Imperium und Barbaricum

The author presents here a survey of recent archaeological findings from northwestern Germany that date to the early and late Roman Empire. It is shown that they are highly valuable for ancient political history. The book covers the Roman military camp near Hedemünden, on the north bank of the Werra River, the civilian settlement of Waldgirmes on the Lahn River (near Giessen), and the well-known battlefields of the Romans and Germanic rebels and tribes in Kalkriese (north of osnabrück) as well as in Kalefeld/ Northeim (on a steep hill called Harzhorn in the Leine River Valley). These new archaeological discoveries have been critically analysed against the background of ancient historiographical sources related to the above-mentioned events and places. This innovative analysis has led to numerous unique insights into the specific methods and objectives of the Romans in dealing with the barbarian peoples living east of the Rhine and in the German hinterland. In particular, this study succeeds in shedding fresh light on the events and developments between the Augustan occupation (Waldgirmes, 7 bC) and the Varian disaster (Kalkriese, 9 AD). In addition, it has been possible to firmly establish a new chronology that fully corresponds to the ancient sources. These had long been seriously questioned by modern scholars. It is thus now possible to draw an overall picture of the battle on the Harzhorn. The author clearly depicts the course and objectives of the last big Roman military expedition against the Germanic (Alamannic) tribes in 235 AD, which was led by the first Roman "barrack emperor", Julius Verus Maximinus (Thrax).