Batonian War Germanicus became a
quaestor in AD 7, four years before the legal age of 25. He was sent to
Illyricum the same year to help Tiberius suppress a rebellion by the
Pannonians and
Dalmatians. He brought with him an army of levied citizens and former slaves to reinforce Tiberius at
Siscia, his base of operations in Illyricum. Towards the end of the year, additional reinforcements arrived; three legions from
Moesia commanded by
Aulus Caecina Severus, and two legions with Thracian cavalry and auxiliary troops from Anatolia commanded by
Silvanus. By the time Germanicus had arrived in Pannonia, the rebels had resorted to raiding from the mountain fortresses to which they had withdrawn. Because the Roman legions were not so effective at countering this tactic, Tiberius deployed his auxiliary forces and divided his army into small detachments, allowing them to cover more ground and conduct a
war of attrition against the rebels in their strong defensive positions. The Romans also began to drive the rebels out of the countryside, offering amnesty to those tribes that would lay down their arms, and implemented a
scorched earth policy in an effort to starve the enemy out. During this period, Germanicus' detachments were in action against the
Mazaei, whom he defeated. The rebel position in Pannonia collapsed in AD 8 when one of their commanders,
Bato the Breucian, surrendered their leader
Pinnes to the Romans and laid down his arms in return for amnesty. This was nullified when Bato the Breucian was defeated in battle and subsequently executed by his former ally
Bato the Daesitiate, but this left the Pannonians divided against each other, and the Romans were able to subdue the Breuci without battle. The pacification of the Breuci, with their large population and resources, was a significant victory for the Romans, who would be reinforced by eight cohorts of Breuci auxiliaries towards the end of the war. Bato the Daesitiate withdrew from Pannonia to Dalmatia, where he occupied the mountains of
Bosnia and began conducting counter-attacks, most likely against the indigenous people who sided with the Romans. Later in the year, Tiberius left
Lepidus in command of Siscia and Silvanus at Sirmium. Roman forces captured many cities, and those commanded by Germanicus took Raetinum, near Seretium (although it was destroyed in a fire set by the rebels during the siege), Splonum (in modern-day northern
Montenegro) and Seretium itself (in modern-day western Bosnia). The Roman forces under Tiberius and Germanicus pursued Bato to the fortress of Andretium near
Salona, to which they laid siege. When it became clear Bato would not surrender, Tiberius assaulted the fortress and captured him. While Tiberius negotiated the terms of surrender, Germanicus was sent on a punitive expedition across the surrounding territory, during which he forced the surrender of the fortified town of Arduba and surrounding towns. He then sent a deputy to subdue the remaining districts and returned to Tiberius.
Interim After a distinguished start to his military career, Germanicus returned to Rome in late AD 9 to personally announce his victory. He was honored with a triumphal insignia (without an actual triumph) and the rank (not the actual title) of
praetor. He was also given permission to be a candidate for
consul before the regular time and the right to speak first in the Senate after the consuls. In AD 9, three Roman legions commanded by
Varus were destroyed by a coalition of German tribes led by
Arminius in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. As
proconsul, Germanicus was dispatched with Tiberius to defend the empire against the Germans in AD 11. The two generals crossed the
Rhine, made various excursions into enemy territory and, in the beginning of autumn, recrossed the river. The campaigns of Tiberius and Germanicus in Germania in the years AD 11–12, combined with an alliance with the
Marcomannic federation of
Marbod, prevented the German coalition from crossing the Rhine and invading
Gaul and Italy. In winter, Germanicus returned to Rome, where he was, after five mandates as quaestor and despite never having been
aedile or praetor, appointed consul for the year AD 12. He shared the consulship with
Gaius Fonteius Capito. He continued to advocate for defendants in court during his consulship, a popular move reminiscent of his previous work defending the accused in front of Augustus. He also courted popularity by ministering the
Ludi Martiales (games of Mars), as mentioned by
Pliny the Elder in his
Historia Naturalis, in which he released two hundred lions in the
Circus Maximus. On 23 October AD 12, Tiberius held a triumph for his victory over the Pannonians and Dalmatians, which he had postponed on account of the defeat of Varus at Teutoburg Forest. He was accompanied, among his other generals, by Germanicus, for whom he had obtained the triumphal regalia. Unlike his adoptive brother
Drusus, who received no recognition beyond being the son of a triumphator, Germanicus played a distinguished part in the celebration and was given the opportunity to display his consular insignia and triumphal ornaments. In
Germany and Illyricum, the legions were in mutiny. In Germany, the legions in mutiny were those of the Lower Rhine under
Aulus Caecina (the
V Alaudae,
XXI Rapax,
I Germanica, and
XX Valeria Victrix). The army of the Lower Rhine was stationed in summer quarters on the border of the
Ubii. The army of the Lower Rhine sought an increase in pay, the reduction of their service to 16 years (down from 20) to mitigate the hardship of their military tasks, and vengeance against the centurions for their cruelty. After Germanicus arrived, the soldiers listed their complaints to him and attempted to proclaim him emperor. His open and affable manners made him popular with the soldiers, but he remained loyal to the emperor. When news of the mutiny reached the army of the Upper Rhine under
Gaius Silius (the Legions
II Augusta,
XIII Gemina,
XVI Gallica, and
XIV Gemina) a meeting was held to meet their demands. Germanicus negotiated a settlement: • After 20 years of service, a full discharge was given, but after 16 years an immunity from military tasks, except to take part in actions (
missio sub vexillo). • The
donative left by Augustus to the troops was to be doubled and discharged.
First campaign against the Germanic tribes ''. Shows the legion camps and forts in Germania Inferior. To satisfy the requisition promised to the legions, Germanicus paid them out of his own pocket. All eight legions were given money, even if they did not demand it. Both the armies of the Lower and Upper Rhine had returned to order. It seemed prudent to satisfy the armies, but Germanicus took it a step further. In a bid to secure the loyalty of his troops, he led them on a raid against the
Marsi, a Germanic people on the upper
Ruhr river. Germanicus massacred the villages of the Marsi he encountered and pillaged the surrounding territory. On the way back to their winter quarters at
Castra Vetera, they pushed successfully through the opposing tribes (
Bructeri,
Tubantes, and
Usipetes) between the Marsi and the Rhine. Back at Rome, Tiberius instituted the
Sodales Augustales, a priesthood of the cult of Augustus, of which Germanicus became a member. When news arrived of his raid, Tiberius commemorated his services in the Senate. The Senate, in absence of Germanicus, voted that he should be given a triumph.
Ovid's
Fasti dates the Senate vote of Germanicus' triumph to 1 January AD 15.
Second campaign against the Germanic tribes , Germany For the next two years, he led his legions across the Rhine against the Germans, where they would confront the forces of
Arminius and his allies.
Tacitus says the purpose of those campaigns was to avenge the defeat of Varus at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, and not to expand Roman territory. In early spring AD 15, Germanicus crossed the Rhine and struck the
Chatti. He sacked their capital
Mattium (modern Maden near
Gudensberg), pillaged their countryside, then returned to the Rhine. Sometime this year, he received word from
Segestes, who was held prisoner by Arminius's forces and needed help. Germanicus's troops rescued Segestes and took his pregnant daughter, Arminius's wife
Thusnelda, into captivity. Again he marched back victorious and at the direction of Tiberius, accepted the title of
Imperator. Arminius called his tribe, the
Cherusci, and the surrounding tribes to arms. Germanicus coordinated a land and riverine offensive, with troops marching eastward across the Rhine, and sailing from the
North Sea up the
Ems River in order to attack the Bructeri and Cherusci. Germanicus' forces went through Bructeri territory, where a general, Lucius Stertinius, recovered the lost
eagle of the
XIX Legion from among the equipment of the Bructeri after routing them in battle. Germanicus's legions met up to the north, and ravaged the countryside between the Ems and the
Lippe, and penetrated to the Teutoburg Forest, a mountain forest in western Germany situated between these two rivers. There, Germanicus and some of his men visited the site of the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, and began burying the remains of the Roman soldiers that had been left in the open. After half a day of the work, he called off the burial of bones so that they could continue their war against the Germans. He made his way into the heartland of the Cherusci. At a location Tacitus calls the
pontes longi ("long causeways"), in boggy lowlands somewhere near the Ems, Arminius's troops
attacked the Romans. Arminius initially caught Germanicus's cavalry in a trap, inflicting minor casualties, but the Roman infantry reinforced the rout and checked them. The fighting lasted for two days, with neither side achieving a decisive victory. Germanicus's forces withdrew and returned to the Rhine.
Third campaign against the Germanic tribes In preparations for his next campaign, Germanicus sent
Publius Vitellius and Gaius Antius to collect taxes in Gaul, and instructed Silius, Anteius, and Caecina to build a fleet. A fort on the Lippe called
Castra Aliso was besieged, but the attackers dispersed on sight of Roman reinforcements. The Germans destroyed the nearby mound and altar dedicated to his father Drusus, but he had them both restored and celebrated funerary games with his legions in honor of his father. New barriers and earthworks were put in place, securing the area between Fort Aliso and the Rhine. Germanicus commanded eight legions with Gallic and Germanic auxiliary units overland across the Rhine, up the Ems and
Weser rivers as part of his last major campaign against Arminius in AD 16. His forces met those of Arminius on the plains of
Idistaviso, by the Weser River near modern
Rinteln, in an engagement called the
Battle of the Weser River. Tacitus says that the battle was a Roman victory: Arminius and his uncle
Inguiomer were both wounded in the battle but evaded capture. The Roman soldiers involved on the battlefield honored Tiberius as
Imperator, and raised a pile of arms as a trophy with the names of the defeated tribes inscribed beneath them. The sight of the Roman trophy constructed on the battlefield enraged the Germans who were preparing to retreat beyond the
Elbe, and they launched an attack on the Roman positions at the
Angrivarian Wall, thus beginning a
second battle. The Romans had anticipated the attack and again routed the Germans. Germanicus stated that he did not want any prisoners, as the
extermination of the Germanic tribes was the only conclusion he saw for the war. The victorious Romans then raised a mound with the inscription: "The army of Tiberius Caesar, after thoroughly conquering the tribes between the Rhine and the Elbe, has dedicated this monument to
Mars,
Jupiter, and
Augustus." Germanicus sent some troops back to the Rhine, with some of them taking the land route, but most of them took the fast route and traveled by boat. They went down the Ems toward the North Sea, but as they reached the sea, a storm struck, sinking many of the boats and killing many men and horses. Germanicus's successes in Germany had made him popular with the soldiers. He had dealt a significant blow to Rome's enemies, quelled an uprising of troops, and returned lost standards to Rome. His actions had increased his fame, and he had become very popular with the Roman people. Tiberius took notice, and had Germanicus recalled to Rome and informed him that he would be given a triumph and reassigned to a different command.
Result The effort it would have taken to conquer
Germania Magna was deemed too great when compared with the low potential for profit from acquiring the new territory. Rome regarded Germany as a wild territory of forests and swamps, with little wealth compared to territories Rome already had. However, the campaign significantly healed the Roman psychological trauma from the Varus disaster, and greatly recovered Roman prestige. In addition to the recovery of two of the three lost eagles, Germanicus had fought Arminius, the leader who destroyed the three Roman legions in AD 9. In leading his troops across the Rhine without recourse to Tiberius, he contradicted the advice of Augustus to keep that river as the boundary of the empire, and opened himself to potential doubts from Tiberius about his motives in taking such independent action. This error in political judgment gave Tiberius reason to controversially recall his nephew.
Recall , 1873 At the beginning of AD 17, Germanicus returned to the capital and on 26 May he celebrated a triumph. He had captured a few important prisoners, but Arminius was still at large. And yet, Strabo, who may have been in Rome at the time, in mentioning the name of
Thusnelda, the captured pregnant wife of Arminius, draws attention to the fact that her husband, the victor at Teutoburg Forest, had not been captured and the war itself had not been won. Nonetheless, this did not take away from the spectacle of his triumph: a near contemporary calendar marks 26 May as the day in "which Germanicus Caesar was borne into the city in triumph", while coins issued under his son Gaius (Caligula) depicted him on a triumphal chariot, with the reverse reading "Standards Recovered. Germans Defeated." from 37 to 41 CE, showing the Triumph of Germanicus on the obverse, and Germanicus holding an
aquila on the reverse His triumph included a long procession of captives including the wife of Arminius, Thusnelda, and her three-year-old son, among others of the defeated German tribes. The procession displayed replicas of mountains, rivers, and battles; and the war was considered closed. Tiberius gave money out to the people of Rome in Germanicus' name, and Germanicus was scheduled to hold the consulship next year with the emperor. As a result, in AD 18, Germanicus was granted the eastern part of the empire, just as
Agrippa and Tiberius had received before, when they were successors to the emperor. Germanicus was given
imperium maius (extraordinary command) over the other governors and commanders of the area he was to operate; however, Tiberius had replaced the governor of
Syria with
Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, who was meant to be his helper (
adiutor), but turned out to be hostile. According to Tacitus, this was an attempt to separate Germanicus from his familiar troops and weaken his influence, but the historian
Richard Alston says Tiberius had little reason to undermine his heir. Germanicus had a busy year in 17. He restored a temple of
Spes, Also, not waiting to take up his consulship in Rome, he left after his triumph but before the end of AD 17. He sailed down the Illyrian coast of the
Adriatic Sea to
Greece. He arrived at
Nicopolis near the site of the
Battle of Actium, where he took up his second consulship on 18 January AD 18. He visited the sites associated with his adoptive grandfather Augustus and his natural grandfather
Mark Antony, before crossing the sea to
Lesbos and then to Asia Minor. There he visited the site of
Troy and the oracle of
Apollo Claros near
Colophon. Piso left at the same time as Germanicus, but traveled directly to Athens and then to
Rhodes where he and Germanicus met for the first time. From there Piso left for Syria where he immediately began replacing the officers with men loyal to himself in a bid to win the loyalty of his soldiers. Next Germanicus traveled through Syria to
Armenia where he installed king
Artaxias as a replacement for
Vonones, whom Augustus had deposed and placed under house arrest at the request of the king of
Parthia,
Artabanus. The king of
Cappadocia died too, whereupon Germanicus sent
Quintus Veranius to organize Cappadocia as a province – a profitable endeavor as Tiberius was able to halve the sales tax from 1% to 0.5%. The revenue from the new province was enough to make up the difference lost from lowering the sales tax. The kingdom of Commagene was split on whether or not to remain free or to become a province with both sides sending deputations, so Germanicus sent
Quintus Servaeus to organize the province. Having settled these matters he traveled to
Cyrrhus, a city in Syria between Antioch and the
Euphrates, where he spent the rest of AD 18 in the winter quarters of the
Legion X Fretensis. Evidently here Piso attended Germanicus, and quarreled because he failed to send troops to Armenia when ordered. Artabanus sent an envoy to Germanicus requesting that Vonones be moved further from Armenia as to not incite trouble there. Germanicus complied, moving Vonones to
Cilicia, both to please Artabanus and to insult Piso, with whom Vonones was friendly.
Egypt ,
The Death of Germanicus (1627), oil painting. Collection
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He then made his way to
Egypt, arriving to a tumultuous reception in January AD 19. He had gone there to relieve a famine in the country vital to Rome's food supply. The move upset Tiberius, because it had violated an order by Augustus that no senator shall enter the province without consulting the emperor and the Senate (Egypt was an
imperial province, and belonged to the emperor). Germanicus entered the province in his capacity as proconsul without first seeking permission to do so. He returned to Syria by summer, where he found that Piso had either ignored or revoked his orders to the cities and legions. Germanicus in turn ordered Piso's recall to Rome, although this action was probably beyond his authority.
Illness and death In the midst of this feud, Germanicus became ill and despite the fact Piso had removed himself to the port of
Seleucia, he was convinced that Piso was somehow poisoning him.
Tacitus reports that there were signs of black magic in Piso's house with hidden body-parts and Germanicus's name inscribed on lead tablets. Germanicus sent Piso a letter formally renouncing their friendship (
amicitia). Germanicus died soon after on 10 October of that year. Tacitus says Tiberius was involved in a conspiracy against Germanicus, and Tiberius's jealousy and fear of his nephew's popularity and increasing power was the true motive. The death of Germanicus in dubious circumstances greatly affected Tiberius's popularity in Rome, leading to the creation of a climate of fear in Rome itself. Also suspected of connivance in his death was Tiberius's chief advisor,
Sejanus, who would, in the 20s, create an atmosphere of fear in Roman noble and administrative circles by the use of treason trials and the role of
delatores, or informers. ==Post-mortem==