Ariovistus
Encyclopedia
Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi
and other allied Germanic peoples
in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul
, assisting the Arverni
and Sequani
to defeat their rivals the Aedui
, after which they settled in large numbers in conquered Gallic territory in the Alsace
region. They were defeated, however, in the Battle of Vosges
and driven back over the Rhine in 58 BC by Julius Caesar
.
. Caesar, as a participant in the events, is a primary source, although as his Commentaries were in part political propaganda they may be suspected of being self-serving. Later historians, notably Dio Cassius
, are suspicious of his motives.
. He spoke Gaulish
fluently. He had two wives, one of whom he had brought from home. The second, who was the sister of King Vocion of Noricum
, he acquired in an arranged political marriage.
Ariovistus is described by Caesar as rex Germanorum. This is often translated as "king of the Germans", but as Latin
had no definite article
it could equally be translated as "king of Germans", with no implication that he ruled all Germans. Indeed, Germania
is known to have been divided into many tribal and political groups, many but not all of which were ruled by kings. It is likely that Ariovistus' authority only extended over those Germans who had settled in Gaul.
He was recognised as a king by the Roman Senate
, but how closely the Roman title matched Ariovistus' social status among the Germans remains unknown. Similarly, what the senate meant by rex at that point in the history of the Republic is not clear. The word "king" can have many meanings and did so throughout Rome's several-hundred-year history. Tacitus says that the Germans made a distinction between kings, who were chosen by birth, and military leaders, who were chosen by ability, and that kings did not have absolute power.
and Sequani
enlisted Ariovistus's aid in their war against the Aedui
. The latter were a numerous Celtic people occupying the drainage system of the upper Loire
river in France. They were nearly between their neighbors to the northeast, the Sequani, who occupied the Doubs
river valley, and the Arverni in the Massif Central
.
Caesar does not say what the cause of the conflict was, but the Sequani controlled access to the Rhine river along the valley of the Doubs. To that end they had gradually built up an oppidum or fortified town at Vesontio. Tradesmen headed up the Rhone
and its tributary the Saône
(the ancient Arar) could not pass the Doubs at Vesontio without coming to terms with the Sequani, nor could anyone pass from the Rhine to the Rhone except on similar terms. The east of the entire great channel is bordered by the Jura mountains
and the west by the Massif Central. Vesontio is 75 miles (120.7 km) from that stretch of the Rhine between Mulhouse
and Basel
.
The Arar formed part of the border between the Aedui and the Sequani. Strabo
, who lived a generation after Caesar in the late republic and early empire, does make a statement concerning the cause of the conflict between the Sequani and Aedui, and it was in fact commercial, at least in Strabo's view. Each tribe claimed the Arar and the transportation tolls from traffic along it, "but now", says Strabo, "everything is to the Romans." The Sequani also habitually supported the Germans in their previous frequent expeditions across the river, which shows that Ariovistus’ subsequent devastation of Sequani lands represented a new policy.
The location of the final battle between the Aedui and their enemies, which Caesar names as the Battle of Magetobriga, remains unknown, but Ariovistus’ 15,000 men turned the tide, and the Aedui became tributary to the Sequani. Cicero
writes in 60 BC of a defeat sustained by the Aedui, perhaps in reference to this battle. Ariovistus seized a third of the Aeduan territory, settling 120,000 Germans there. In order to avoid infringing on his allies for the moment, Ariovistus must have passed over the low divide between the Rhine and the Doubs in the vicinity of Belfort
and then have approached the Aedui along the Ognon
river valley. That move left the Sequani between him and the Jura mountains, not a tolerable situation for either if they were not going to be allies.
Ariovistus made the decision to clear out the Sequani from the strategic Doubs valley and re-populate it with Germanic settlers. He demanded a further third of Celtic land for his allies the Harudes. Caesar makes it clear that Germanic tribes were actually in the land of the Sequani and were terrorizing them. They are said to have controlled all the oppida, but this statement is not entirely true, as Vesontio was not under Germanic control. Presumably, the country to the north of there was under Germanic control.
, Ariovistus had been recognised as "king and friend" by the Roman Senate
. He had likely already crossed the Rhine at this point. Cicero indicates that the Aedui's defeat took place in or before 60 BC. Pliny the Elder
mentions a meeting between Caesar's predecessor as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer
, and a king of the Suebi; which took place during Celer's proconsulship in 62 BC. The sequence of events given by Caesar also seems to indicate that, when his governorship began in 58 BC, the Germans had been settled in Gaul for longer than one year. However, without the status of friend, Ariovistus never could have secured Roman tolerance of his Rhine crossing, whenever it was, but would have been treated as hostile.
However, the Aedui were also allies of Rome
, and in 58 BC Diviciacus
, one of their senior magistrates, complained of Ariovistus's cruelty and pleaded with Caesar to intervene on their behalf. Caesar sent ambassadors to summon Ariovistus to a conference. Ariovistus refused the summons, on the grounds that if Caesar wanted to speak to him, he should come to him; besides, he was not prepared to enter Caesar's territory without his army, which it would be impractical and expensive to gather.
Caesar therefore sent his ambassadors back to Ariovistus with his demands: that he bring no more of his people across the Rhine, and that he and his allies restore the hostages they had taken from the Aedui and undertake not to make war against them. He pointed out that Ariovistus was a friend to Rome and that the Romans had a prior interest, which they certainly would enforce. Ariovistus was welcome to keep the friendship of Rome if he would comply. Otherwise he, Caesar, acting in accordance with the decrees of the senate, could not let the harassment of the Aedui go unpunished.
Ariovistus refused to comply, asserting the right of conquest and the right of the conqueror to exact tribute from the conquered. Ridiculing Rome's ability to protect its friends and boasting of Germanic invincibility, Ariovistus invited Caesar to attack him if he wished.
Caesar presents himself as attempting to act as an honest broker in the conflict, offering reasonable terms to settle the matter; however, as Caesar himself relates, Ariovistus later accused him of intending to lead an army against him right from the outset. Cassius Dio, writing more than two centuries later, agrees, characterising Caesar as attempting to provoke a war to win glory and power, while taking pains not to look like the aggressor.
Whatever the motivation, Ariovistus overestimated the strength of his position. He apparently believed his official relationship to Rome was one of equals, but the Romans accepted no equals and saw the relationship as one between patron and client. He also appears to have believed the Romans would not attack him.
At the same time that Caesar received Ariovistus's message, he heard from his Celtic allies that the Harudes were devastating the country of the Aedui and that 100 units of Suebi under the brothers Nasua and Cimberius were about to cross the Rhine. In response to these provocative acts, Caesar mobilized his troops.
, where he had just won a major victory over the Helvetii
and other Celtic tribes, and had disposed of the remaining Boii
, allowing them to settle in Aeduan land. As only small numbers of Boii were left after the battle, the Aedui were obliging. Caesar must have immediately begun marching up the Saône valley.
Ariovistus, being a skilled general in his own right, identified Vesontio as the key to the strategic Doubs valley and marched for it, but Caesar, probably relying on intelligence from the Gauls, arrived there first and established a main base. He had to combat a panic among his own men, who had heard that the Germans were some sort of superior warriors. Caesar called a meeting and then berated the centurions
for making that necessary, instead of just following orders. In one of his noted speeches he recalled them to duty and ended by threatening to march the next morning early with only the 10th legion
, about whose valor he said he had no doubts at all. The speech had the intended effect of arousing fanatical loyalty in the 10th and shame and rivalry in the others.
Vesontio is about 75 miles (120.7 km) from the Rhine. Apparently Ariovistus had learned of the Roman presence there because he stopped marching and waited. Using Diviciacus
as a guide, Caesar's troops marched 50 miles (80.5 km) in 7 days, arriving probably in the vicinity of Belfort
. The army was moving only 7 miles per day and was relying on Diviciacus to lead them through open country; thus, it is probably safe to assume there were no Roman roads between Besançon
and Belfort
at that time. Caesar says that he took a detour to stay in open country, most likely west of the Doubs
through the lands of his Celtic allies.
Ariovistus sent ambassadors to Caesar agreeing, because Caesar had come to him, to a conference. Caesar, known for giving his potential enemies every last chance, entertained the idea that Ariovistus was coming to his senses. It was agreed that they should meet on horseback, accompanied only by cavalry. Caesar brought mounted soldiers of the 10th legion
, who joked that they had been promoted to knights.
The meeting of the two on a high mound between the camps with the bodyguards a few hundred yards away is surely a rare event in the history of parlays. They both got a chance to present and defend their points of view face to face with no filtering or interference from others. Caesar concentrated on Roman policy. Ariovistus now took the tack of claiming the Aedui had attacked him, rather than vice versa.
Caesar reports that Ariovistus stated that "he was not so uncivilized nor so ignorant of affairs, as not to know that the Aedui in the very last war with the Allobroges had neither rendered assistance to the Romans, nor received any from the Roman people in the struggles which the Aedui had been maintaining with him and with the Sequani."
The word rendered above as "uncivilized" (McDevitte & Bohn's translation) is barbarus
. The classical civilizations throughout their long literary periods consistently characterized the peoples of the north and east as barbari, usually rendered in English as "barbarians". The word reflected the mixture of condescension, contempt and fear the Greeks and Romans had for those who did not share their civilisation or values. Only rarely did those barbarians manage to make known their feelings about such use of the concept, as did Ariovistus on that occasion.
Ariovistus described official Roman friendship as a sham, and uttered another uncanny prophecy, that he could gain the real friendship of many leading men at Rome by killing Caesar. Moreover, the senate, he said, had determined that Gaul should be governed by its own laws and therefore ought to be free. By then Caesar had to escape to his bodyguards, as the Germanic cavalry was beginning to hurl missiles.
The next day Ariovistus invited Caesar to another parlay. Making a point to emphasize that he could not trust the Germans, Caesar sent two junior officers, Gaius Valerius Procillus and Marcus Mettius
. They found Ariovistus in the process of moving his army up and were put in chains.
Over the next few days Ariovistus moved his camp to within two miles (3 km) of Caesar's, covering the move with cavalry skirmishes. The Germanic tribes had developed a special force consisting of cavalry mixed with equal numbers of light infantry whose only function was to support cavalrymen, individually or in units, who had become enmeshed in combat. Caesar's men stood in battle formation outside the walls of his camp each day, but only skirmishes were offered. Finally, from a distance of two miles (3 km), Ariovistus cut Caesar's supply line, isolating his garrison.
Caesar claims the Germanic side did not attack in force because their wise women had pronounced from their divination
s that they should not engage in battle before the new moon
. However, it is evident that there was a more mundane reason for Ariovistus declining battle: he had Caesar surrounded. Dio Cassius notes the presence of Germans on the slope of the hill behind the camp, where the Porta Quaestoria, the gate where provisions were brought in, would have been. Ariovistus had Caesar under siege and hoped to starve him out.
Under its best general, the Roman army now demonstrated the classic tactics that had made Rome master of the entire Mediterranean region to such an extent that the Romans were able to call it "our sea". It is unlikely that Ariovistus suspected what was coming. Caesar knew that the Germans outnumbered him and that his best and only defense was an attack. He had to force the Germans to battle or be starved into surrender.
Leaving a light defense in camp Caesar advanced in acies triplex to within 600 yards (548.6 m) of the German camp. Under guard of the first two lines, the third built another castrum (camp) in which Caesar placed two legions and the auxiliaries
, while the other four legions returned to the main camp. It is easy to say in retrospect that Ariovistus should have thrown his entire force against the two lines of battle while the third (the reserve) was preoccupied, or that he should have attacked the four legions while they were divided from the two, but the tides of battle are never predictable, no matter what the odds.
The next day Caesar used the auxiliaries from the forward camp as cover while he brought all six rested and fed legions to a starting line before it in acies triplex formation. Each tribune conspicuously took personal charge of one legion, while the quaestor
took the 6th. Caesar wanted the men to see that they were under the eyes of the entire senior command, which would certainly share their fate. They then began an advance on the weakest feature of the Germanic force, its open camp.
Caesar says that the enemy camp was defended by a wagon train, drawn up behind the German forces, which had now either to fight or to run. The usual chorus of wailing women was placed on the wagons. The effect it really had on the Germanic soldiers is unclear. The idea was to place the tribe in a situation where they must either be victorious or be annihilated with their women and children.
The Germans formed by ethnic group before the Romans: Harudes, Marcomanni
, Triboci
, Vangiones
, Nemetes
, Sedusii and Suebi
. Apparently they lacked a reserve, while the Romans followed their established practice of two units forward to one back. Caesar opened the battle with a charge against the Germanic left, which seemed the weakest part of the line. The Germanic forces responded by charging with such speed that the Romans were unable to cast pila
and the fight entered the sword-play stage immediately. The Roman open line of battle, in which each man was left room to fight, prevailed. The Germans crowded into a phalanx
and began to push the Romans backward, even though the latter jumped up on the shields of the enemy to thrust downward.
A cavalry officer, Publius Licinius Crassus
, from his advantageous position on his horse, grasped what was happening and on his own initiative ordered the third line of battle (the infantry reserve) into action in support of the Roman right. The Romans were momentarily victorious on their left. This decision was usually reserved to senior officers, but Crassus won high praise for it after the battle and was probably slated for rapid advancement. The enemy line broke and ran for the Rhine, which was 15 miles (24.1 km) away, women and all, with the Roman cavalry in hot pursuit.
Some, including Ariovistus himself, managed to cross the river in boats or by swimming. The rest were cut down by Roman cavalry, including both of Ariovistus's wives and one of his daughters; another daughter was taken prisoner. Both Caesar's emissaries were rescued unharmed, to relate their harrowing adventures as the Germans debated (in their presence) whether they should be burned then or later. Caesar said that encountering Procillus and freeing him from his chains gave him as much pleasure as the victory, which offers some insight into the emotional climate of Caesar's forces. The officers were a sort of family.
as the future Alamanni
.
Ariovistus may have escaped but it is unlikely that he retained any position in the citizen-army of the Suebi. When the Usipetes and Tencteri were driven from their lands by the Suebi in 55 BC, he is not mentioned. He was dead by late 54 BC, when his death is said to have been a cause of indignation among the Germans. How he died is unknown. Tacitus notes that to flee from battle, abandoning one's shield, was shameful among the Germans, and those who did so often hung themselves; and that traitors and deserters were hung, and cowards drowned.
Caesar was left a free hand on the left bank of the Rhine. He immediately went on to a campaign against the Belgae
, and the disposition of the lands on the Rhine is missing from his account. The question of who held Alsace is historically significant. The place names in it are Celtic, but where were the Celts? They do not appear in Caesar's campaign against Ariovistus. Very likely they had been in part the Boii
, who were a strong force on the Danube until they encountered the Marcomanni
and Quadi
. Fear of the Germans forced them out of the region, only to be mainly destroyed by their opposition to Caesar. Caesar had just settled the last of them among the Aedui when the campaign against Ariovistus began.
In the early empire the same Germanic tribes that had fought for Ariovistus appeared on both sides of the Rhine in Alsace. At that time they were of mixed ethnicity and perhaps no longer spoke Germanic. It seems clear that the Romans had allowed them to take the former lands of the now missing Boii in exchange for serving as a buffer against the Suebi. They did serve long and faithfully. The province of Germania Superior
was formed from them. As for the Germans who had already settled among the Celts, it is not clear what happened to them; however, there is no record of any ethnic cleansing. More likely they integrated into the new Romano-Celtic population.
Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology under Ariovistus suggests another derivation of the first element that seems to fit runic inscriptions known today. Smith translates Ario- by German Heer, "a host", and -vistus by German Fürst, "a prince".
Alternatively, the name could be interpreted as Herr-Vist (Heer - Vist, "Army/Host" + "Fist"), to wit, "Army Fist".
If Ario- is a Roman representation of a Germanic ancestor of Heer, the ancestor is West Germanic *harja- from Germanic *harjaz appearing in such constructs as *harja-waldaz and *harja-bergaz. The Indo-European root is *koro-. The Indo-European
linguist, Julius Pokorny
, in Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch (which is available on the Internet) simply states on Page 67 under ario-? that the Celto-Germanic personal name, Ariovistus, proves nothing (with regard to "Aryan") because it can come from *Hario-.
The reconstructed *harja is actually attested in Runic inscriptions as Harja and Harijaz standing alone (possibly meaning a man of the Harii
) Harijaz Leugaz
(Lugii
?) and Swaba-harjaz
(Suebi
?) in combination, as well as being a prefix in Hari-uha
"first warrior" and Hariwolafz
"battle wolf".
The second element is not among the runes. The closest root to it seems to be Indo-European *weid-, "to see", in the sense of guide, leader, person who sees what to do. The seer also played an important part in leading the armies of the Iliad
, the first literature of Europe. Perhaps -vistus is from the same form as English "wise", *weid-to-, which in Old English is also used for a leader or guide (wisa). However, this is all speculation.
Following Smith, Ariovistus translates more directly to "general", raising the possibility that the name is a title granted to the man by the Suebi, his real name subsequently eclipsed by it. Caesar relates that the Suebi maintained a citizen army of 100,000 men picked yearly, and Tacitus that the Suebi were not one tribe. Ariovistus was probably picked from among the generals to lead an army group into Gaul, as seers were generally used for that purpose.
translation of the Suebian king's original name or title. Caesar was known to use Celtic interpreters and sent a Celtic-speaking envoy to Ariovistus. This derivation draws on a comparison to Old Irish aire, airech, "free man, nobleman, leader", from Celtic *arios ("noble" or "in advance, leading"), and the well-established Gaulish element uid-, uidi-, uissu-, "perception, knowledge." Ariovistus thus would mean "Noble Sage" or "He Who Knows in Advance." Ariovistus can be found listed in Celtic etymological dictionaries among similar Gaulish names for Germanic figures, such as Ariomanus ("Good Leader") and Ariogaisus ("Spear Leader").
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
and other allied Germanic peoples
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, assisting the Arverni
Arverni
The Arverni were a Gallic tribe living in what is now the Auvergne region of France during the last centuries BC. One of the most powerful tribes in ancient Gaul, they opposed the Romans on several occasions...
and Sequani
Sequani
Sequani, in ancient geography, were a Gallic people who occupied the upper river basin of the Arar , the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains, their territory corresponding to Franche-Comté and part of Burgundy.-Etymology:...
to defeat their rivals the Aedui
Aedui
Aedui, Haedui or Hedui , were a Gallic people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who inhabited the country between the Arar and Liger , in today's France. Their territory thus included the greater part of the modern departments of Saône-et-Loire, Côte-d'Or and Nièvre.-Geography:The country of the Aedui is...
, after which they settled in large numbers in conquered Gallic territory in the Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
region. They were defeated, however, in the Battle of Vosges
Battle of Vosges (58 BC)
The Battle of Vosges was fought between the Germanic tribe of the Suebi under the leadership of Ariovistus against six Roman legions under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar in 58 BC. This encounter is the third major battle of the Gallic Wars. Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine, seeking a home in...
and driven back over the Rhine in 58 BC by Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.
Sources
Ariovistus and the events he was part of are known from Caesar's Commentarii de Bello GallicoCommentarii de Bello Gallico
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting local armies in Gaul that opposed Roman domination.The "Gaul" that Caesar...
. Caesar, as a participant in the events, is a primary source, although as his Commentaries were in part political propaganda they may be suspected of being self-serving. Later historians, notably Dio Cassius
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek...
, are suspicious of his motives.
Ariovistus's role and status
Ariovistus was a native of the SuebiSuebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
. He spoke Gaulish
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
fluently. He had two wives, one of whom he had brought from home. The second, who was the sister of King Vocion of Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
, he acquired in an arranged political marriage.
Ariovistus is described by Caesar as rex Germanorum. This is often translated as "king of the Germans", but as Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
had no definite article
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
it could equally be translated as "king of Germans", with no implication that he ruled all Germans. Indeed, Germania
Germania
Germania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
is known to have been divided into many tribal and political groups, many but not all of which were ruled by kings. It is likely that Ariovistus' authority only extended over those Germans who had settled in Gaul.
He was recognised as a king by the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
, but how closely the Roman title matched Ariovistus' social status among the Germans remains unknown. Similarly, what the senate meant by rex at that point in the history of the Republic is not clear. The word "king" can have many meanings and did so throughout Rome's several-hundred-year history. Tacitus says that the Germans made a distinction between kings, who were chosen by birth, and military leaders, who were chosen by ability, and that kings did not have absolute power.
Intervention in Gaul
Some time before Caesar's governorship of Gaul (which began in 58 BC), the Gaulish ArverniArverni
The Arverni were a Gallic tribe living in what is now the Auvergne region of France during the last centuries BC. One of the most powerful tribes in ancient Gaul, they opposed the Romans on several occasions...
and Sequani
Sequani
Sequani, in ancient geography, were a Gallic people who occupied the upper river basin of the Arar , the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains, their territory corresponding to Franche-Comté and part of Burgundy.-Etymology:...
enlisted Ariovistus's aid in their war against the Aedui
Aedui
Aedui, Haedui or Hedui , were a Gallic people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who inhabited the country between the Arar and Liger , in today's France. Their territory thus included the greater part of the modern departments of Saône-et-Loire, Côte-d'Or and Nièvre.-Geography:The country of the Aedui is...
. The latter were a numerous Celtic people occupying the drainage system of the upper Loire
Loire
Loire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when after just 3½ years the young Rhône-et-Loire department was split into two. This was a response to counter-Revolutionary activities in Lyon...
river in France. They were nearly between their neighbors to the northeast, the Sequani, who occupied the Doubs
Doubs
Doubs is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.-History:As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect...
river valley, and the Arverni in the Massif Central
Massif Central
The Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux....
.
Caesar does not say what the cause of the conflict was, but the Sequani controlled access to the Rhine river along the valley of the Doubs. To that end they had gradually built up an oppidum or fortified town at Vesontio. Tradesmen headed up the Rhone
Rhône River
The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone...
and its tributary the Saône
Saône
The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
(the ancient Arar) could not pass the Doubs at Vesontio without coming to terms with the Sequani, nor could anyone pass from the Rhine to the Rhone except on similar terms. The east of the entire great channel is bordered by the Jura mountains
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
and the west by the Massif Central. Vesontio is 75 miles (120.7 km) from that stretch of the Rhine between Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
and Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
.
The Arar formed part of the border between the Aedui and the Sequani. Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, who lived a generation after Caesar in the late republic and early empire, does make a statement concerning the cause of the conflict between the Sequani and Aedui, and it was in fact commercial, at least in Strabo's view. Each tribe claimed the Arar and the transportation tolls from traffic along it, "but now", says Strabo, "everything is to the Romans." The Sequani also habitually supported the Germans in their previous frequent expeditions across the river, which shows that Ariovistus’ subsequent devastation of Sequani lands represented a new policy.
The location of the final battle between the Aedui and their enemies, which Caesar names as the Battle of Magetobriga, remains unknown, but Ariovistus’ 15,000 men turned the tide, and the Aedui became tributary to the Sequani. Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
writes in 60 BC of a defeat sustained by the Aedui, perhaps in reference to this battle. Ariovistus seized a third of the Aeduan territory, settling 120,000 Germans there. In order to avoid infringing on his allies for the moment, Ariovistus must have passed over the low divide between the Rhine and the Doubs in the vicinity of Belfort
Belfort
Belfort is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France and is the prefecture of the department. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap or Burgundian Gate .-...
and then have approached the Aedui along the Ognon
Ognon
Ognon may refer to:Rivers in France* Ognon in Franche-Comté, tributary of the Saône* Ognon in Loire-Atlantique* Ognon, which becomes the Ornain after its confluence with the MalditeOthers*Ognon, Oise, commune in France...
river valley. That move left the Sequani between him and the Jura mountains, not a tolerable situation for either if they were not going to be allies.
Ariovistus made the decision to clear out the Sequani from the strategic Doubs valley and re-populate it with Germanic settlers. He demanded a further third of Celtic land for his allies the Harudes. Caesar makes it clear that Germanic tribes were actually in the land of the Sequani and were terrorizing them. They are said to have controlled all the oppida, but this statement is not entirely true, as Vesontio was not under Germanic control. Presumably, the country to the north of there was under Germanic control.
Confrontation with Caesar
In 59 BC, while Julius Caesar was consulConsul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
, Ariovistus had been recognised as "king and friend" by the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
. He had likely already crossed the Rhine at this point. Cicero indicates that the Aedui's defeat took place in or before 60 BC. Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
mentions a meeting between Caesar's predecessor as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer (consul)
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer was a Consul in 60 BC and son of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, or, according to some, the son of Tribune Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer while the latter is the son of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos...
, and a king of the Suebi; which took place during Celer's proconsulship in 62 BC. The sequence of events given by Caesar also seems to indicate that, when his governorship began in 58 BC, the Germans had been settled in Gaul for longer than one year. However, without the status of friend, Ariovistus never could have secured Roman tolerance of his Rhine crossing, whenever it was, but would have been treated as hostile.
However, the Aedui were also allies of Rome
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, and in 58 BC Diviciacus
Diviciacus (Aedui)
Diviciacus or Divitiacus of the Aedui is the only druid from antiquity whose existence is attested by name. He should not be confused with the king of the Suessiones also known by the Latinised name Diviciacus; coins, possibly issued by the latter, give the Gaulish name in Greek lettering as...
, one of their senior magistrates, complained of Ariovistus's cruelty and pleaded with Caesar to intervene on their behalf. Caesar sent ambassadors to summon Ariovistus to a conference. Ariovistus refused the summons, on the grounds that if Caesar wanted to speak to him, he should come to him; besides, he was not prepared to enter Caesar's territory without his army, which it would be impractical and expensive to gather.
Caesar therefore sent his ambassadors back to Ariovistus with his demands: that he bring no more of his people across the Rhine, and that he and his allies restore the hostages they had taken from the Aedui and undertake not to make war against them. He pointed out that Ariovistus was a friend to Rome and that the Romans had a prior interest, which they certainly would enforce. Ariovistus was welcome to keep the friendship of Rome if he would comply. Otherwise he, Caesar, acting in accordance with the decrees of the senate, could not let the harassment of the Aedui go unpunished.
Ariovistus refused to comply, asserting the right of conquest and the right of the conqueror to exact tribute from the conquered. Ridiculing Rome's ability to protect its friends and boasting of Germanic invincibility, Ariovistus invited Caesar to attack him if he wished.
Caesar presents himself as attempting to act as an honest broker in the conflict, offering reasonable terms to settle the matter; however, as Caesar himself relates, Ariovistus later accused him of intending to lead an army against him right from the outset. Cassius Dio, writing more than two centuries later, agrees, characterising Caesar as attempting to provoke a war to win glory and power, while taking pains not to look like the aggressor.
Whatever the motivation, Ariovistus overestimated the strength of his position. He apparently believed his official relationship to Rome was one of equals, but the Romans accepted no equals and saw the relationship as one between patron and client. He also appears to have believed the Romans would not attack him.
At the same time that Caesar received Ariovistus's message, he heard from his Celtic allies that the Harudes were devastating the country of the Aedui and that 100 units of Suebi under the brothers Nasua and Cimberius were about to cross the Rhine. In response to these provocative acts, Caesar mobilized his troops.
The battle
Caesar was not far away, probably at or near BibracteBibracte
Bibracte, a Gaulish oppidum or fortified city, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. It was situated near modern Autun in Burgundy, France. The material culture of the Aedui corresponded to the Late Iron Age La Tène culture,In 58 BC, at the Battle of...
, where he had just won a major victory over the Helvetii
Helvetii
The Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...
and other Celtic tribes, and had disposed of the remaining Boii
Boii
The Boii were one of the most prominent ancient Celtic tribes of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul , Pannonia , in and around Bohemia, and Transalpine Gaul...
, allowing them to settle in Aeduan land. As only small numbers of Boii were left after the battle, the Aedui were obliging. Caesar must have immediately begun marching up the Saône valley.
Ariovistus, being a skilled general in his own right, identified Vesontio as the key to the strategic Doubs valley and marched for it, but Caesar, probably relying on intelligence from the Gauls, arrived there first and established a main base. He had to combat a panic among his own men, who had heard that the Germans were some sort of superior warriors. Caesar called a meeting and then berated the centurions
Centurion (Roman army)
A centurion , also hekatontarch in Greek sources, or, in Byzantine times, kentarch was a professional officer of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC...
for making that necessary, instead of just following orders. In one of his noted speeches he recalled them to duty and ended by threatening to march the next morning early with only the 10th legion
Legio X Gemina
Legio decima Gemina , was one of the four legions used by Julius Caesar in 58 BC, for his invasion of Gaul. There are still records of the X Gemina in Vienna in the beginning of the 5th century. The legion symbol was a bull...
, about whose valor he said he had no doubts at all. The speech had the intended effect of arousing fanatical loyalty in the 10th and shame and rivalry in the others.
Vesontio is about 75 miles (120.7 km) from the Rhine. Apparently Ariovistus had learned of the Roman presence there because he stopped marching and waited. Using Diviciacus
Diviciacus (Aedui)
Diviciacus or Divitiacus of the Aedui is the only druid from antiquity whose existence is attested by name. He should not be confused with the king of the Suessiones also known by the Latinised name Diviciacus; coins, possibly issued by the latter, give the Gaulish name in Greek lettering as...
as a guide, Caesar's troops marched 50 miles (80.5 km) in 7 days, arriving probably in the vicinity of Belfort
Belfort
Belfort is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France and is the prefecture of the department. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap or Burgundian Gate .-...
. The army was moving only 7 miles per day and was relying on Diviciacus to lead them through open country; thus, it is probably safe to assume there were no Roman roads between Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
and Belfort
Belfort
Belfort is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France and is the prefecture of the department. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap or Burgundian Gate .-...
at that time. Caesar says that he took a detour to stay in open country, most likely west of the Doubs
Doubs
Doubs is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.-History:As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect...
through the lands of his Celtic allies.
Ariovistus sent ambassadors to Caesar agreeing, because Caesar had come to him, to a conference. Caesar, known for giving his potential enemies every last chance, entertained the idea that Ariovistus was coming to his senses. It was agreed that they should meet on horseback, accompanied only by cavalry. Caesar brought mounted soldiers of the 10th legion
Legio X Gemina
Legio decima Gemina , was one of the four legions used by Julius Caesar in 58 BC, for his invasion of Gaul. There are still records of the X Gemina in Vienna in the beginning of the 5th century. The legion symbol was a bull...
, who joked that they had been promoted to knights.
The meeting of the two on a high mound between the camps with the bodyguards a few hundred yards away is surely a rare event in the history of parlays. They both got a chance to present and defend their points of view face to face with no filtering or interference from others. Caesar concentrated on Roman policy. Ariovistus now took the tack of claiming the Aedui had attacked him, rather than vice versa.
Caesar reports that Ariovistus stated that "he was not so uncivilized nor so ignorant of affairs, as not to know that the Aedui in the very last war with the Allobroges had neither rendered assistance to the Romans, nor received any from the Roman people in the struggles which the Aedui had been maintaining with him and with the Sequani."
The word rendered above as "uncivilized" (McDevitte & Bohn's translation) is barbarus
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
. The classical civilizations throughout their long literary periods consistently characterized the peoples of the north and east as barbari, usually rendered in English as "barbarians". The word reflected the mixture of condescension, contempt and fear the Greeks and Romans had for those who did not share their civilisation or values. Only rarely did those barbarians manage to make known their feelings about such use of the concept, as did Ariovistus on that occasion.
Ariovistus described official Roman friendship as a sham, and uttered another uncanny prophecy, that he could gain the real friendship of many leading men at Rome by killing Caesar. Moreover, the senate, he said, had determined that Gaul should be governed by its own laws and therefore ought to be free. By then Caesar had to escape to his bodyguards, as the Germanic cavalry was beginning to hurl missiles.
The next day Ariovistus invited Caesar to another parlay. Making a point to emphasize that he could not trust the Germans, Caesar sent two junior officers, Gaius Valerius Procillus and Marcus Mettius
Marcus Mettius
Marcus Mettius or Metius was a supporter of Julius Caesar in the 50s and 40s BC.-Diplomatic envoy:During the first year of the Gallic Wars, Caesar sent Mettius and the Helvian Celt Gaius Valerius Troucillus as envoys to the Suebian king Ariovistus, in what is presented as a last-ditch effort to...
. They found Ariovistus in the process of moving his army up and were put in chains.
Over the next few days Ariovistus moved his camp to within two miles (3 km) of Caesar's, covering the move with cavalry skirmishes. The Germanic tribes had developed a special force consisting of cavalry mixed with equal numbers of light infantry whose only function was to support cavalrymen, individually or in units, who had become enmeshed in combat. Caesar's men stood in battle formation outside the walls of his camp each day, but only skirmishes were offered. Finally, from a distance of two miles (3 km), Ariovistus cut Caesar's supply line, isolating his garrison.
Caesar claims the Germanic side did not attack in force because their wise women had pronounced from their divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
s that they should not engage in battle before the new moon
New moon
In astronomical terminology, the new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth...
. However, it is evident that there was a more mundane reason for Ariovistus declining battle: he had Caesar surrounded. Dio Cassius notes the presence of Germans on the slope of the hill behind the camp, where the Porta Quaestoria, the gate where provisions were brought in, would have been. Ariovistus had Caesar under siege and hoped to starve him out.
Under its best general, the Roman army now demonstrated the classic tactics that had made Rome master of the entire Mediterranean region to such an extent that the Romans were able to call it "our sea". It is unlikely that Ariovistus suspected what was coming. Caesar knew that the Germans outnumbered him and that his best and only defense was an attack. He had to force the Germans to battle or be starved into surrender.
Leaving a light defense in camp Caesar advanced in acies triplex to within 600 yards (548.6 m) of the German camp. Under guard of the first two lines, the third built another castrum (camp) in which Caesar placed two legions and the auxiliaries
Auxiliaries (Roman military)
Auxiliaries formed the standing non-citizen corps of the Roman army of the Principate , alongside the citizen legions...
, while the other four legions returned to the main camp. It is easy to say in retrospect that Ariovistus should have thrown his entire force against the two lines of battle while the third (the reserve) was preoccupied, or that he should have attacked the four legions while they were divided from the two, but the tides of battle are never predictable, no matter what the odds.
The next day Caesar used the auxiliaries from the forward camp as cover while he brought all six rested and fed legions to a starting line before it in acies triplex formation. Each tribune conspicuously took personal charge of one legion, while the quaestor
Quaestor
A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....
took the 6th. Caesar wanted the men to see that they were under the eyes of the entire senior command, which would certainly share their fate. They then began an advance on the weakest feature of the Germanic force, its open camp.
Caesar says that the enemy camp was defended by a wagon train, drawn up behind the German forces, which had now either to fight or to run. The usual chorus of wailing women was placed on the wagons. The effect it really had on the Germanic soldiers is unclear. The idea was to place the tribe in a situation where they must either be victorious or be annihilated with their women and children.
The Germans formed by ethnic group before the Romans: Harudes, Marcomanni
Marcomanni
The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.-Origin:Scholars believe their name derives possibly from Proto-Germanic forms of "march" and "men"....
, Triboci
Triboci
In classical antiquity, the Triboci or Tribocci were a Germanic people of eastern Gaul, inhabiting much of what is now Alsace.-Name:Besides the forms Triboci and Tribocci, Schneider has the form “Triboces” in the accusative plural. Pliny has Tribochi, and Strabo . In the passage of Caesar, it is...
, Vangiones
Vangiones
The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenience. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near Belfort...
, Nemetes
Nemetes
The Nemetes , by modern authors sometimes improperly called Nemeti, were an ancient Germanic tribe living by the Rhine between the Palatinate and Lake Constance where Ariovistus had led them, the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC...
, Sedusii and Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
. Apparently they lacked a reserve, while the Romans followed their established practice of two units forward to one back. Caesar opened the battle with a charge against the Germanic left, which seemed the weakest part of the line. The Germanic forces responded by charging with such speed that the Romans were unable to cast pila
Pilum
The pilum was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about two metres long overall, consisting of an iron shank about 7 mm in diameter and 60 cm long with pyramidal head...
and the fight entered the sword-play stage immediately. The Roman open line of battle, in which each man was left room to fight, prevailed. The Germans crowded into a phalanx
Phalanx formation
The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons...
and began to push the Romans backward, even though the latter jumped up on the shields of the enemy to thrust downward.
A cavalry officer, Publius Licinius Crassus
Publius Licinius Crassus (son of triumvir)
Publius Licinius Crassus was one of two sons of the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus and Tertulla. He belonged to the last generation of Roman nobiles who came of age and began a political career before the collapse of the Republic...
, from his advantageous position on his horse, grasped what was happening and on his own initiative ordered the third line of battle (the infantry reserve) into action in support of the Roman right. The Romans were momentarily victorious on their left. This decision was usually reserved to senior officers, but Crassus won high praise for it after the battle and was probably slated for rapid advancement. The enemy line broke and ran for the Rhine, which was 15 miles (24.1 km) away, women and all, with the Roman cavalry in hot pursuit.
Some, including Ariovistus himself, managed to cross the river in boats or by swimming. The rest were cut down by Roman cavalry, including both of Ariovistus's wives and one of his daughters; another daughter was taken prisoner. Both Caesar's emissaries were rescued unharmed, to relate their harrowing adventures as the Germans debated (in their presence) whether they should be burned then or later. Caesar said that encountering Procillus and freeing him from his chains gave him as much pleasure as the victory, which offers some insight into the emotional climate of Caesar's forces. The officers were a sort of family.
The aftermath
If Caesar named the units in the Germanic army from left to right, the Suebi were on Caesar's right, suffered the brunt of the losses, and were most pursued by Roman cavalry. The Suebi who had planned to cross the Rhine turned back. The Germanic tribes that had joined the Suebi in their foray now bought peace by turning against them and attacking them in retreat. In just a few days the capability had been removed from the Suebi of mounting any offensive over or on the Rhine, which they assiduously avoided for some time to come, taking refuge in the Black ForestBlack Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
as the future Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
.
Ariovistus may have escaped but it is unlikely that he retained any position in the citizen-army of the Suebi. When the Usipetes and Tencteri were driven from their lands by the Suebi in 55 BC, he is not mentioned. He was dead by late 54 BC, when his death is said to have been a cause of indignation among the Germans. How he died is unknown. Tacitus notes that to flee from battle, abandoning one's shield, was shameful among the Germans, and those who did so often hung themselves; and that traitors and deserters were hung, and cowards drowned.
Caesar was left a free hand on the left bank of the Rhine. He immediately went on to a campaign against the Belgae
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
, and the disposition of the lands on the Rhine is missing from his account. The question of who held Alsace is historically significant. The place names in it are Celtic, but where were the Celts? They do not appear in Caesar's campaign against Ariovistus. Very likely they had been in part the Boii
Boii
The Boii were one of the most prominent ancient Celtic tribes of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul , Pannonia , in and around Bohemia, and Transalpine Gaul...
, who were a strong force on the Danube until they encountered the Marcomanni
Marcomanni
The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.-Origin:Scholars believe their name derives possibly from Proto-Germanic forms of "march" and "men"....
and Quadi
Quadi
The Quadi were a smaller Germanic tribe, about which little is definitively known. We only know the Germanic tribe the Romans called the 'Quadi' through reports of the Romans themselves...
. Fear of the Germans forced them out of the region, only to be mainly destroyed by their opposition to Caesar. Caesar had just settled the last of them among the Aedui when the campaign against Ariovistus began.
In the early empire the same Germanic tribes that had fought for Ariovistus appeared on both sides of the Rhine in Alsace. At that time they were of mixed ethnicity and perhaps no longer spoke Germanic. It seems clear that the Romans had allowed them to take the former lands of the now missing Boii in exchange for serving as a buffer against the Suebi. They did serve long and faithfully. The province of Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
was formed from them. As for the Germans who had already settled among the Celts, it is not clear what happened to them; however, there is no record of any ethnic cleansing. More likely they integrated into the new Romano-Celtic population.
Etymology
The segmentation of the name into Ario- and -vistus is well established. A 19th-century connection between Ehre, "honor", and Ario- turned out to be invalid. There is currently no complete agreement on how the word should be derived. Most etymological dictionaries are silent about it.Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology under Ariovistus suggests another derivation of the first element that seems to fit runic inscriptions known today. Smith translates Ario- by German Heer, "a host", and -vistus by German Fürst, "a prince".
Alternatively, the name could be interpreted as Herr-Vist (Heer - Vist, "Army/Host" + "Fist"), to wit, "Army Fist".
If Ario- is a Roman representation of a Germanic ancestor of Heer, the ancestor is West Germanic *harja- from Germanic *harjaz appearing in such constructs as *harja-waldaz and *harja-bergaz. The Indo-European root is *koro-. The Indo-European
Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. Its goal is to amass information about the hypothetical proto-language from which all of these languages are descended, a language dubbed Proto-Indo-European , and its speakers, the...
linguist, Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny was an Austrian linguist and scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter of Irish nationalism. He held academic posts in Austrian and German universities.-Life:...
, in Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch (which is available on the Internet) simply states on Page 67 under ario-? that the Celto-Germanic personal name, Ariovistus, proves nothing (with regard to "Aryan") because it can come from *Hario-.
The reconstructed *harja is actually attested in Runic inscriptions as Harja and Harijaz standing alone (possibly meaning a man of the Harii
Harii
The Harii were a Germanic people attested by Tacitus as being a tribe in his 1st-century-AD book Germania. He describes them as painting themselves and their shields black, and attacking at night as a ghostly army, much to the terror of their opponents...
) Harijaz Leugaz
Skåäng Runestone
The Skåäng Runestone, designated as Sö 32 under Rundata, is an Iron Age runestone located in Skåäng, Södermanland, Sweden, which is inscribed in Proto-Norse with the elder futhark...
(Lugii
Lugii
The Lugii, Lugi, Lygii, Ligii, Lugiones, Lygians, Ligians, Lugians, or Lougoi were an ancient Germanic tribe attested in the book Germania by the Roman historian Tacitus. They lived in ca...
?) and Swaba-harjaz
Rö runestone
The Rö runestone, designated under Rundata as Bo KJ73 U, is one of Sweden's oldest and most notable runestones.-Description:The Rö runestone was discovered 1919 at the farm Rö on the island of Otterö north of the fishing village of Grebbestad in Bohuslän...
(Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
?) in combination, as well as being a prefix in Hari-uha
Seeland-II-C
Seeland-II-C is a Scandinavian bracteate from Zealand, Denmark dating to the Migration period . The bracteate bears an Elder Futhark inscription which reads as:The final ttt is a triple-stacked Tiwaz rune...
"first warrior" and Hariwolafz
Stentoften Runestone
The Stentoften Runestone, listed in the Rundata catalog as DR 357, is a runestone which contains a curse in Proto-Norse that was discovered in Stentoften, Blekinge, Sweden....
"battle wolf".
The second element is not among the runes. The closest root to it seems to be Indo-European *weid-, "to see", in the sense of guide, leader, person who sees what to do. The seer also played an important part in leading the armies of the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, the first literature of Europe. Perhaps -vistus is from the same form as English "wise", *weid-to-, which in Old English is also used for a leader or guide (wisa). However, this is all speculation.
Following Smith, Ariovistus translates more directly to "general", raising the possibility that the name is a title granted to the man by the Suebi, his real name subsequently eclipsed by it. Caesar relates that the Suebi maintained a citizen army of 100,000 men picked yearly, and Tacitus that the Suebi were not one tribe. Ariovistus was probably picked from among the generals to lead an army group into Gaul, as seers were generally used for that purpose.
Possible Gaulish origin
An alternative theory is that the name Ariovistus, like that of several other Germanic leaders recorded in Latin sources under patently Celtic names, represents a GaulishGaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
translation of the Suebian king's original name or title. Caesar was known to use Celtic interpreters and sent a Celtic-speaking envoy to Ariovistus. This derivation draws on a comparison to Old Irish aire, airech, "free man, nobleman, leader", from Celtic *arios ("noble" or "in advance, leading"), and the well-established Gaulish element uid-, uidi-, uissu-, "perception, knowledge." Ariovistus thus would mean "Noble Sage" or "He Who Knows in Advance." Ariovistus can be found listed in Celtic etymological dictionaries among similar Gaulish names for Germanic figures, such as Ariomanus ("Good Leader") and Ariogaisus ("Spear Leader").