Prince of the Cherusci. Arminius - The battle that stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the slaughter of the legions in the Teutoburg Forest

THE
BATTLE
THAT
STOPPED
ROME

Copyright 2003 by Peter S. Wells

All rights reserved

First published as a Norton paperback 2004

Frontispiece: Detail of etching by Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki showing Arminius surrounded by his people and with fruits of victory, including captured weapons in the foreground and Roman legionary standards in the background. From Anton von Klein, Leben und Bildnisse der grossen Deutschen, vol. I (Mannheim, 1782).

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Book design by Margaret M. Wagner

Production manager:Julia Druskin

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Wells, Peter S.

The battle that stopped Rome : Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the slaughter of the
legions in the Teutoburg Forest / Peter S. Wells.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-393-02028-2 (hardcover)

1. Teutoburger Wald, Battle of, Germany, 9 A.D. 2. Arminius, Prince of the Cherusci.
3. Varus, Publius Quintilius. 4. Augustus, Emperor of Rome, 63 B.C.14 A.D.
5. RomeHistoryAugustus, 30 B.C.14 A.D. 6. GermanyHistoryTo 843.
7. RomansGermanyWestphalia. I. Title.

DD123.W45 2003

936.3'02dc21

2003010789

ISBN 978-0-393-32643-7 pbk.

ISBN 978-0-393-35203-0 (e-book)

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110

www.wwnorton.com

W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT

To My Family

Frontispiece. (Detail) Arminius with spoils of victory

Arminius with head of Varus, 1543 woodcut

Arminius celebrating, 1689 engraving

Statue of Arminius near Detmold, Germany

Lead slingstones

Iron weapons

Javelin point

Iron pickax

Lead plumb bobs

Surgical instruments

Womens jewelry

Mule skeleton

Statue of Cleopatra

Gemma Augustea

Gravestone of Marcus Caelius

Plan of Roman military complex at Haltern

Plan of main base at Haltern

Catapult bolt from Dttenbichl

Settlement at Hodde

Objects from Grave 150 at Putensen

Sandal nails from Kalkriese

Triumph of Tiberius

Swords from Nydam and Vimose

Spearheads, shield, and chainmail

Woolen tunic from Thorsberg

Woolen pants from Thorsberg

Leather shoe from Thorsberg

Coin showing war captive

Bronze bell

Face mask

Settlement at Flgeln

Topographical map showing Kalkriese, in northern Germany

Map of the landscape of the battle site and vicinity

and later

Map of tribal groups

Map suggesting possible march route of Varuss troops and positions of German troops prepared for the attack

Map showing locations of archaeological finds

63 B.C. birth of Octavius, later named Augustus

5851 B.C. Julius Caesar campaigns in and conquers Gaul

45 B.C. Julius Caesar adopts Octavius/Augustus, making him his heir

45 B.C. Julius Caesar assassinated

27 B.C. Octavius named Augustus and becomes first Roman emperor

1613 B.C. Augustus in Rhineland overseeing buildup of bases

129 B.C. Drusus leads campaigns across Rhine eastward toward Elbe

97 B.C. Tiberius commands Rhine legions, triumph in Rome

A.D. 46 Tiberius again commands Rhineland legions

A.D. 7 Varus appointed governor in Rhineland and Germany

A.D. 9 Arminius and the Germans destroy three Roman legions in Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

A.D. 14 Death of Augustus, Tiberius becomes emperor

A.D. 19 Arminius murdered by his fellow Cherusci

1470 Tacituss Germania published in Venice

1505 Tacituss Annals discovered at Corvey, Germany

1875 Statue of Arminius/Hermann completed

1885 Mommsen identifies Kalkriese as site of the battle

1987 Clunn and Schlter link weapons with battle site

1989 excavations at Kalkriese reveal abundant remains of battle

According to accounts by two great chroniclers of Rome, Tacitus and Cassius Dio, in A.D. 9 a chieftain named Arminius led a massive army of Germanic warriorsbarbarians to the Romansin the annihilation of some twenty thousand Roman soldiers. It was one of the most devastating defeats suffered by the Roman army. The effects of this catastrophe were profound. It ended Romes designs on conquest farther east beyond the Rhine and resulted in the emperor Augustuss decision to expand and strengthen a series of military bases along the Rhine frontier, creating a densely militarized zone in the middle of Europe. As the bases grew, towns were established near them, many of which became major centers of medieval and modern Europe, including Bonn, Cologne, Mainz, and Strasbourg. Furthermore, the Rhine remained the political and cultural boundary of the Roman world throughout the succeeding four centuries of the Roman Empire, and it has continued as a cultural, and often a political, boundary for the past two thousand years. The psychological effect of the crushing defeat on Augustus and his successors contributed to their ending the policy of military expansion not just in Europe but in Africa and Asia as well. This battle truly changed the course of world history.

Though a watershed event, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest is not well known today. Between the sixteenth century and the mid-twentieth, the story of this great battle was familiar to people in the German-speaking regions of Europe, and the battle became a powerful metaphor for populations struggling to stay free of outside domination. As the hero Arminius, who became known by the German name Hermann during the sixteenth century, decisively defeated the imperialistic Romans, so too sixteenth-century humanists, including Martin Luther, struggled to be free of the dictates of the Roman Church. In the nineteenth century, the heroic tradition of Arminius was invoked to confront another threatening foreign powerthe France of Napoleon and his successors. After the First World War, and with the profound political and ideological changes of the twentieth century, the popularity of the Arminius/Hermann story waned. Yet, for historians trying to understand Roman policy in northern Europe, the event remains critically important.

Until very recently, all of the information about the great battle consisted of several brief descriptions in texts by Roman and Greek writers that were preserved in European monasteries and church collections through the Middle Ages, and a single inscribed gravestone commemorating a centurion who fell in the conflict. None of the descriptions were eyewitness accounts, and most were written generations and even centuries after the event. The accounts are contradictory. Yet, the historical descriptions of the reactions of the emperor Augustus to this military disaster make clear how important it was.