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[German version] (‘offsprings, descendants’). One of the Germanic warrior communities living north of the Danube, identified by the Romans with the  Semnones [1; 2], defeated by the Romans (AE 1993, 1231; [5]) at Augsburg on 24/25 April AD 260 (unnecessary doubt over the date in [3], cf. [4]) on the way back from Italy. Annoyed at the absence of annual tributes, contrary to treaty and without a declaration of war, they advanced into Italy again in 270, but were overcome by Aurelianus ‘at the cross…

[German version] Seafaring East Germanic tribe [1], which at the beginning of the 3rd cent. AD was allegedly driven out of Scandinavia by the Danes and split into East and West Heruli. The latter attacked the Romans at the Lower Rhine in 287, were defeated and repeatedly attacked Roman territory from the Dutch-Frisian coast to southern Spain (esp. 456/459). Threatened by the  Franci, they made an effort in 476 to gain the friendship of the  Visigoths. At the beginning of the 6th cent. they are no longer attested. From their home by the Sea of Azov, the much stronger East H. advance…

[German version] ‘Homeland of the Boii’, now Bohemia (sources: Str. 7,1,3; Vell. Pat. 2,109,5; Tac. Germ. 28,2). Although widely abandoned by the Celtic  Boii around 60 BC (Caes. Gall. 1,5,4; cf. Str. 7,1,5; Plin. HN 3,146 deserta Boiorum) and occupied by the  Marcomanni shortly before the end of that cent., the region retained their name. That it gave its name to the  Baiovarii is disputed but quite likely. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography TIR M 33,27.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Batavian Revolt According to It. Ant. 254,3 and Tab. Peut. 2,4 (H)arenatio, presumably today's Kleve-Rindern. In AD 70/1 winter quarters of the legio X Gemina in the territory of the  Batavi (Tac. Hist. 5,20,1). The auxiliaries' fort in Kleve has not yet been found. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography J. Seibert, s. v. A., RGA 1, 21973, 399 H. G. Horn, Kleve-Rindern, in: Id. (ed.), Die Römer in Nordrhein-Westfalen, 1987, 458.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar Epithet of a mother goddess (possibly derived from a pre-Celtic tribe of the Nori), which was transferred to her shrines [1; 2. 156f.; 3. 240f.; 4]. A place called N. was situated 27 to 40 miles from Virunum in the direction of Ovilavia (Tab. Peut. 5,1). Several inscriptions are addressed to the goddess N. [4. 97f. ill. 4]. The urbs N. (Sempronius Asellio fr. 9 = schol. Bernensia to Verg. G. 3,474), where Papirius Carbo was defeated in 113 BC by the Cimbri, 1200 stadia from Aquileia (Str. 5,1,8…

[German version] The modern Cologne-Deutz. Starting as a bridgehead across the Rhine opposite  Colonia Agrippinensis [1] early in the 1st cent. AD and rebuilt with a bridge by Constantine the Great to harbour 1,000 men on the Rhine border that is above flood level (Paneg. 6 [7],11,3; 13,1-5); parts of the structure lasted until Frankish times ( Divitia civitas: Greg. Tur. Franc. 4,16). Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography 1 B. Päffgen, W. Zanier, Überlegungen zur Lokalisierung von Oppidum Ubiorum und Legionslager im frühkaiserzeitlichen Köln, in: W. Czysz, C. M. Hüssen et …

[German version] Germanic people; on the basis of etymology inhabitants of a former Chattian territory; possibly to be identified with the  Chasuarii. As neighbours of the Bructeri and the Cherusci counted as the ‘weaker’ inland peoples (Str. 7,1,3f.; Vell. Pat. 2,105,1); possibly to be identified with the Attuarii, who show up in the 4th cent. as part of a Frankish confederacy (Amm. Marc. 20,10,2); during the Middle Ages the C. are settled from the lower Ruhr and Lippe to the left bank of the Rhine.  Chatti;  Francs Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography G. Neumann et al., s.v. Cha…

[German version] Germanic name (‘the flooding, streaming [body of water]’) for the most northerly branch of the delta of the Rhine: Plin. HN 4,101 ( Flevum ostium); Mela 3,24 ( lacus Flevo, formerly Zuidersee, modern IJsselmeer); cf. Ptol. 2,11,12. Tac. Ann. 4,72,3 mentions a Roman castellum Flevum besieged by Frisii in AD 28, the locality of which is pinpointed in Velsen [1]. It is debatable whether the Flevi in the Laterculus Veronensis 13 are derived from F. [2; 3].  Rhenus Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography 1 J.-M. A. W. Morel, A. V. A. J. Bosman, Velsen-Noord Spaarndamm…

[German version] (Breones). Tribe living in the inner Alps in  Raetia, subjugated by Drusus in 15 BC; often mentioned in connection with the Genauni (e.g. Hor. Carm. 4,14,11: veloces; Plin. HN 3,137), they were wrongly associated with the Brenner Pass. Under the name of Breones, they were still active as a group in late antiquity (Cassiod. Var. 1,11,2; Venetius Fortunatus, Vita Martini 4,645; Carm. praef. 4), and gave their name to a diocese (Acta Conc. Oec. IV 2,135 § 18 v. 591). Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography TIR L 32,39 H. Wolfram, Tiroler Randgruppen, in: FS A. Betz, …

[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 G. Ulbert, Auerberg, in: W. Czsyz, K. Dietz, Th. Fischer, H.-J. Kellner (ed.), Die Römer in Bayern, 1995, 417-419.

(Ἀμισία; Amisía). [German version] [1] Modern Ems river The modern river Ems, frequently mentioned (cf. Str. 7,1,3; Mela 3,30; Plin. HN 4,100; Tac. Ann. 1,60,2; Ptol. 2, 11, 1; 7; Marcianus of Heraclea, Periplus Maris exteri 2,32 GGM 1,555); in medieval documents named as Emisa and Emesa [1]. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) [German version] [2] Settlement, localization uncertain The localization of the settlement of A. (Ptol. 2,11,13; 8,6,3; Steph. Byz. s. v. A.) is uncertain, equally, whether Amisiae in Tac. Ann. 2,8 refers to the left arm of the Ems [2]…

[German version] Alpine tribe, subjugated by Augustus (CIL V 7817 = Plin. HN 3,137); they lived east of the Vocontii and south of the Allobroges (Str. 4,1,11; 4,6,5; Ptol. 2,10,7) along the upper course of the Arc near modern Modane, and, according to Vitr. De arch. 8,3,20, were particularly prone to suffer from goitre. They belonged to the tribes governed by Cottius [1] (CIL V 7231) and later to the prov. Alpes Cottiae. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography TIR L 32,92 G. Barruol, Les peuples préromains du sud-est de la Gaule, 1975, 334-337.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pannonia | Raeti, Raetia (modern Salzburg). In the territory of the Alauni the developing Roman site of I. (etymology disputed) on the left bank of the Salzach replaced the Celtic hill settlements on the Rainberg, the Festungsberg and the Kapuzinerberg in the later years of Augustus' reign (beginning 1st cent. AD). I. was built at the junction of the northern road along the crest of the Alps from Bregenz (Brigantium) and the long distance road from Aquileia leading over the Radstädter Tauernpass, and was raised to the status of mu…

[German version] (Varisti). Germanic tribe next to ( iuxta) the Hermunduri (Tac. Germ. 42,1) and between the Marcomanni and the Quadi (AE 1956, 124), in the vicinity of Pannonia (western Slovakia; cf. [1. 248-251]). Once friends of Rome ([2]; CIL III 4500), during the Marcomannic Wars  they became enemies (SHA Aur. 22,1), against whom Marcus [2] Aurelius campaigned [3. 104f.]; their leader Valao was killed in single combat by M. Valerius Maximianus (AE l.c.). 3,000 N. deserters were settled in the Empire (Cass. Dio 71,21; CIL X 7290 does not mention any N.). Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) B…

[German version] (modern Köngen). Fort (2.4 ha) on the Augsburg-Mainz road probably founded around AD 90/95. In about 160 the unit was moved to Lorch but the old camp probably still served as a base for supplies. The vicus G. (CIL XIII 11726f.; Tab. Peut. 4,1) that was c. 20 ha. in size flourished to around the middle of the 3rd cent. and belonged to the civitas Sumelocennensis (modern Rottenburg; CIL XIII 6384; 11727). Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography C. Unz, G., 1982 M. L…

[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] Germanic tribe (of uncertain etymology); they preceded the Tubantes and Usipetes as inhabitants of land on the lower Rhine, which was later to become Roman military land (Tac. Ann. 13,55,2); before 12 BC they lived east of the Tencteri, west of the  Bructeri and north of the Marsi (cf. the early medieval district of ‘Hamaland’ around Deventer between IJssel and Rhine). After the defeat of the Bructeri in AD 98, the C. from the west began to settle in the Bructeri's former territor…

[German version] Final phase in the civil war that took place after Nero's death between August of AD 69 and September/October 70 north of the Alps (sources in [1]). Tacitus is the main source for a description of the complex chain reactions entailing breaches of faith and new solidarities (Hist. 4,12-37; 54-79; 5,14-26). Some authors (for instance Brunt) claim that Tacitus depicts a believable and consistent overview of the separatist movement against Rome which aimed at a Gallic world empire (cf…

[German version] Problematic expression, attested only in Tac. Germ. 29,3: Tacitus does not count those peoples settled beyond the Rhine and Danube as belonging to the Germanic peoples, saying eos qui decumates agros exercent: levissimus quisque Gallorum et inopia audax dubiae possessionis solum occupavere; mox limite acto promotisque praesidiis sinus imperii et pars provinciae habentur. The partly fanciful discussion of this quotation, difficult as it is on linguistic and factual grounds, is as wide-ranging as it is fruitless. If decumates is generally viewed as an adjective modifying agros (acc. pl.), substantival nom. pl. is also possible (preferred by [1], cf. [13. 272, 274f.]). Conjectures involving decumanos and decumatos have failed, and the most recent [12] involving desertos (in the sense of  derelictos ‘deserted’) is scarcely plausible. The association with the concept of ‘tenth’ is certain, but a link with decem pagi does not hold up [2]. The remaining complex difficulties are expounded by Timpe; see a summary of related research in Lund [12].…

[German version] Today St. Pölten. A town in  Noricum, situated at the intersection of ancient roads frequented from early times; etymologically probably linked to Celtic * keto -- ‘wood, forest’ (cf.   Cetius mons ). The municipium Aelium Cetensium of the time of Hadrian (CIL III 5630; 5652; 11799) was destroyed in the wars against the  Marcomanni, but soon recovered [1]. Since 1949 significant excavations on the site of the ancient town, which has been built up in modern times. Some slight evidence of Christianity in what little remains of the late Roman settlement area; St. Florian lived here [2]. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography 1 P. Scherrer, in: H. Friesinger, J. Tejral, A. Stuppner (ed.), Markomannenkriege, 1995, 447-455 2 R. Harreither, Der hl. Florian, in: R. Bratož (ed.), West-Illyr. und Nordost-It. in der spätröm. Zeit, 1996, 235-262, especially 239f. …