Cherusci

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The Roman Empire under Hadrian (r. 117–138), showing the former location of the Cherusci in northwestern Germany

The Cherusci were a

Allemanni
.

Name

Cherusci (Latin:

Old Germanic demonym, whose etymology is unclear. The dominant opinion in scholarship is that it may derive from *herut ("hart"), which may have had totemistic significance for the group.[1] Another hypothesis—proposed in the 19th century by Jacob Grimm and others—derives the name from *heru- (Gothic: hairus; heoru, a kind of sword).[2] Hans Kuhn has argued that the derivational suffix -sk- involved in both explanations is uncommon in Germanic. He suggested that the name may therefore be a compound of ultimately non-Germanic origin and connected to the hypothesized Nordwestblock.[3]

History

Germans
, 12–9 BC
Tiberius and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus's campaigns against the Germans, 3 BC – AD 6
Tiberius and Germanicus's campaigns in AD 10–12, with the Cherusci and their remaining allies in pink
Thusnelda at the Triumph of Germanicus, by Karl von Piloty, 1873.[4]

The Cherusci were a

Elbe.[8]

As part of his

Hameln or Hildesheim. The Cherusci were initially victorious but paused their attack, allowing the surviving Romans to break through the encirclement and escape.[9] By that winter, Drusus had recovered enough control that a garrison was stationed somewhere in Cheruscan territory, probably at either Haltern or Bergkamen in North Rhine-Westphalia.[9] The Cherusci continued to resist the campaigns of Tiberius, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, and M. Vinicius as late as the "vast war"[10]
begun around 2 BC.

Finally, in AD 4,

fell on their swords during the battle.[11][12] Cassius Dio reports that Segimer was second in command during the battle but Arminius seems to have acted as chieftain himself soon thereafter. He abducted Segestes's daughter Thusnelda
and married her.

The Romans encouraged the

sacrificed on German altars. The army buried the dead for half a day, after which Germanicus stopped the work to return to war against the Germans.[18] Making his way to the Cherusci heartland, Germanicus was attacked by Arminius's men at Pontes Longi ("the long causeways") in the boggy lowlands near the Ems. The Cherusci trapped and began to kill the Roman cavalry but the Roman infantry was able to check and rout them over the course of a two day battle. Tacitus considered this a victory[19] although historians such as Wells think it was more likely inconclusive.[20]

In AD 16, Germanicus returned with eight legions and Gallic and Germanic auxiliary units, including men led by Arminius's younger brother

Jupiter, and Augustus."[25][26]
In the next year, Germanicus was recalled to Rome. Tacitus reports this as partially caused by the emperor's growing jealousy of the general's fame, but permitted him to celebrate a triumphal march on 26 May:

Germanicus Caesar, celebrated his triumph over the Cherusci, Chatti, and Angrivarii, and the other tribes which extend as far as the Elbe.[27]

Germanicus was then moved to the Parthian border in Syria and soon died, possibly from poisoning. Arminius was killed in turn by Segestes and his allies in AD 21.

After Arminius's murder, the Romans left the Cherusci more or less to their own devices. In AD 47, the Cherusci asked Rome to send Italicus, the son of Flavus and nephew of Arminius, to become their chieftain, as civil war had destroyed their other nobility. He was initially well liked but, since he was raised in Rome as a Roman citizen, he soon fell out of favor.[28] He was succeeded by Chariomerus, presumably his son, who was defeated by the Chatti and deposed around AD 88.[29]

Tacitus (56–c. 120) writes of the Cherusci:

Dwelling on one side of the Chauci and Chatti, the Cherusci long cherished, unassailed, an excessive and enervating love of peace. This was more pleasant than safe, for to be peaceful is self-deception among lawless and powerful neighbours. Where the strong hand decides, moderation and justice are terms applied only to the more powerful; and so the Cherusci, ever reputed good and just, are now called cowards and fools, while in the case of the victorious Chatti success has been identified with prudence. The downfall of the Cherusci brought with it also that of the Fosi, a neighbouring tribe, which shared equally in their disasters, though they had been inferior to them in prosperous days.[30]

Harz Mountains).[31]

The later history of the Cherusci is unattested.[citation needed]

See also

  • List of Germanic peoples
  • Battle of Teutoburg Forest

Notes

References

Citations

  1. ^ Reallexikon der Germanischen Alterturmskunde. Vol. 4. 1981. p. 430 ff., s.v. "Cherusker"; cf. also Rudolf Much; Herbert Jankuhn; Wolfgang Lange (1967). Die Germania des Tacitus. Heidelberg: Winter. p. 411.
  2. ^ Jacob Grimm (1853). Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Leipzig. p. 426.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Reallexikon der Germanischen Alterturmskunde. Vol. 1. 1973. pp. 420–421, s.v. "Arminius".
  4. ^ Beard 2007, p. 108.
  5. ISBN 9780191735257
    , Cherusci, a Germanic people, living around the middle Weser. They are the best known of the Germanic opponents of the Romans in the 1st cent. AD.
  6. Commentaries on the Gallic War
    , 6.10.
  7. ^ Pliny, Nat. Hist., 4.28.
  8. ^ Smith, William (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.
  9. ^
    OCLC 835973451
    .
  10. Rom. Hist.
  11. ^ Roberts 1996, pp. 65–66.
  12. ^ Ozment 2005, pp. 20–21.
  13. ^ Tacitus, Ann., 1, 51.
  14. ^ The Works of Tacitus, Vol. 1: The Annals, London: Bohn, 1854, Book 1, Ch. 60, & Book 2, Ch. 25.
  15. ^ Wells 2003, p. 204-205.
  16. ^ Seager 2008, p. 63.
  17. ^ Wells 2003, pp. 204–205.
  18. ^ Wells 2003, pp. 196–197.
  19. ^ Tacitus & Barrett 2008, p. 39
  20. ^ Wells 2003, p. 206
  21. ^ Wells 2003, p. 206.
  22. ^ Tacitus & Barrett 2008, p. 57.
  23. ^ Tacitus & Barrett 2008, p. 58.
  24. ^ Seager 2008, p. 70.
  25. ^ Tacitus & Barrett 2008, pp. 58–60.
  26. ^ Dyck 2015, p. 154.
  27. ^ Tacitus, Annals, 2.41
  28. ^ Tacitus, Annals, 11.16.
  29. ^ Cassius Dio, Epitome, 67, 5.
  30. ^ "Tac. Ger. 36". Perseus Project. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  31. Ptolemy, Geogr.
    2, 11, 10.

Bibliography

Further reading
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