Treva | |
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 Ptolemy's map of Magna Germania from the early 2nd century. Treva appears in the middle of the northwest quadrant, just north of the river Elbe, and south of the tribal region labelled "Saxones". |
Treva is the historical name of a settlement during the short-lived creation of the Roman province of Germania, at the site of the modern city of Hamburg in Germany.
The Romans reached the Elbe river under Augustus and conquered all the German territories west of this river.
Some evidence indicates that they built a "marching camp" in a small island in the estuary of the river Elbe, in a place where their ships could arrive (and be protected by a small port) when sailing from Flevum - a Roman port near the Rhine river.
This place was called "Treva" and later probably had a small vicus populated by local Germans with some Roman merchants. The origin of the name is similar to the Latin name of Trier: tre from Latin "trans" (through) and va from German "var" (river).
Indeed Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (the successor of Tiberius in Germania) commanded the Roman army to the area of Treva and crossed the Elbe around 4 BC, during which he set up an altar to Augustus (probably in the western area of Brandenburg). His campaign followed the one with the creation by Drusus of small fortifications (one could have been "Treva", but there it is no archaeological discovery about) along the rivers Weser and Elbe, done some years before. [1]
"Praeterea in tutelam provinciae praesidia atque custodias obique (Drusus) disposuit per Mosam flumen, per Albin, per Visurgim" (in order to defend and control the Germania province, Drusus established forts along the river Meuse, Elbe, Weser). Florus, "Epitomae" of Roman History [2]
So, after Drusus, Ahenobarbus penetrated further into the country than any of his predecessors had done. [3] Furthermore, the future emperor Tiberius campaigned extensively while in Germany, even conducting some amphibious operations along the Elbe River in 5 AD and probably landing also in the surroundings of Treva. [4]
Later, Germanicus in 15 AD reached Treva and again crossed the Elbe river in his military campaign, before the final withdrawal of the Romans west of the Rhine river.
Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD) reported the first name for the vicinity as Treva. [5] He also indicated that Treva was at the intersection of ancient commercial routes that have been used, among other things, for transporting the then very valuable amber. [6]
The actual name Hamburg comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle which the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in 808 AD. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name Hammaburg (burg meaning castle or fort and hamma marshes in old German language).
The Hammaburg, conveniently situated on the river Alster, Elbe and Bille, was from the beginning a trading place...the original Hamburgers were traders....The wooden burgeon sheltered by a moat and palisades lay on a land that was surrounded north, west, and south of the meandering Alster...In the 1980s, a "double circuit" was found, the remains of an early medieval fortification. Until now it had been assumed that it dates back to the 6th century or earlier (some even spoke of stone age).Die Welt [7]
Recent archaeological discoveries in the center of Hamburg have proved the existence of a trade settlement during Roman times. Furthermore, some gold roman coins have been discovered in Lokstedt (a section of Hamburg). [8]
Germanicus Julius Caesar was an ancient Roman general and politician most famously known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the patrician gens Claudia. The agnomen Germanicus was added to his full name in 9 BC when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honor of his victories in Germania. In AD 4 he was adopted by his paternal uncle Tiberius, himself the stepson and heir of Germanicus' great-uncle Augustus; ten years later, Tiberius succeeded Augustus as Roman emperor. As a result of his adoption, Germanicus became an official member of the gens Julia, another prominent family, to which he was related on his mother's side. His connection to the Julii Caesares was further consolidated through a marriage between him and Agrippina the Elder, a granddaughter of Augustus. He was also the father of Caligula, the maternal grandfather of Nero, and the older brother of Claudius.
The Suebi or Suebians were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names such as the Marcomanni, Quadi, Hermunduri, Semnones, and Lombards. New groupings formed later, such as the Alamanni and Bavarians, and two kingdoms in the Migration Period were simply referred to as Suebian.
The 10s decade ran from January 1, AD 10, to December 31, AD 19.
AD 16 (XVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Taurus and Libo. The denomination AD 16 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster by Roman historians, was a major battle between Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire that took place at modern Kalkriese from September 8–11, 9 AD, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus. 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.
The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (Visurgis), whose name might mean "pursuers". They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the valleys and mountains of the Eder and Fulda regions, a district approximately corresponding to Hesse-Kassel, though probably somewhat more extensive. They settled within the region in the first century BC. According to Tacitus, the Batavians and Cananefates of his time, tribes living within the Roman Empire, were descended from part of the Chatti, who left their homeland after an internal quarrel drove them out, to take up new lands at the mouth of the Rhine.
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 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of general 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.
Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his birth father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the legal stepson of her second husband, the Emperor Augustus. He was also brother of the Emperor Tiberius, father to both the Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus, paternal grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, and maternal great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero.
The Chauci were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rivers Ems and Elbe, on both sides of the Weser and ranging as far inland as the upper Weser. Along the coast they lived on artificial mounds called terpen, built high enough to remain dry during the highest tide. A dense population of Chauci lived further inland, and they are presumed to have lived in a manner similar to the lives of the other Germanic peoples of the region.
The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany in the area of the Weser River and present-day Hanover during the first centuries BC and AD. Roman sources reported they considered themselves kin with other Irmino tribes and claimed common descent from an ancestor called Mannus. During the early Roman Empire under Augustus, the Cherusci first served as allies of Rome and sent sons of their chieftains to receive Roman education and serve in the Roman army as auxiliaries. The Cherusci leader Arminius led a confederation of tribes in the ambush that destroyed three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. He was subsequently kept from further damaging Rome by disputes with the Marcomanni and reprisal attacks led by Germanicus. After rebel Cherusci killed Arminius in AD 21, infighting among the royal family led to the highly Romanized line of his brother Flavus coming to power. Following their defeat by the Chatti around AD 88, the Cherusci do not appear in further accounts of the German tribes, apparently being absorbed into the late classical groups such as the Saxons, Thuringians, Franks, Bavarians, and Allemanni.
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.
The Hermunduri, Hermanduri, Hermunduli, Hermonduri, or Hermonduli were an ancient Germanic tribe, who occupied an inland area near the source of the Elbe river, around what is now Bohemia from the first to the third century, though they have also been speculatively associate with Thuringia further north. According to an old proposal based on the similarity of the names, the Thuringii may have been the descendants of the Hermunduri. At times, they apparently moved to the Danube frontier with Rome. Claudius Ptolemy mentions neither tribe in his geography but instead the Teuriochaemae, who may also be connected to both.
The Chamavi, Chamãves or Chamaboe (Χαμαβοί) were a Germanic tribe of Roman imperial times whose name survived into the Early Middle Ages. They first appear under that name in the 1st century AD Germania of Tacitus as a Germanic tribe that lived to the north of the Lower Rhine. Their name probably survives in the region today called Hamaland, which is in the Gelderland province of the Netherlands, between the IJssel and Ems rivers.
The Angrivarii were a Germanic people of the early Roman Empire, who lived in what is now northwest Germany near the middle of the Weser river. They were mentioned by the Roman authors Tacitus and Ptolemy.
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was the son of consul Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Aemilia Lepida. His mother was a paternal relative of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. His paternal grandmother was Porcia. Ahenobarbus married Antonia Major and through his son with her he became the grandfather of emperor Nero.
Flevum was a castrum and port of the Romans in Frisia, built when emperor Augustus wanted to conquer the German populated territories between the Rhine river and the Elbe river.
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 Classis Germanica was a Roman fleet in Germania Superior and Germania Inferior. Besides the Channel Fleet, it was one of the largest naval forces of the Roman Empire, ranking above all other provincial fleets.
The Roman campaigns in Germania were a series of conflicts between the Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire. Tensions between the Germanic tribes and the Romans began as early as 17/16 BC with the Clades Lolliana, where the 5th Legion under Marcus Lollius was defeated by the tribes Sicambri, Usipetes, and Tencteri. Roman Emperor Augustus responded by rapidly developing military infrastructure across Gaul. His general, Nero Claudius Drusus, began building forts along the Rhine in 13 BC and launched a retaliatory campaign across the Rhine in 12 BC.
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.
