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Kalefeld is a municipality in the district of Northeim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 10 km north of Northeim. It comprises the villages of Dögerode, Eboldshausen, Echte, Kalefeld, Oldenrode, Oldershausen, Sebexen, Westerhof, Wiershausen, and Willershausen.
In 2008, a Roman battlefield was excavated near the town. Currently it is very probable that Roman legionaries won a battle for a blocked pass against local Germanic fighters.
In summer 2008 German archaeologists unearthed the remains of a battle fought in Magna Germania very probably between Roman legionaries and Germanic tribes. [3] The archaeological find was originally made in 2000 by amateurs in a hilly pine-wooded region between Hanover and Kassel who discovered metallic items using metal-detectors.
The archaeologists have now ascertained that a fierce battle now called the Battle at the Harzhorn took place on the approach to a pass, involving archers and cavalry equipped with long-range catapults (Scorpio) capable of piercing shields at a distance of 300 metres (328 yards).
"The findings show that possibly 1,000 Romans were involved" in the battle, according to the leading archaeologist, Petra Lönne. "This is an unrivalled, well-preserved site," she added. Some 600 artefacts have been found so far, including spears, arrowheads, axes, armour plating, tent pegs, catapult bolts, and coins. In 2013, a complete coat of mail was discovered as well. [4]
One such coin depicts the Roman emperor Commodus, who reigned from 180 to 192 AD (terminus post quem), while fragments of swords and carts suggest the battle took place in the first half of the third century AD [5]
Contrary to the belief of the German media that the Romans completely retreated behind the river Rhine in the wake of the Teutoburg Forest massacre in which thousands of legionaries were slaughtered, historical records regularly reported about military operations as punitive raids east of the Rhine.
Such military operations are reported for the time of Caracalla and Maximinus Thrax, the first Roman soldier-emperor who reigned briefly from 235 to 238, was personally involved in operations against the Germanic tribes.
In April 2009 the responsible archaeologists presented six newly found silver denarii: one of Caracalla, three of Elagabalus, and two of Severus Alexander. The new discovery narrows the date of the battle down to between 230 AD and 235 AD. [6]
Since January 2012, one of the units participating in the Roman battle is known as well: A Roman engineer's axe (dolabra) found on the battlefield is inscribed with LEG IIII (4th Legion) and further letters that reveal that its owner belonged to the Legio Quarta Flavia Severianan Alexandrina, which was stationed in Singidunum (now Belgrade, Serbia). [7]
The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the Agri Decumates in 260, and later expanded into present-day Alsace and northern Switzerland, leading to the establishment of the Old High German language in those regions, which by the eighth century were collectively referred to as Alamannia.
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varus Disaster or Varian Disaster by Roman historians, was a major battle between Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire that took place somewhere near modern Kalkriese from September 8–11, CE 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus and their auxiliaries. The alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic officer of Varus's auxilia. Arminius had acquired Roman citizenship and had received a Roman military education, which enabled him to deceive the Roman commander methodically and anticipate the Roman army's tactical responses.
Arminius was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, in which three Roman legions under the command of general and governor Publius Quinctilius Varus were destroyed. His victory at Teutoburg Forest precipitated the Roman Empire's permanent strategic withdrawal from Germania Magna, and modern historians regard it as one of Rome's greatest defeats. As it prevented the Romanization of Germanic peoples east of the Rhine, it has also been considered one of the most decisive battles in history and a turning point in human history.
Carnuntum was a Roman legionary fortress and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of approximately 50,000 inhabitants.
Hildesheim is a district (Landkreis) in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Hanover, Peine, Wolfenbüttel, Goslar, Northeim, Holzminden and Hameln-Pyrmont.
Germania, also more specifically called Magna Germania, Germania Libera, or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superior, was a historical region in north-central Europe during the Roman era, which was associated by Roman authors with the Germanic peoples. According to Roman geographers, this region stretched roughly from the Rhine in the west to the Vistula in the east, and to the Upper Danube in the south, and the known parts of southern Scandinavia in the north. Archaeologically, these people correspond roughly to the Roman Iron Age of those regions.
Legio I Italica was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded by emperor Nero on September 22, 66. Originally named Legio Phalanx Alexandri Magni, it was stationed in Italy during the year of four emperors and gained the name Italica. It was later stationed at Novae, near modern-day Svishtov (Bulgaria). There are still records of the I Italica on the Danube border at the beginning of the 5th century. The emblem of the legion was a boar.
Legio II Parthica was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in AD 197 by the emperor Septimius Severus, for his campaign against the Parthian Empire, hence the cognomenParthica. The legion was still active in the beginning of the 5th century. The legion's symbol was a centaur.
Uslar is a town and a municipality in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, in the south-western part of the district of Northeim, and in the south of the hills of Solling forest which are part of the Weser Uplands.
The Battle of the Weser River, sometimes known as the First Battle of Minden or Battle of Idistaviso, was fought in 16 AD between Roman legions commanded by Roman Emperor Tiberius's heir and adopted son, Germanicus, and an alliance of Germanic peoples, commanded by Arminius. The battle marked the end of a three-year series of campaigns by Germanicus in Germania.
This is a chronology of warfare between the Romans and various Germanic peoples. The nature of these wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings, later Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire that started in the late second century BC, and more. The series of conflicts was one factor which led to the ultimate downfall of the Western Roman Empire in particular and ancient Rome in general in 476.
Nicopolis ad Istrum or Nicopolis ad Iatrum was a Roman and Early Byzantine town.
The Marcomannic Wars were a series of wars lasting from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against principally the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts with several other Germanic, Sarmatian, and Gothic peoples along both sides of the whole length of the Roman Empire's northeastern European border, the river Danube.
Isca, variously specified as Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum, was the site of a Roman legionary fortress and settlement or vicus, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day suburban town of Caerleon in the north of the city of Newport in South Wales. The site includes Caerleon Amphitheatre and is protected by Cadw.
Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium was the Roman colony in the Rhineland from which the city of Cologne, now in Germany, developed.
Hachelbich is a small village and a former municipality in the district Kyffhäuserkreis, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 31 December 2012, it is part of the municipality Kyffhäuserland.
Germania was a short-lived Roman province for the duration of 16 years under Augustus, from 7 BC to AD 9. The possible capital of this province was Marktbreit, a castrum with a nearby canaba from the period of Emperor Augustus, located 70 km east of the "Limes Germanicus" on the River Main.
The contact between Germanic tribes and Romans can be divided into four aspects as defined by archaeologist Are Kolberg: the military, the trade, the gift, and the plunder aspect. All these aspects give probable answers as to how and why Roman objects got into Germanic hands, and why a vast amount of Roman objects still can be found as far north as Norway. It is noteworthy to understand how Roman objects brought elements of Roman culture with them, and how they to some extent shaped Germanic culture and identity.
The Battle at the Harzhorn took place in the early 3rd century between Germanic and Roman troops near the Harzhorn hill between the towns of Kalefeld and Bad Gandersheim, in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany.
The Battle of the Angrivarian Wall was fought near Porta Westfalica, Germany in 16 AD between the Roman general Germanicus and an alliance of Germanic tribes commanded by Arminius. This battle followed immediately after the Battle of Idistaviso, and was supposedly sparked by Germanic outrage over the trophy erected on that prior battlefield by the Romans.