Teutoburgiensis
Teutoburgiensis, often referred to as the Teutoburg Forest, is a historically significant forest located in western Germany, specifically between the modern towns of Osnabrück and Detmold. This site is most renowned for the pivotal military event that occurred during the reign of Emperor Augustus in AD 9, when Roman forces led by Publius Quinctilius Varus suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Germanic tribe, the Cherusci, under the leadership of Arminius. The ambush resulted in the near annihilation of three Roman legions, which marked a critical turning point in Roman expansion efforts into Germania.
The forest serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities of Roman-Germanic relations during this period. Following the defeat, Varus took his own life, and the Romans lost their foothold east of the Rhine River permanently. The aftermath of this battle influenced subsequent Roman military strategies and attitudes towards Germania. In the years following the defeat, Roman General Germanicus returned to the site to honor the fallen soldiers, although his actions sparked debate among Roman leaders regarding the treatment of the dead. The Teutoburgiensis remains a symbol of resistance and the enduring struggle between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes.
Teutoburgiensis
Saltus
A forest in western Germany, possibly between the modern Osnabrück and Detmold, although the site has been the subject of much inconclusive discussion (and the modern `Teutoburger Wald’ is a seventeenth-century guess). The Saltus witnessed a major Roman military disaster during the reign of Augustus. His stepsons Tiberius Nero Drusus (Drusus the Elder) had overrun `free’ Germany from the Rhenus (Rhine) to the Albis (Elbe), but the territory had not seemed ready for conversion into a Roman province. In AD 9 Publius Quinctilius Varus, who had married the grandniece of the emperor, was appointed commander of the Rhine armies, with control over this recently annexed area. During the latter part of the year he began to withdraw his three legions westward from their advanced summer camps far in the depths of Germany toward their winter quarters on the Rhine. But as he was marching through the dense Teutoburgian Forest, Arminius, the chief of the Cherusci, who was a Roman citizen, knight and auxiliary officer, and a personal friend of Varus, launched a sudden ambush attack on his force. The three legions were virtually annihilated, Varus committed suicide, and Germany east of the Rhine was lost—as it turned out, forever. It has been argued that the last Roman stand, located by Tacitus in medio campi, took place `on the parade-ground’ within the camp itself, after the main ramparts had been stormed.
Six years later Tiberius' nephew Germanicus, conducting further operations in Germany, led his troops to this site, where he buried the remains of Varus' massacred soldiers. But this action was censured by the emperor. `He may have felt,’ suggested the historian, `that the sight of the unburied dead would make the army too respectful of its enemies, and reluctant to fight—nor should a commander belonging to the antique priesthood of the Augurs have handled objects belonging to the dead.’