Aduatuci

The Aduatuci or Atuatuci were, according to Caesar, a Germanic tribe who had been allowed to settle amongst the Germanic tribes living in east Belgium. They descended from the Cimbri and Teutones, who were tribes thought to have originated in the area of Denmark.^[1] Much later, the Aduatuci sent troops to assist their Belgic neighbours, especially the Nervii, in the Battle of the Sabis, but were too late. They were later defeated by the Romans after withdrawing to a fortified city. After their defeat by Caesar they disappear from the written record, but their survivors possibly contributed to the later tribal grouping known as the Tungri in Roman imperial times.

Before the Roman attack in 57 BC the oppidum of the Aduatuci (possible modern day Namur in Belgium or near the city of Thuin) were home to 57,000 including refugees fleeing the Romans. The oppidum of the Aduatuci were seized by the Romans and after the fall of the city with 4,000 dead the entire surviving population of 53,000 were sold as slaves.^[2]^[3]

Background

The Cimbri, the Teutones, and Ambrones were engaged by, and then defeated, several Roman armies at the battle of Noreia (113 BCE) and at Arausio (105 BCE), where the Romans are said to have lost more than 80,000 men.^[4] After the Marian reforms of the legions, the Teutones and Ambrones were finally defeated by the Romans at Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC. The Cimbri were defeated by the Romans in northeast Italy in 101 BC. The Aduatuci were said to be the remnants of a group of the Cimbri who stayed in northern Gaul after defeating a previous Roman army under Marcus Junius Silanus in Gaul in 109 BC, before the Germanic tribes moved south towards Italy.^[1]

From the account of Caesar, the exact position of the Aduatuci is not clear, but they were apparently neighbours of both the Nervii and the Eburones. Edith Wightman states that they "are generally supposed to have occupied the middle Meuse valley, perhaps rightly, although the reasoning is suspect".^[5] Concerning their fort, Wightman writes

From the description, it was a promontory fort or epéron barré, but the lack of any reference to a major river argues against the citadel at Namur, and the Mont Falhize near Huy, both of them washed by the Meuse. Reoccupation of the earlier fort of Hastedon (St. Servais, just north of Namur) is a possibility. Other candidates are not lacking, but they lie mostly in the Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse area, which probably belonged to the Nervii.^[6]

(Mont Falise is today in Huy, on the north side of the Meuse, and to the east of the main town.)

In 2012 a group of historians and archeologists came to the conclusion that the oppidium of the Aduatuci was placed south of the Hainaut city of Thuin. The following arguments for this identification were listed.^[7]

The discovery of the remains of a fortified Iron Age settlement, enclosing 13 hectares.
The fortification was felt to match the description given by Caesar.
Concentrations of Roman lead projectiles show that the fort was attacked by Roman forces.
Three troves of gold had been buried near the fortification, all dating to early years of the decade 50 BCE.
The place lies in the correct general area.

Assisting the Nervians

The Battle of Sabis took place in 57 BC between the Romans and the Nervians. Although the Roman forces under Julius Caesar eventually defeated the Nervians, the Romans were almost overtaken by the surprisingly strong tribe.^[8] The Aduatuci sent troops to assist the Nervians, but when they learned of the Nervians’ defeat, the Aduatuci retreated towards a single fort, being a place "eminently fortified by nature" and described by Caesar as being the original settlement they had chosen after settling in the area.^[1]

Defeat

Map detailing the siege of the Aduatuci, based on the theory that their fort was at the site of the Citadel of Namur.

The Romans followed the Aduatuci and besieged their city. The Aduatuci successfully resisted the Romans' initial attacks but surrendered after the Romans erected siege weapons and approached the city with them. Caesar promised mercy if the Aduatuci surrendered, so the Aduatuci opened their gates and made show of laying down some weapons.^[9] This may have been an attempt to trick the Romans and catch them off guard in a later attack. Caesar kept his word that evening by sending Roman troops out of the Aduatuci city to avoid looting and violence against the Aduatuci. Using improvised shields and weapons which they had concealed within the city, the Aduatuci then engaged the Romans in a surprise attack that night. While the Aduatuci fought well, the Romans were prepared and they defeated the Aduatuci. Many Aduatuci were killed in the battle and those that survived were sold into slavery. Caesar wrote that 53,000 people were sold into slavery.^[9]

Possible survival

Under Roman rule the name of the Aduatuci never appears any more, but the tribal groupings of the area are likely to have reformed, also including more recent immigrants from Germany. The survivors of the people who fought Caesar are therefore likely to have joined into the tribal grouping known in imperial times as the Tungri. The place name "Aduatuca" does continue in the region, because the capital of the Tungri's region, the "Civitas Tungrorum" was known as "Aduatuca Tungrorum" (modern Tongeren). The reasons for this are unclear, but the name of the capital of the Eburones, the distinct neighbours of the Aduatuci, had also been referred to as Aduatuca by Caesar, and so it is likely the word was a general term for a fortified settlement. (So the name "Aduatuci" might mean "fortress people".)^[5]

References

Listing of sources

Wightman, Edith Mary (1985), Gallia Belgica, University of California Press
Caesar, Gallic War

Sources

C. Julius Caesar. Caesar's Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper's New Classical Library.
Cassius Dio. Roman History III, Books 36-40. Translator. Earnest Cary. Translator. Herbert B. Foster. Harvard University Press. 1914. Loeb Classical Library.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Third edition. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

External links

Battle location pictures

Germanic peoples

Languages	Germanic parent language Proto-Germanic language North Germanic languages Old Norse West Germanic languages Ingvaeonic languages South Germanic Northwest Germanic East Germanic languages Germanic philology

Prehistory	Nordic Bronze Age Pre-Roman Iron Age in Northern Europe Jastorf culture Nordwestblock Przeworsk culture Wielbark culture Oksywie culture Chernyakhov culture

Roman Iron Age in northern Europe	Magna Germania Germanic Wars Battle of the Teutoburg Forest Germania Irminones Ingaevones Istvaeones Chatti Marcomanni Suebi

Migration Period	Germanic Iron Age Alemanni Anglo-Saxons Angles Jutes Saxons Burgundians Danes Franks Frisii Geats Goths Visigoths Ostrogoths Vagoth Gothic War (376–382) Gotlander Heruli Lombards Rugii Scirii Suebi Swedes Vandals Varangians Vikings Germanic Christianity Romanization

Society and culture	Mead hall Alliterative verse Migration Period art Runes Runic calendar Sippe Ancient Germanic law Lawspeaker Thing Germanic calendar Germanic kingship Germanic name Numbers in Norse mythology Romano-Germanic culture

Religion	Odin Thor Nerthus Veleda Tuisto Mannus Paganism Anglo-Saxon Continental Germanic mythology Frankish Norse Christianity Arianism Gothic

Dress	Bracteates Fibula Suebian knot

Warfare	Gothic and Vandal warfare Anglo-Saxon warfare Viking Age arms and armour Migration Period spear Migration Period sword

Burial practices	Tumulus Ship burial Norse funeral Alemannic grave fields Sutton Hoo Spong Hill

List of ancient Germanic peoples Portal:Ancient Germanic culture

Iron Age tribes in Gaul

Belgica	Ambiani Aresaces Atrebates Atuatuci Bellovaci Caeroesi Catalauni Condrusi Eburones Leuci Mediomatrici Menapii Morini Nervii Paemani Remi Segni Silvanectes Suessiones Toxandri Treveri Vellocasses Viromandui

Celtica	Abrincatui Aedui Ambarri Andes (Andecavi) Arverni Baiocasses Bituriges Cubi Cadurci Caletes Carnutes Caturiges Cenomani Curiosolitae Diablintes Eburovices Esuvii Gabali Helvetii Lemovici Lexovii Lingones Meldi Namnetes Nitiobriges Osismii Parisii Petrocorii Pictones Redones Ruteni Santones Senones Segusiavi Sequani Tricasses Turones Unelli Vellavi Veneti Viducasses

Aquitania	Ausci Boii Convenae Elusates Lactorates Sotiates Tarbelli Vasates Vivisci

Narbonensis	Allobroges Arecomici Avatici Cavares Caturiges Ceutrones Deciates Helvii Nantuates Salluvii Volcae (Arecomici and Tectosages) Tricastini Vocontii

Part of: Celtic tribes in Europe

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.