Posted on 09/15/2010 8:16:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Until only two years ago, northern Germany was believed to have been a no-go area for Roman troops after three legions were wiped out by German tribesmen in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. The revelation that two centuries later a Roman force mounted a punitive raid deep inside the tribal areas in AD 235 has changed all that, suggesting that a soldier-emperor, Maximinus Thrax, seriously attempted to subjugate the north of Germany. The debris from the battle is scattered over a wooded hill, the Harzhorn.
An archeological dig there this summer turned up 1,800 artefacts. A single spot on the hill had been pounded by torsion catapults, one of the most advanced weapons in the Roman arsenal, and 70 bolts from these armour-piercing weapons were still lying in the ground. The catapults, mounted on wagons, had a range of up to 200 metres, said Michael Moosbauer, an archaeology professor at the Harzhorn site. The iron points weighed 200 grams apiece...
Among the techniques used by the archaeologists to sketch a map of the battle is tracking the studs that fell off Roman sandals as the troops climbed the Harzhorn on foot. They are believed to have overcome their opponents before continuing on their way. That belief is partly based on the absence from the soil of buckles, which were typically left behind on battlefields when victors ripped armour off slaughtered Roman legionaries... Among the finds is part of an ornate Roman scabbard, which can be dated from its style to the battle period, and the bones of a horse, which have been carbon-dated to about AD 235 too... Nine coins that have been found -- one minted in AD 228 -- also fit the date.
(Excerpt) Read more at monstersandcritics.com ...
“Varus, give me back my Legions!”
Did he have a daughter named Ann?
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And there was the "Romans go home" graffiti.
Nope. His daughter was named Mi. She was famous for being crabby.
One reason the Romans did not conquer Germany is that the area did not have enough resources worth the effort to steal.
They waited two hundred years for a punitive raid?
Ad 9 to AD 235 is like 1784 is to 2010.
Yeah, I’m kinda thinking their fervor to do this probably wore down a little after the first hundred years or so.
When Thrax attacks, he does it to the max!
Sloppy article. As was already pointed out the timeframe difference was wide enough to break any connection to the massacre of the three legions.
And besides the Romans did not treat Germany as a “no go” area after the defeat. They went back for the Eagles and for blood. Tiberius himself led Augustus’ army on the retribution campaign.
Tiberius was able to rally an army of eight legions during these campaigns. These were the legions:
1. For the front “lower”: the legion XXI Rapax, V Alaudae the legion, the legion Legio I Germanica and XX Valeria Victrix;
2. For the “superior” Legio II Augusta, Legio XIII Gemina Legio XVI Gallica Legio XIV Gemina
“The Romans penetrated into the Cesia forest coming to the village of the Marsi, Germanicus knew that this was a night of partying and celebrations for the Germans. Germanicus divided legions into 4 wedges, to increase the radius of destruction within 50 miles. It was a massacre. Neither sex nor age aroused compassion.”
“Roman Armies quickly penetrated into the territory of the Chatti, where he made horrendous massacres of those who by age or sex did not have the strength to resist, while younger people fled and threw into the river Adrano (the current river Eder), above which the Romans were building a bridge to cross.”
And so on.
But as already stated, the local resources didn’t justify a permanent occupation. Just an object lesson on what happens to the enemies of Rome who get too good at it.
btt
That was implied later in the article.
Thrax was supposed to be big and ugly and even his bust tends to support that. He was of low origin and was the first Emperor never to set foot in Rome. He was marching south into Italy to put down a rebellion where the Senate had replaced him when the Praetorian Guard turned on him, decapitated him and his son and took their heads to Rome.
And we think our politics are rough.
I’ll Have to say that is probably the single coolest Roman name I’ve ever come across
Maximinius Thrax
“...the Senate had replaced him when the Praetorian Guard turned on him, decapitated him and his son and took their heads to Rome.
And we think our politics are rough.”
Is our House going in this direction, No. 3rd?
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