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[German version] (the Frisians). A fairly ancient Germanic people (etymology not clear), first mentioned in Plin. HN 4,101, who, according to Tac. Germ. 34,1 comprised the Frisii maiores and minores; they could hardly have been the Frisiavones in Plin. (HN 4,101; 106) in the north of Belgica [1]. They lived to the north of the  Bructeri and to the west of the  Chauci, mainly between Oude Rijn and Ems. There were an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 settlements in the marshes and border regions of the moors of the provinces of Friesland and…

[German version] Modern Worms. As an ancient traffic junction at the crossing point of the road along the Rhine valley (CIL XVII 2,675), B. was occupied by various Roman troops (fort inside the town area) from the Augustan era to the end of the 1st cent. After that the vicus, which at times had been walled (CIL XIII 6244), flourished as a suburb of the civitas Vongionum. It was protected by milites II Flaviae (Not. Dign. occ. 41,8;20), but after a siege sometime before 409 (Jer. Ep. 123,15,3), it fell to the  Burgundiones,  Huns,  Alamanni, and (from 496)  Francs. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bib…

[German version] Forested area on the ri…

[German version] The modern Main, the largest, right-hand tributary of the Rhine (evidence in [1. 606]). It was of limited value for river navigation because of its meandering course, having to penetrate the wooded mountains of the Odenwald, Spessart and Rhön. Since further use required rule over the Main-Frankish bank region and the Main valley opened up no further important tribal region, it was logical for the Romans to push no farther east towards Lower and Upper Franconia from the important legionary camp of Mogontiacum (Mainz) a…

[German version] The Germanic ‘great people’ (μέγα ἔθνος; méga éthnos, Str. 7,1,3), the L. ( Lugiorum nomen), comprised many tribes, the most powerful being the Harii, the Helvecones, the Manimi, the Helisii and the Naha(na)rvali. Among the last, the cult community had its sacred grove (Tac. Germ. 43,2). Ptolemy differentiates L. Oma(n)noí, Didoûnoi and Boûroi (Λ. Ὀμαννοί/Ὀμανοί;, Διδοῦνοι, Βοῦροι, Ptol. 2,11,18; 20). As neighbours of the Suebi and the Goti, the L. settled in Silesia on the Oder and in the bordering regions along the Amber Road ( A…

[German version] (the Franks). Initially a loose league of smaller Germanic tribes on the right-hand side of the Rhine that sl…

[German version] A Germanic ‘tribe’, made up of fighting and nomadic groups of various origins, formed after AD 180 in the course of the south-west wanderings of the Elbe-Germanic  Suebi, in particular by Semnones (Cass. Dio 71,20,2; Suda s. v. Κελτοί; …

[German version] [1] M. Vinxt modern Vinxt. Town at the …

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[German version] Today Lago di Garda. Largest Alpine lake in the area of Verona (Plin. HN 9,75), with a length of 500 stadia (along the eastern shore road; cf. Str. 4,6,12; Plin. HN 2,224; 3,131); the river Mincius flows through it. It was navigable despite severe storms (Verg. G. 2,160). The Benacenses (TIR L 32,33) lived on the western shore.…

[German version] Capital of the  Licates, a ‘polis rising up like a fortress’ (Str. 4,6,8). Tentatively identified with the early Imperial, fortified mountain settlement on the Auerberg (1055 m) near Bernbeuren (in modern Bavaria; finds of metal workshops and potters' ovens) that was settled by Rome in the 2nd decade AD and abandoned as early as c. AD 40. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography …

[German version] According to Tac. Germ. 34,1 (a conjecture after Ptol. 2,11,9 = ‘the war-ready’) a German tribe, neighbours of the Chasuarii, Chamavi, Angrivarii and Langobardi, presumably situated east of the Weser on the middle Aller and middle Elbe and in the Südheide. Probably not politically autonomous [1]. Dietz, Karlheinz (…

[German version] Largest auxiliary fort (6.07 hectares) on the upper German/Raetian   limes , a forward post for the ala II Flavia milliaria…

[German version] (Gutones, ‘Goths’). Germanic people whose very small traditional core of people supposedly left Scandinavia (Iord. Get. 25f.; [1]; archaeological evidence for a migration overseas are lacking) under ‘King’ Berig (important: not one of the  Amali!). At the beginning of the common era the G. settled in the Oder area (cf. Str. 7,1,3); their ethnogenesis obviously took place in the area of the Wielbark culture, next to (Ulmi)rugic-Lemovian neighbours, north of the Lugic-Vandal Przewor…

[German version] Fort defended after the battle of Varus in AD 9, and then abandoned in an orderly retreat to the  Rhenus (today Rhine) (Vell. Pat. 2,120,4), likely identical with the φρούριον ( phroúrion; Cass. Dio 54,33,4) built by  Drusus in 11 BC at the confluence of the Elison into the Lupia (today Lippe). The location is as yet uncertain since Oberaden and Holsterhausen are ruled out, Haltern was considered but is 41 km too far from the Rhine and was abandoned in AD 9 [1], while A. was occupied either still or again in AD 15-16 (Tac. Ann. 2,7,3).  P. Quinctilius Varus Dietz, Karlheinz (Würz…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Wine | Commerce | Limes | Raeti, Raetia (now Bregenz). In Celtic * brigant -- ‘high’. Important locality of the Brigantii (Str. 4,6,8) in  Rhaetia, situated on the north-eastern bay of Lake Constance at an intersection of important east-west and north-south traffic routes, which become narrower in that area. As well as a putative pre-Roman …

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[German version] The Germanic combat unit that was probably based on fealty, together with Suebi and Semnones in the mythical original tribe of the  Herminones (Plin. HN 4,100), pinpointed in the Augustan period as being located at the Elbe (Str. 7,1,3; Vell. 2,106,2), had possibly already lost its political and organizational connection at that time. H., searching for land, were settled by  Domitius [II 2]in 6/1 BC in the former Marcomannis (Cass. Dio 55,10a,2), possibly as a strategic help again…

[German version] Mythological ancient tribe of the Germani (Plin. HN 4,100; Tac. Germ. 2,2) with no concrete historical base. According to Plin. l.c. they lived proximi Rheno (near the Rhine).  Herminones Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg)

[German version] Mountain range, intrinsically linked with Cetium, bordering Noricum in the east (Ptol. 2,13,1) and Pannonia in the west (Ptol. 2,14,1) reaching the Danube to the north between Vindobona and Cetium. Essentially the Vienna Woods and the contiguous Styrian Alps to the south, the modern Karawanken and the Carnic Alps.…