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[German version] Celtic tribe of Helvetia or rather  Noricum (Fest. 17) or a tribe of German origin, possibly linked with the island of Amrum: the etymology of Ambr-names is unproductive (cf. [1. 606] for a possible Ligurian component). The A., together with the Helvetii and the Teutoni, threatened Italy from southern Gaul; in 102 BC, they were beaten at Aquae Sextiae by C. Marius (Liv. epit. 68; Plut. Marius 15,5 f.; 19,3 f.; 19,7; 20,1 f.; cf. Str. 4,1,8; Cass. Dio 44,42,4; 50,24,2; Eutr. 5,1,1; Oros. 5,16,1; 9; 13; Veg…

[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] Black Forest, German Schwarzwald, mountain region in south-western Germany, possibly including also the low mountain ranges of the Odenwald and Rothaargebirge to the north. In 15 BC,  Tiberius paid a visit there to see the sources of the Danube. From the late Tiberian/early Claudian period (2nd half of the 1st cent. AD), there was a Roman-influenced population on the eastern bank of the upper Rhine region; under the Flavians (2nd half of 1st cent. AD), the wooded mountain area und…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Batavian Revolt (Vingo), now Bingen/Bingerbrück. Settlement on the bend of the Rhine. Geographically important location in the territory of the  Vangiones (CIL XVII 2,675) on the bridge of the Rhine valley road over the Nahe where the Trier - Mainz route branches off.  Iulius Tutor was defeated here in AD 70, and the bridge that he had pulled down (Tac. Hist. 4,70,4) was replaced around AD 77 as a pile grating (dendrochronologically confirmed; again c. 305); in the early 1st cent. a garrison of several cohorts and …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pannonia Modern Célje (Cilli). Settlement in Noricum on the amber trade route near an originally Celtic-Illyrian settlement at the mouth of the Voglajna into the Savinja (Sann). C. owed its early and rapid development to its favourable location on one of the main access routes to the Illyro-Italian gateway. Under the emperor Claudius, it was probably a   municipium of the tribus Claudia (CIL III 5143; 5227; cf. CIL VI 2382) which, in the middle of the 2nd cent., supplied high-ranking imperial officials [1…

[German version] A people in Lower Germania, whose tribal area, attributed to the colonia Ulpia Traiana/Xanten, most likely lay between Erkelenz and Krefeld. The B. participated with one contingent in the revolt of  Julius Civilis (Plin. HN 4,106; Tac. Hist. 4,56,3; 66,1). Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography TIR M 31,39 C. B. Rüger, Germania Inferior, 1968, esp. 98f.

[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…

(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] (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] According to Tacitus ‘an uncivilized and very poor’ ( mira feritas, foeda paupertas) but ‘happy’ ( beatius arbitrantur) northern people of hunters, whose classification as Germans or Sarmatians was left uncertain (Tac. Germ. 46). They undoubtedly were identical with the Phínnoi (Φίννοι) in northern Scandinavia, who were considered ‘neighbours’ of the Goths (Ptol. 2,11,16: Hs. X; 3,5,8; cf. Jord. Get. 3,22: mitissimi), but not Suomi Finns, who were only named thus in the 2nd half of the 12th cent. Because of the customs described in Tac. Ger…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Raeti, Raetia Today, the historic centre of Passau. The name was recorded rather late (Not. Dign. Occ. 35,24; Eugippius, Vita Severinus 19,1; 22,4; 24,1; 27,1; Batavini: ibid. 20,1; 22,1; 27,3). Located in  Raetia, across from Boiodurum/Innstadt in Noricum. A late Celtic oppidum between the Danube and the Inn was discontinued c. 100 years before the Roman settlement. The Roman settlement was quite dense since late Flavian times, but not yet clearly organized: the narrow, rectangular houses bel…

[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 adject…

[German version] Germanic tribe; uncertain etymology of the name; they were divided into the ‘small’ and the ‘large’ B. (Str. 7,1,3f.; Ptol. 2,11,6f.; 9) and settled between IJssel, Lippe and the upper reaches of the Ems, or rather between the upper reaches of the Ems and the Weser. Defeated by  Drusus in 12 BC, they took part in the fight against  Varus, and, with their seer  Veleda, were involved in the  Batavian revolt. After AD 98, they were decimated by the Chamavi and Angrivarii and driven away (Tac. Germ. 33,1). Later, Bructuri appear on the right bank of the Rhine between Colo…

[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] Sub-tribe ( pagus) of the Alamanni north of Lake Constance (cf. the later Linzgau). Directed against them in AD 355 was punitive action of the magister equitum Arbetio and a victorious campaign of Gratianus in 378 (Amm. Marc. 15,4; 31,10,1-17). Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography R. Rollinger, Zum Alamannenfeldzug Constantius' II. an Bodensee und Rhein im J. 355 n.Chr., in: Klio 80, 1998, 163-194.

[German version] Statio between Ad Lunam and Grinario (Tab. Peut. 4,1), possibly the late Flavian garrison Donnstetten-Römerstein, which continued after about 150 into the 3rd cent. as a civilian settlement. Dietz, Karlheinz (Würzburg) Bibliography J. Heiligmann, Der ‘Alb-Limes’, 1990, 80-87.

[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] A Germanic tribe belonging to the Suebi (border people [26. 161f.]) that was probably forced from the middle Elbe region into the upper and middle Main region by the migrations of the Cimbri and Teutoni. The M. supplied mercenaries: from 72 BC for the Sequani in their war against the Haedui, in 60 BC for the Dacians during the destruction of the Boii kingdom in Bohemia, in 58 for Ariovistus against Caesar (Caes. B Gall. 1,51,2). Severely defeated by Claudius [II 24] Drusus probabl…

[German version] I. Geography Collective term for the central European low mountain ranges, first mentioned in Aristot. Mete. 1,13. It took nine days to cross it from north to south (Caes. B Gall. 6,25-28; interpolated according to [1]), and 60 from west to east; the forest, abundant with unknown wild beasts, extended from the borders of the Helvetii, Nemetes, and Rauraci along the Danube to the border region ( fines) of the Dacians and Anartes (further source references easily accessible through the indices in [2]). Even though the Roman occupation and discovery…

[German version] [1] The modern Aquileia, northern Italy This item can be found on the following maps: Socii (Roman confederation) | Caesar | Venetic | Christianity | Wine | | Coloniae | Coloniae | Commerce | Pannonia | Punic Wars | Raeti, Raetia | Regio, regiones | Rome | Batavian Revolt The present-day town of A. in upper Italy, between  Natiso and Alsa (Plin. HN 3,126), c. 10 km from the Adria (Str. 5,1,8). The name is more likely to be derived from a river name (Zos. 5,29,4) than from an eagle in flight (Julian Or. 2,72 a). Attempts by the Gauls in 186 BC …