Varisci
Encyclopedia
Vogtland
The term Vogtland refers to a region reaching across the German free states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and into the Czech Republic . The name of the region contains a reference to the former leadership by the Vögte of Weida, Gera and Plauen, which translates approximately to advocates or lord...
district of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. They do not appear under that name exactly in ancient history, however, but rather come on stage boldly and abruptly in the 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...
(Chapter 42) of Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
as the Naristi, with manuscript variants of Narisci and Varisti. Which were they, really? Perhaps the historical name of the mediaeval province is to be regarded as the final authority, but there are other possibilities:
- The sources only state Latinized names of native originals that could be spelled in various ways in Latin.
- The people were in the process of changing their name.
Tacitus describes the location of the Varisci as being along the line of the Danube between the Hermunduri
Hermunduri
The Hermunduri, Hermanduri, Hermunduri, Hermunduli, Hermonduri, or Hermonduli were an ancient Germanic tribe, attested by the Roman historian Tacitus, who occupied the area around what is now Thuringia, Saxony, and Northern Bavaria, from the first to the third century...
at its source and 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...
in Bohemia. Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
(Book 2, Chapter 10) adds that the Ouaristoi were south of the Sudeten Mountains and west of Gabreta Forest. The sources thus agree on their location.
But who were they? Allies, says Tacitus, of the Marcomanni and Quadi in their bold expulsion of the Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic 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...
from their ancient home. Very likely, then, all three allies were not from that region, but moved into it in the time of 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....
(the previous century, the 1st BC). We do not know where they had been or what they had been called. One presumes that the Marcomanni ("border men") took their name from being on the Danubian frontier. The Narisci are stated to be of the Suebi. That is all history tells us.
Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
states the names of some towns in the district, but what language they are or whether they were taken over or founded anew he does not say. The towns that might reasonably be interpreted as in the Variscan domain are Bicurgium, Menosgada, Marobudum, Setuacotum, Brodentia, Abilunum and Usbium on the Danube.
History records the probable end of the Varisci without giving us anything in between. It was equally bold and sudden as the beginning. On or about the year AD 167
167
Year 167 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Quadratus...
, all the peoples along the Danube, Germanic and other, suddenly attacked the Roman frontier in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, one of the best of emperors. Perhaps they mistook goodness for weakness. He rushed to the defense of the realm and after a long series of episodes, called by us the Marcomannic Wars
Marcomannic Wars
The Marcomannic Wars were a series of wars lasting over a dozen years from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against the Marcomanni, Quadi and other Germanic peoples, along both sides of the upper and middle Danube...
, because 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"....
had instigated and coordinated the attack, forced the enemy to terms.
During the fight, the chief of the Naristi ...Valao was killed by the Roman General Marcus Valerius Maximianus
Marcus Valerius Maximianus
Marcus Valerius Maximianus was an important Roman general of the period of the Marcomannic Wars during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He was born in the Roman colony of Poetovio , where his father, also called Marcus Valerius Maximianus, was local censor and priest...
.
You may find the Marcomannic Wars chronicled and explained in Marcellinus Ammianus, although the Varisci are not mentioned there. They do find brief mention as the Varistae of the Vita Marci Antonini Philosophi (Chapter 22) of Julius Capitolinus. They were among the tribes who crossed the Danube, but we don't hear a word about them after that, nor do they continue in their province, as the Armalausi
Armalausi
The Armalausi were an obscure Germanic tribe, appearing between the Alamanni and the Marcomanni on the Tabula Peutingeriana . They may have been a tribe of the Hermunduri. Philippus Brietius places them in the Upper Palatinate...
inhabit it in the Peutinger Tables
Tabula Peutingeriana
The Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa...
.
The best guess as to what happened to them is that they were transplanted to Italy, along with many other Danube-dwelling warrior peoples, by Marcus Aurelius, where he could keep an eye on them. This kind of solution is familiar to us in modern times. Subsequent Germanic attacks overwhelmed and overran the empire. The Varisci probably lost their identity in the crush.