For the Love of Armin

Michael Kramer

Copyright © 2012 Michael Kramer

All rights reserved.

ISBN:

ISBN-13:9781545390986

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

DEDICATION

About the Author

I dedicate this book to all those who like the idea of freedom to live one's life to the full and at all times strive for both fairness and success in everything we do.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to all those who like the idea of freedom to live one’s life to the full and at all times to strive for both fairness and success in everything we do.

Index for the Love of Armin

SubjectPage #

Thumelicus – the First Contest1

Part One – The Background of the Germanic Tribes &

the Romans4

Geographical Limits of Germania at the times of Julius

Caesar and Augustus8

Origins of the Germanic People9

Status of Germanic Women11

Thusnelda Leads the Women in cheering the Men and in

Battle, Restores the Situation12

Morals and Funereal Customs of Germanic Tribes14

Military Habits15

Order of Battle – infantry and Cavalry – Germanic

Tribesmen16

Moral Habits and Religion – Ancient Germanic Tribes17

Germanic Distribution of Land18         

Suevi, Marcomanni and Alemanni Tribal Nations20

Cherusci Tribal Nation24

Roman Army Ranks27

Roman Army Force Organisation  28

Part Two – First Meetings of Ancient Germanic Tribes

with Romans30

Destruction of the Cimbri by Marius and Catulus at Vercellae    38

Part Three – Julius Caesar in Gaul  42

Germanic Settlements in Gaul42

Ariovistus in Gaul44

Battle of Bibracte47

Julius Caesar and Ariovistus  53

Germanic Tribes of Ancient Belgium  63

Caesar and the Nervii66

Caesar Reduces the Aduatici and Menapii in number    72

Negotiations with the Germanic Warriors  76

Caesar Orders a bridge to be Built over the Rhine River    78

The Treviri – Cingetorix and Induciomarus    81

The Deaths of Cotta and Sabinus  85

The death of Induciomarus91

Labienus Defeats the Treviri  92

Caesar Bridges the Rhine and Invades Germania the Second Time  94

The Roman Camp at Atuatica97

Part Four – Rome Attempts to Conquer Germania    Caius Octavius who Became Augustus              102

Octavius Rises in Power102

The Wayward Daughter of Augustus105

Campaigns of Drusus in Germania 12 B.C. to 5 B.C.  109

First and Second Expeditions by Drusus111

Third Expedition by Drusus111

Fourth Campaign of Drusus in year 9 B.C.113

Treachery of Augustus Year 8 B.C.116

Part Five – The Hero who Delivered Germania from

the Roman Yoke is born 117

Armin’s Service in Pannonia119

Herod Archelaus129

Publius Quintilius Varus137

The Establishment of the Marcomanni under Marobod in

Bohemia146

Publius Quintilius Varus as Governor of Germania151

Armin and His Ala are Reposted to Germania to

Assist Varus155

Armin is Introduced to Thusnelda159

Thusnelda and Armin Marry, Causing Deep Resentment in

Segestes163

Armin Gathers Strength for His Final Rebellion and Makes

an ally of Marobod177

Signal Communication Using Flashes of Sunlight on

Roman Mirrors196

Rehearsing the Attack196

The Trap is Sprung201

Armin sends the Head of Varus to Marobod    221

Reaction to News of the Destruction of the Three Crack Legions

in Rome224

The Response of Augustus227

Campaigns of Germanicus in Germania  228

First Expedition of Germanicus  229

The Second Expedition of Germanicus  231

In A.D. 15, Germanicus and the Romans meet Armin and his

Army Twice234

Segestes Again Betrays Armin Resulting in the Capture of

Thusnelda236

The Triumph of Germanicus on 26/May/17 A.D.    241

Reaction of Armin to the Betrayal and Capture of his Wife    243

Disastrous Retreat of Caecina251

Elated Germanic Warriors attack Caecina Contrary to

Advice of Armin253

The Retreat of Vitellius  255

The Fourth Campaign of Germanicus  256

The meeting of Armin and Flavus  258

The Romans attempt to Cross the River  260

The Battle of Idistavisa262

War Between Armin and Marobod267

The Death of Armin271

Part Six – A New Threat to Roman Security – Thumelicus

- Son of Armin 278

Gladiators  282

The Training of Thumelicus as a Gladiator  285

Thumelicus – the First Contest292

Thumelicus – the Second Contest  296

Thumelicus - the Third Contest  301

Thumelicus – the Final Contest  307

Bibliography312

Introduction

I found the research into the background of the hero who delivered Germania from the yoke of the Romans to be challenging and also immensely satisfying. The research was difficult due to changes in language, which included the English language, due to the main reference used in this novel being first published in 1836.

This made some parts of the text difficult to read because of language changes and the modern non-use of words which were often used in 1836. The title of this reference is: The first book of the history of the Germans: Barbaric period, Longman, Rees & co. London. I was particularly interested to find that the status of Germanic women during the time of Augustus was considerably better than it is even now.

The author of this work was Greenwood and the full details of this appear in the bibliography. The second major reference in this work comes from Flavius Titus Josephus who reportedly first published his work, The Jewish wars: War with the Romans: Book 2, in 78 A.D...

As all stories, must have a beginning, middle and end, it was at first difficult to decide when to start this story and the decision was reached to begin with background items such as how the ancient Germanic tribes provided food, the status of their women, their religious beliefs, their funeral practices, their military traditions and formations, weapons used and tactics. Having said this, it was also necessary to include the Roman ranks, military organisation, tactics, armor and weapons, including their war machines.

All of that is told by the ghost of Adalhard, who begins the story immediately after the first gladiatorial contest of Thumelicus, who was the son of Armin. Adalhard continues from the above by telling the story by giving you the background of the ancient Germanic tribes and the Roman invaders of his country. As you read through this story, you will find there is a lot of referenced history in it and I make no apology for doing this, because this is a work of historical fiction, but it is heavily based on historical fact.

I have tried to be historically accurate, however, you will find many conversations between people such as Julius Caesar and his subordinates, Augustus, his daughter Julia, Caesar and his Generals, and others. There are many possible conversations which may have occurred between the parties, but all conversations are products of my imagination and they cannot be verified. Making it all the more necessary to call this work historical fiction. As you read through the book, you will find that it is made up of six parts, Part One, The Background of the Germanic Tribes and Association with Romans., Part Two – First Meetings of Ancient Germanic Tribes with the Romans.

Part Three – Julius Caesar in Gaul, this part of the book looks at Julius Caesar and his activities in both Gaul and his two military campaigns into Germania. All of this finally resulting in Caesar wanting Rome to conquer Germania.

Part Four – Rome Attempts to Conquer Germania during the Time of Augustus, Incurring Hatred and Contempt for Romans Among the People.

Part Five this section is mainly about Armin and his wife and looks in detail at how the Roman pest was removed from Germania. This is where there is more fiction due to incomplete records and facts.

Possible conversations are presented in an entertaining way. In this section, has most of the main players of the story of Armin, his family and their relationships and enemies.

Part Six a New Threat to Roman Security – Thumelicus – the Son of Armin. Very little is known about the son of Armin named Thumelicus. It is thought that he died at age 17 or 18 as a gladiator but the historical records about him are missing. Therefore, almost everything you see about him in this book is fiction, with the only known facts being that he was present at the final Triumph for Germanicus which involved both himself and his mother called Thusnelda. I have structured the novel in this way in order to make it more readable and to minimise the feeling a reader may get of this becoming a history text book. That is not the case. This is a historical fiction novel but where-ever possible, I have based it all on fact. The parts dealing with Thumelicus are almost pure fiction due to the records about him being lost in early Rome.

Thumelicus – the First Contest

At the mid-morning hour of ten a.m., a guard appeared at the door of the cell housing Thumelicus and said to him, Thumelicus, it is time for you to entertain the Roman Senators in the arena. You have been matched with a retiarius we call Olaf and this Gaul does not like Germanic boys one little bit, so expect a hard fight! With that said, the guard now escorted Thumelicus, who was as usual, armed with helmet, and some chain mail armour over one arm as well as his shoulder, a greave on his left leg as well as a heavy Roman shield and his gladius.

Thumelicus now walked straight into the arena, and just like both his mother and father before him, he was totally unafraid and he was in fact looking forward to the contest. There were no cheers to spur him on, just total silence as he was being appraised by the crowd watching as well as the group of Roman Senators. Then suddenly, there was a lot of wild cheering and applause which was for the benefit of Olaf, who was now entering the arena. Both gladiators now addressed the crowd with the standard form of address, Hail Caesar, we who are about to die, salute you!

What Thumelicus saw now, was a retiarius who had armor similar to Thumelicus in that it was either chainmail armor or thick wrappings of linen which were placed over his right arm and shoulder and held in place by leather strips. In his right-hand Olaf held a net with which he always tried to entangle his opponents before dispatching them with the trident he was holding in his left hand.

He called out to Thumelicus, Hey young Germanic boy, today, you will die by my hand, prepare for your doom! with that said, he now rushed toward Thumelicus, who simply jumped backwards and sidestepped at much the same time, causing the net deployed by Olaf to completely miss him. He moved like a cat and now was immediately behind Olaf, and disabled him by hitting Olaf on the back of his head, resulting in him falling forward and onto his face. Thumelicus now stood over the prone body of Olaf with the point of his gladius poised for a strike into Olaf’s back, right in the kidney region.

Thumelicus now looked up at the dais where the Roman senators were seated and an elderly Roman Senator held out his hand, and then turned it so that his thumb was pointing at the ground. This was the signal for Thumelicus to dispatch his opponent into the after-life. Thumelicus thrust his gladius sharply forward. This severed the back-bone of Olaf and sliced his kidneys. Olaf was dying but he did manage to say, You have won the day, Thumelicus, but stay on your guard, because there are things afoot that you cannot even dream of! Thumelicus walked away from the dying gladiator and looked up towards where the Roman Senators were seated along with his mentor called Priscus.........

Part One: The Background of the Germanic Tribes and Association with Romans.

I am the ghost of Adalhard, an ancient Germanic warrior. Adalhard is an ancient Germanic name, which has two parts with Adal meaning brave and hard meaning hardy. While I was alive, I was a noble of the clan called Amandid of the Germanic tribe called Cherusci. My people were extremely independent in both nature and outlook, this perhaps making a future clash between us and the Romans at some point in the future inevitable. I will now tell you of the goings on that took place and finally resulted in the Roman army leaving Germania forever, the events that proceeded this and also the events after the great victory of my people over the cruel and arrogant Roman invaders.

In order to tell this story in a satisfactory way that people will readily understand, we must of necessity return to the history of earlier times in Gaul, Germania, Judea, Rome and Syria so that the major events that caused follow-on effects at later dates are adequately covered. Also, we will look at the armour, weapons and minor infantry tactics of both the Germanic warriors and the Roman legions and the use of ancient artillery and war machines in general. We will look at engineering skills and materials available as well as food production by Germanic tribes and the construction of their homes.

Firstly, I need to tell you more about myself. I was born on the date that you people of the twenty-first century A.D., would call 14th of March in the year of 18 B.C... According to the custom of the Cherusci, the noble born of that tribal nation would be sent to Rome for instruction in reading, writing, mathematics and Roman Law, engineering and Roman military training. In the year 13 B.C., three of us, entered the Roman schooling and training systems when I was six years old. Those of us that entered the Roman schooling and military training systems were Armin, his brother Flavus and myself. As soon as we entered the Roman schooling system, we found that the Romans changed the name of Armin to Arminius and that they also changed the name of his brother Flavus to Flavius and sometimes they used both of these names when speaking to him.

After the completion of the educational and military training, we were all put into service with the Roman army as auxiliary cavalry officers. While serving with the Roman army during the Roman wars in various parts of Europe, I suffered severe injuries to my right hand because of a battle with the enemies of Rome whom we were fighting. I had lost part of my hand and two fingers due to a sword blow that I was too slow to stop. As a reward for having successfully guarded the rear of my lord Armin, he made me his right-hand man, with my responsibilities being the training of soldiers in all of the various drill movements in order to maintain discipline and make sure that the soldiers obeyed orders instantly.

Along with this, I also was responsible to Armin for the soldiers being trained to a high level of readiness and expertise. I found that the best way of doing this was to put the soldiers through so many attack and retreat practices that everything became an instant reaction by the men to orders that were given, no matter if these orders were given by speech, trumpet calls or signals from Roman mirrors or even smoke signals. As the Training Officer of the Roman forces in our unit, I took my duties to heart and the men in our unit soon became very highly disciplined and very effective soldiers who only needed the minimum of instructions to get the task completed. It not mattering if this meant normal military work of attacking enemies, or more mundane things like performing the necessary work of building bridges, Roman roads or the establishment and maintenance of fortified camps so that the units concerned could rest safely for the night. As well, I assumed the responsibility to perform reconnaissance duties and trained a special group of soldiers to carry out these duties.

These were formed by several eight-man Roman tent units called Contuberniums and each of these units was commanded by a Decanus which is the equivalent to the corporal in some armies of the twenty first century A.D., I took personal charge of my reconnaissance units and trained them constantly to make sure that every man in the contuberniums knew the job of not only himself, but also the jobs of those members who were immediately above and below him in rank. I never asked my men do anything that I was not willing to do myself and I always led them from in front of them just as was being done by Armin who wanted this sort of training and outlook extended to his entire equite cavalry unit. I will go into this more later on. I died in the year that you would call 46 A.D. at the old age of sixty-five years.

In the text that follows, you may think that the names of the Germanic tribes are of Latin origin, but this is really not the case. The reason for the Latin looking names of Germanic tribes during the times of ancient Rome is that the early historians who wrote about the Germanic tribespeople were of either Greek or else Roman origin and so the names of the Germanic tribes were Latinized as the Germanic people at the time did not have a written language of their own. That came much later.

Germania at the time of Augustus was made up of many small nations or tribes who were all fiercely independent but who would at times combine in a joint effort for their common good. They tended to share a common language as well as some religious beliefs and customs. The various nations or states, some people say tribes, were always independent of each other and only came to approach nationhood because of being put into part of a larger empire as happened at later dates under the rule of the Frankish King, called Charlemagne or other empire builders such as Friederich the Great of Prussia and others.

Geographical Limits of Germania at the Times of Julius Caesar and Augustus.

During the time of Augustus, these limits were the Rhine River, the Alps and the region of Sarmatia to the east, with the northern limit being the Baltic Coast. Their western boundary was the Rhine River, but this was crossed many times by both the Germanic tribespeople and Gauls. Trade with the Germanic people was almost entirely confined to trade in amber or the down and feathers of the goose which were used to fill Roman pillows. The dealers who sold amber to the Greek and Roman merchants did not want to let details of the where-abouts of this resource become common knowledge. This being due to the high value of amber. (Greenwood, 1836)

Origins of the Germanic People.

The origin of the aboriginal Germanic tribes, (Aboriginal - the word is of Latin origin and means original inhabitant), who were living in ancient Germania is not completely known.  During the Bronze Age, Germanic people lived in southern Sweden, all of the Danish peninsular and northern Germania between the Ems and Oder Rivers and their territory covered all land through to the Harz Mountains. The tribes known as Gepideans, Goths and Vandals lived in areas between the Oder and Vistula Rivers near the Baltic Coast. The Germanic tribes also migrated southwards and westwards driving out the Celtic people who were at the time living in large areas of Germania. There were over three hundred of these Germanic tribes. The Roman historian, Tacitus thought of the Germanic tribes, as being an indigenous race who had pure blood which was unmingled with any foreign stock of either conquerors or colonialists. (Greenwood, 1836)

Some of the most important of these being the Chatti who lived in what is now Hesse. The Frisii and the Chauci lived at the mouth of the Weser, while south of them lived the Cherusci, these people were the people of Armin or Arminius if you prefer his Roman name. The Suebi lived near the present-day areas of Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia. From the coastal area between the Rhine and the Ems were the Semnones, living in the area of the Havel and Spree Rivers were a Suebic People like the Lombards who lived northwest of the Semnone People. Some other important tribes were the Hermunduri, Marcomanni and Bastarnae Tribes, these people making up some of the original or aboriginal Germanic tribes. Other tribes would come into existence after 9 A.D., through the amalgamation of two or more tribes which included the Saxons and Franks which became prominent after this time.

As has already been discussed, a Roman historian called Tacitus regarded them as an indigenous people, unmingled with any stock of either conquers or colonialists. Whereas they on the other hand, thought that they had their origin from the god Tuisto and his son Mannus both of whom were also known as the god Odin and his son Thor and so, they adopted the national name of Tuistones or Teutones. (Greenwood, 1836)

Status of Ancient Germanic Women.

The ancient Germanic tribes thought that their women had many prophetic powers and so the influence of these women was such that it resulted in them having greater status than the status held by women in other societies. It was usual for the Germanic tribeswoman to share the dangers of the battlefield with her husband and so, she had the right to not only love and cherish, but also to take part in battles if absolutely necessary, resulting in her having the right to advise upon military matters. She would cheer her husband onwards to battle and she, along with her children was the most valued applauder of the deeds of the Germanic warrior. The women and children would follow the tribesmen and see them dealing with the enemy from a long way behind the men.

A Germanic tribe which had the tribal name of Tungri crossed the Rhine River and invaded Gaul, causing some problems among the Celtic communities in Gaul. The local Gauls called these invaders Wehrmannen (in the Gallic dialect, this became Germannen) meaning that these people were warriors only and applied that description to the whole tribe, including the women, who would applaud their male partners while they were leaving to do battle with the enemy and they would also implore them not to lose the battle and let their women and children become the slaves and play-things of the enemy.

The women following a long way behind the men would heap scorn and displeasure upon the men if they had been defeated. Often, they would take the fight to the enemy themselves upon their husbands losing a battle and then these women would try to restore the situation by fearlessly engaging the enemy in combat using the battle axes owned by the women, often suffering many casualties in the form of serious wounds and death among many of them. (Greenwood, 1836)

Thusnelda Leads