the Vandals in Scandinavia are Vendsyssel in Denmark, the etymology of the name may be related to a Germanic verb *wand- to wander. The Germanic mythological figure of Aurvandil shining wanderer, dawn wanderer, evening star, much has forwarded the theory that the tribal name Vandal reflects worship of Aurvandil or the Dioscuri, probably involving an origin myth that the Vandalic kings were descended from Aurvandil. Some medieval authors applied the ethnonym Vandals to Slavs, Veneti, Wends and it was once thought that the Slovenes were the descendants of the Vandals, but this is not the view of modern scholars. The Vandals are believed to have migrated from southern Scandinavia to the area between the lower Oder and Vistula somewhere in the 2nd century BC, and to have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. The earliest mention of the Vandals is from Pliny the Elder, tribes within this category who he mentions are the Burgundiones, Varini, Carini, and the Gutones. Most archaeologists and historians identify the Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, the bearers of the Przeworsk culture mainly practiced cremation, with occasional inhumation. The Lugii have been identified by historians as the same people as the Vandals. The Lugii are mentioned by Strabo, Tacitus and Ptolemy as a group of tribes living between the Vistula and the Oder. Neither Strabo, Tacitus or Ptolemy mentions the Vandals, while Pliny the Elder mentions the Vandals, according to John Anderson, the Lugii and Vandili are designations of the same tribal group, the latter an extended ethnic name, the former probably a cult-title. By the end of the 2nd century, the Vandals were divided in two main groups, the Silingi and the Hasdingi, with the Silingi being associated with Silesia
30.
Sarmatians
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The Sarmatians were a large confederation of Iranian people during classical antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. They spoke Scythian, an Indo-European language from the Eastern Iranian family and their territory, which was known as Sarmatia to Greco-Roman ethnographers, corresponded to the western part of greater Scythia. In the 1st century AD the Sarmatians began encroaching upon the Roman Empire in alliance with Germanic tribes, in the 3rd century AD their dominance of the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Germanic Goths. With the Hunnic invasions of the 4th century, many Sarmatians joined the Goths, a related people to the Sarmatians known as the Alans survived in the North Caucasus into the Early Middle Ages, ultimately giving rise to the modern Ossetic ethnic group. The Sarmatians were eventually assimilated and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of Eastern Europe. Sarmatae probably originated as just one of several names of the Sarmatians. Strabo in the 1st century names as the tribes of the Sarmatians the Iazyges, the Roxolani, the Aorsi. The Greek name Sarmatai sometimes appears as Sauromatai, which is almost certainly no more than a variant of the same name, nevertheless, historians often regarded these as two separate peoples, while archaeologists habitually use the term Sauromatian to identify the earliest phase of Sarmatian culture. Any idea that the name derives from the lizard, linking to the Sarmatians use of reptile-like scale armour. Both Pliny the Elder and Jordanes recognised the Sar- and Sauro- elements as interchangeable variants, Greek authors of the 4th century mention Syrmatae as the name of a people living at the Don, perhaps reflecting the ethnonym as it was pronounced in the final phase of Sarmatian culture. Oleg Trubachyov derived the name from the Indo-Aryan *sar-mat, the Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian word *sar-, by this derivation was noted the unusual high status of women from the Greek point of view and went to the invention of Amazons. Other scholars, like Harold Walter Bailey, derived the word from Avestan sar- from tsar- in Old Iranian. It was also derived from the name of Avestan region in the west Sairima, recently R. M. Kozlova derived it from *Sъrm- < Proto-Slavic adjective *sъrmatъ, with the meaning that is rich with sormima i. e. shallows, referring to the rivers. The Sarmatians emerged in the 7th century BC in a region of the steppe to the east of the Don River, for centuries they lived in relatively peaceful co-existence with their western neighbors the Scythians. Then, in the 3rd century BC, they fought with the Scythians on the Pontic steppe to the north of the Black Sea, the Sarmatians were to dominate these territories over the next five centuries. Pliny the Elder wrote that they ranged from the Vistula River to the Danube, in 1947, Soviet archaeologist Boris Grakov defined a culture flourishing from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, apparent in late kurgan graves, sometimes reusing part of much older kurgans. It was a nomadic steppe culture ranging from the Black Sea eastward to beyond the Volga, in Hungary, a great Late Sarmatian pottery centre was reportedly unearthed between 2001 and 2006 near Budapest, in the Üllő5 archaeological site. Typical grey, granular Üllő5 ceramics form a group of Sarmatian pottery found everywhere in the north central part of the Great Hungarian Plain region
31.
Goths
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The Goths were an East Germanic people, two of whose branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe. In the Gothic language they were called the Gut-þiuda, most commonly translated as Gothic people, gut-þiudai, or Gutans Inferred from gen. pl. gutani in Pietroassa inscription. In Old Norse they were known as the Gutar or Gotar, in Latin as the Gothi, the exact origin of the ancient Goths is unknown. Evidence of them before they interacted with the Romans is limited, Modern academics have generally abandoned this theory. Today, the Wielbark culture is thought to have developed from earlier cultures in the same area, archaeological finds show close contacts between southern Sweden and the Baltic coastal area on the continent, and further towards the south-east, evidenced by pottery, house types and graves. Rather than a migration, similarities in the material cultures may be products of long-term regular contacts. However, the record could indicate that while his work is thought to be unreliable. Sometime around the 1st century AD, Germanic peoples may have migrated from Scandinavia to Gothiscandza, early archaeological evidence in the traditional Swedish province of Östergötland suggests a general depopulation during this period. However, there is no evidence for a substantial emigration from Scandinavia. Upon their arrival on the Pontic Steppe, the Germanic tribes adopted the ways of the Eurasian nomads, the first Greek references to the Goths call them Scythians, since this area along the Black Sea historically had been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. The earliest known material culture associated with the Goths on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea is the Wielbark culture, centered on the modern region of Pomerania in northern Poland. This culture replaced the local Oxhöft or Oksywie culture in the 1st century, the culture of this area was influenced by southern Scandinavian culture beginning as early as the late Nordic Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age. In Eastern Europe they formed part of the Chernyakhov culture and it has been suggested that the Goths maintained contact with southern Sweden during their migration. In the first attested incursion in Thrace, the Goths were mentioned as Boranoi by Zosimus, the first incursion of the Roman Empire that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of Histria in 238. Several such raids followed in subsequent decades, in particular the Battle of Abrittus in 251, led by Cniva, at the time, there were at least two groups of Goths, the Thervingi and the Greuthungs. Goths were subsequently recruited into the Roman Army to fight in the Roman-Persian Wars. The Moesogoths settled in Thrace and Moesia, the first seaborne raids took place in three subsequent years, probably 255-257. An unsuccessful attack on Pityus was followed in the year by another
32.
Marcus Aurelius
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Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus death in 169, Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, during his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East, Aurelius general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately, the major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. For Marcus life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, a body of correspondence between Marcus tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c.138 to 166. Marcus own Meditations offer a window on his life, but are largely undateable. The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices. Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources, Marcus family originated in Ucubi, a small town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. Verus elder son—Marcus Aurelius father—Marcus Annius Verus married Domitia Lucilla, Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla. The elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a fortune from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption. Lucilla and Verus had two children, a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121 AD, and a daughter, Annia Cornificia Faustina, Verus probably died in 124 AD, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old. Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned modesty and manliness from his memories of his father, Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of nurses, even so, Marcus credits his mother with teaching him religious piety, simplicity in diet and how to avoid the ways of the rich. In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her, he was grateful that, although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me. After his fathers death, Aurelius was raised by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus who, technically this was not an adoption, since an adoption would be the legal creation of a new and different patria potestas. Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing, Severus is described as Marcus maternal great-grandfather, he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla. Marcus was raised in his parents home on the Caelian Hill and it was an upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas
33.
Carnuntum
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Carnuntum was a Roman Legionary Fortress or castrum legionarium and also headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province and it also became a large city of 50,000 inhabitants. Carnuntum first occurs in history during the reign of Augustus, when Tiberius made it his base of operations as a Roman fort in the campaigns against Maroboduus, significant Romanisation occurred when the town was selected as the garrison of the Legio XV Apollinaris before 14 AD. A few years later, it became the centre of the Roman fortifications along the Danube from Vindobona to Brigetio, to this period belongs the auxiliary castrum of a cavalry ala 1.5 km south-west of the legionary fortress. The legion was sent to Syria and possibly Armenia by Nero in 62 or 63, in 71 AD, after several campaigns, the Legio XV Apollinaris returned to Carnuntum and rebuilt its fortress. The legion fought in the Trajans Dacian Wars the main body of the legion remained in Pannonia, in 115 war with Parthia broke out and the legion was sent to the east. Legio X Gemina was sent to Carnuntum for a few years from about 63 AD, during the brief reign of Galba, it was transferred back to Hispania. Legio VII Gemina, newly founded by Galba in 68 AD, was allocated to Carnuntum until about 71 AD after his defeat by Vespasian, in 117/8 AD, Carnuntum became the permanent quarters of Legio XIV Gemina where it stayed for three centuries until the frontier collapsed in 430. In Roman times Carnuntum had a history as a trading centre for amber, brought from the north to traders who sold it in Italy. As the capital of Pannonia Superior it was made a municipium by Hadrian and its importance is indicated by the fact that Marcus Aurelius resided there for three years during the war against the Marcomanni, and wrote part of his Meditations there. Also Septimius Severus, at the governor of Pannonia, was proclaimed emperor there by his soldiers, to replace Emperor Pertinax. In the Severan dynasty Carnuntum experienced a boom, the canabae reaching its maximum size. Caracalla elevated it to status as Septimia Colonia Aurelia Antoniana. During the reign of Gallienus, the Pannonians rebelled by electing the usurper Regalianus who established a mint whose coins depicted him and he was killed shortly afterwards by his own soldiers probably at Carnuntum. It brought about freedom of religion for the Roman Empire, in 374 it was destroyed by Germanic invaders the Quadi and Iazyges. Although partly restored by Valentinian I, it never regained its former importance, during the Barbarian Invasions, Carnuntum was eventually abandoned and used as a cemetery and source of building material for building projects elsewhere. Eventually, its remains became buried and forgotten, there are several places to see in the city, Roman city quarter in the open-air museum, palace ruins, amphitheatre, and Heidentor. The Roman city ruins are exposed in the museum directly in the present village
34.
Pannonia
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Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Julius Pokorny believes the name Pannonia is derived from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root *pen-, swamp, water, the Ionian Danube fleet reached as far as Boio-Aria, populated until the late 8th century CE by Celts and Slavs under Aryan rulers. Pliny the Elder, in Natural History, places the eastern regions of the Hercynium jugum and he also gives us some dramaticised description of its composition, in which the close proximity of the forest trees causes competitive struggle among them. But even he—if the passage in question is not an interpolated marginal gloss—is subject to the legends of the gloomy forest and he mentions unusual birds, which have feathers that shine like fires at night. Medieval bestiaries named these birds the Ercinee, the first inhabitants of this area known to history were the Pannonii, a group of Indo-European tribes akin to Illyrians. From the 4th century BC, it was invaded by various Celtic tribes, little is heard of Pannonia until 35 BC, when its inhabitants, allies of the Dalmatians, were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia. The country was not, however, definitively subdued by the Romans until 9 BC, when it was incorporated into Illyricum, the frontier of which was thus extended as far as the Danube. After the rebellion was crushed in AD9, the province of Illyricum was dissolved, the date of the division is unknown, most certainly after AD20 but before AD50. The proximity of dangerous barbarian tribes necessitated the presence of a number of troops. Some time between the years 102 and 107, between the first and second Dacian wars, Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior, and Pannonia Inferior. According to Ptolemy, these divisions were separated by a line drawn from Arrabona in the north to Servitium in the south, later, the whole country was sometimes called the Pannonias. Pannonia Superior was under the legate, who had formerly administered the single province. Pannonia Inferior was at first under a praetorian legate with a single legion as the garrison, after Marcus Aurelius, it was under a consular legate, the frontier on the Danube was protected by the establishment of the two colonies Aelia Mursia and Aelia Aquincum by Hadrian. In the 4th-5th century, one of the dioceses of the Roman Empire was known as the Diocese of Pannonia. It had its capital in Sirmium and included all four provinces that were formed from historical Pannonia, as well as the provinces of Dalmatia, following the Migrations Period in the middle of the 5th century, Pannonia was ceded to the Huns by Theodosius II. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in 454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Emperor Marcian in the province as foederati, afterwards, it was again invaded by the Avars in the 560s, the Slavs, who first settled c. This language and the culture became extinct with the arrival of the Magyars. The native settlements consisted of pagi containing a number of vici, the cities and towns in Pannonia were, The country was fairly productive, especially after the great forests had been cleared by Probus and Galerius
35.
Punic Wars
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The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus, meaning Carthaginian, the main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily, part of which lay under Carthaginian control, at the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italy, but it lacked the power of Carthage. The Roman victories over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the 5th century AD, during the mid-3rd century BC, Carthage was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. Founded by the Phoenicians in the mid-9th century BC, it was a powerful thalassocratic city-state with a vast commercial network, of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. While Carthages navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, instead, Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars. However, most of the officers who commanded the armies were Carthaginian citizens, in 200 BC, the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po river. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large disciplined armed forces, on the other hand, at the start of the First Punic War, the Romans had no navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until they began to construct their own large fleets during the war. The First Punic War was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa and it began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The Mamertines enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage, the Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. With the two powers now embroiled in the conflict, tensions escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily. In 260 BC, they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Lipari Islands, Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months, the Romans had a fleet of one hundred warships. Because they knew that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in the tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans added the corvus. The hinged bridge would swing onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike, Roman legionaries could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. This innovative Roman tactic reduced the Carthaginian navys advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, however, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Roman navy became more experienced and tactically proficient
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Praetorian Guard
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In Ancient Rome, the Imperial Praetorian Guard or Praetorian Guard were a unit of the Imperial Roman Army formed of elite soldiers initially recruited in Italy. They were first, hand-picked veterans of the Roman Army in charge of providing close protection security details to the Emperor and they also served as secret police protecting the civic administrations and rule of law imposed by the Senate and the Emperor. The title designation was used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around year 275 BC. The Imperial Guard was dissolved by Emperor Constantine I in the 4th century and they were distinct from the Imperial Germanic bodyguard which provided close personal protection for the late Western Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, there was no permanent guard charged with the protection of general officers. However, certain military officers chose to surround themselves with guards to ensure their security, in the event of battle, these cohorts would intervene as a final standing reserve. The consuls were ordinarily protected by the lictors, who would remain around their tents in the army, at the end of the year 40 BC, Octavian and his rival Mark Antony both operated a number of Praetorian units organized individually. According to Appian, amongst them were veterans forming cohorts, Mark Antony commanded three cohorts in the Orient and in 32 BC, he issued coins in honor of his Praetorians. According to Paul Orose, Octavian commanded five cohorts at Actium, following his victory at Actium, Octavian merged his forces with those of his adversary in a symbolic reunification of the Army of Julius Caesar. The Praetorians constituted a guard and a military reserve of the Emperor. Through the machinations of their ambitious prefect, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, in 23, Sejanus convinced Tiberius to have the Castra Praetoria built just outside of Rome. One of these held the daily guard at the imperial palace switching roles in between patrols. Henceforth the entire Guard was at the disposal of the emperors, the reality of this was seen in 31 when Tiberius was forced to rely upon his own cohors praetoria against partisans of Sejanus. Although the Praetorian Guard proved faithful to the aging Tiberius, their political power had been made clear. At the siege of Numance, Scipio Aemilianus formed a troop of 500 men for his personal protection and this usage was then emulated and spread, as Roman generals occupied their positions for longer periods of time. Accordingly, this guard was referred to as Cohors Prætoria and they benefited from several advantages due their close proximity with the emperor, the Praetorians were the only ones admitted while bearing arms in the center of sacred Rome - the Pomerium. Under Nero, the pay of a Praetorian was three and a half times that of a legionary, augmented by prime additions of donativum, granted by the new emperors. This additional pay was the equivalent of years of pay, renewed during important events of the empire, or events that touched the imperial family, birthdays, births
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Vindobona
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Vindobona was a Celtic settlement and later a Roman military camp on the site of the modern city of Vienna in Austria. The settlement area took on a new name in the 13th-century, being changed to Berghof, around 15 BC, the kingdom of Noricum was included in the Roman Empire. Early references to Vindobona are made by the geographer Ptolemy in his Geographica and the historian Aurelius Victor, today, there is a Marc-Aurelstraße near the Hoher Markt in Vienna. Vindobona was part of the Roman province Pannonia, of which the administrative centre was Carnuntum. Vindobona was a camp with an attached civilian city. The military complex covered an area of some 20 hectares, housing about 6000 men where Vienna’s first district now stands, the Danube marked the border of the Roman Empire, and Vindobona was part of a defensive network including the camps of Carnuntum, Brigetio and Aquincum. Under Emperor Trajan, four legions were stationed in Pannonia, Marcus Aurelius is said to have died in Vindobona on March 17 in the year 180AD from an unknown illness while on a military campaign against invading Germanic tribes. Vindobona was provisioned by the surrounding Roman country estates, a centre of trade with a developed infrastructure as well as agriculture and forestry developed around Vindobona. Civic communities developed outside the fortifications, as another community that was independent of the military authorities in todays third district. It has also proven that a Germanic settlement with a large marketplace existed on the far side of the Danube from the second century onwards. The oblique camp border along todays street Salzgries was probably caused by a flood of the river Danube that occurred during the 3rd century. The name “Graben” is believed to back to the defensive ditches of the military camp. It is thought that at least parts of the walls still stood in the Middle Ages, when streets were laid out. The Berghof was later erected in one corner of the camp, wars, administrative and military reforms in the 3rd and 4th century as well as devastating floods led the population to retreat more and more into the military camp. The area lost its importance as a border in the 5th century, remains of the Roman military camp have been found at many sites in the centre of Vienna. The centre of the Michaelerplatz has been investigated by archaeologists. Here, traces of a Roman legionary outpost and of a crossroad have been found, part of a Roman canal system is underneath the fire station am Hof. Directly under the Hoher Markt are the remains of two buildings unearthed during the works of 1948/49 and made accessible to the public
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Noricum
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Noricum is the Latin name for a Celtic kingdom, or federation of tribes, that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire and its borders were the Danube to the north, Raetia and Vindelicia to the west, Pannonia to the east and southeast, and Italia to the south. The kingdom was founded around 400 BC, and had its capital at the residence at Virunum on the Magdalensberg. Its area corresponded to the part of modern Styria and Carinthia, Upper/Lower Austria west of Vienna, Salzburg, a part of Bavaria. The famous Noric steel was used in the making of Roman weapons. Gold and salt were found in considerable quantities, the plant called saliunca grew in abundance and was used as a perfume according to Pliny the Elder. Noric steel was famous for its quality and hardness, in Noricum, almost all those Celtic invaders are mentioned. The Hallstatt graves contained weapons and ornaments from the Bronze age, through the period of transition, up to the Hallstatt culture, william Ridgeway made a strong case for the theory that the cradle of the Homeric Achaeans was in Noricum and neighbouring areas. The kingdom of Noricum was a provider of weaponry for the Roman armies from the mid-Republic onwards. Especially the Roman swords were made was made of the best-quality steel then available, the strength of iron is determined by its carbon content. The wrought iron produced in the Greco-Roman world generally contained only traces of carbon and was too soft for tools. It thus needed to be carburised to at least 1. 5% carbon content. The main Roman method of achieving this was to heat the wrought iron to a temperature of over 800 C and hammer it in a charcoal fire. This technique had been developed empirically, as there is no evidence that ancient iron producers understood the chemistry involved, the rudimentary methods of carburisation used rendered the quality of the iron ore critical to the production of good steel. The ore needed to be rich in manganese, but also to very little, or preferably zero, phosphorus. The ore mined in Carinthia fulfills both criteria to an unusual degree, the Celtic peoples of Noricum empirically discovered that their ore made superior steel around 500 BC and established a major steel-making industry around it. At Magdalensberg, a production and trading centre was established. The finished products were mostly exported southwards, to Aquileia, a Roman colony founded in 180 BC, Noricum became a key ally of the Roman Republic, providing a reliable supply of high-quality weapons and tools in return for Roman military protection
"Marcomanni". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
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