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The Roman “Games”
By Marcus Minucius-Tiberius Audens

These Roman "Games" were an important part of Roman life and they were often the scenes of bloody and horrible displays.

Senaca writes in his "moral Epistles":

"I chanced to stop in at a midday show, expecting fun, wit, and some relaxation...  It was just the reverse...  in the morning men are thrown to the lions and bears, at noon they are thrown to their spectators... 'Kill him!  Lash him!  Burn him!...'  And when the show stops for intermission, -- 'Let's have men killed meanwhile!   Let's not have nothing going on!' "

The Romans believed that anyone who did not embrace the laws of Rome should be punished and that punishment should be done in a public way. The "games" were a perfect way to accomplish this, since it relieved the government of the necessity of maintaining a long term prison system, it provided entertainment for the masses of Roman Citizens whose lives were otherwise often not noteworthy, and it provided a convenient way to dispose of those who disrupted the Republic or the Empire by revolution or by a desire for other social change.  The possessions and belongings of those sent to the "Games" were confiscated by the government and provided a good income for the Emperor with which to wage war or hold further games and similar events. 

Of course probably the best known participants in the games, that are known today were the gladiators, who like modern day sports contestants faced each other individually, much  as boxers, or fencers do in the present day, with the exception that these gladiators were armed and were fighting for blood and death.  These were the primary combatants which were wagered upon, and provided training and even to the successful few were provided their freedom, if they were slaves, as most were.

The amphitheatres, which literally translates to mean "double theatres" were normally where the "games" were held.  In Pompeii the amphitheatre was oval in shape and could accommodate approximately twice the population of the city proper  (about 20,000 spectators).  In both the South and North of the structure were the main entrances which led to the seating. This seating was in three distinct areas based solely upon the nearness to the action in the arena.  In one side (West) of the arena there was a smaller doorway leading to a darkened passage.  This opening was called the "Death Gate" through which the dead were taken after the events. These dead were not wasted. The clothing, armor and weapons, if any, were stripped from the body, and the flesh was then used to feed the carnivores held in the cages below or around the amphitheatre.

The ancient traditions of some of these games very likely were derived from the hill people who were the inhabitants of the highlands in the South of Italy in the early years of the Roman Kingdom and the Republic. One of the type of Gladiators that were featured in the "Games" were what was known as a "Samnite" This name identification can be traced back to these people of the hill country.  In addition, the weapons / armor design carried and used by this class of gladiator is clearly traceable to this era and period of these peoples.

However, many of the participants were unwilling and untrained ones. These were condemned criminals, and religious extremists who were often compelled to fight each other to the death, or simply stripped naked and led out before angry and hungry wild beasts to be killed.  In addition to those people killed in the "Games" thousands of exotic animals also perished.  These animals brought in from the extremities of the empire, were trapped, confined and shipped at great expense to the various "Game" Amphitheatre's throughout the empire, the largest of which was Coliseum in Rome .  These included:

--Bear from Britannia;
--Wolfhound from Ireland ;
--Wild Boar from Italia / Raetia;
--Aurochs from Noricum ;
--Bulls from Macedonia ;
--Horses from Espania;
--Wild Ass from Mauritania / Syria ;
--Rhinoceros / Lepord from North Africa ;
--Camel / Gazelle from Cyrenaica ;
--Crocodile / Hippopotamus form Aegyptus;
--Lion /Tiger from the lands beyond Syria / Judea .  

Even ostriches were used in these games in order to show the Roman Citizens the generosity of the sponsor of the games in providing the most unusual animals of the world. Ostrich meat also appears in some Roman food dishes and is also offered today in meat markets around the world..

The use of these animals were either to be set upon naked people to kill them in horrible ways, or to be hunted through elaborate staged hunt-performances which featured extremely realistic sets and scenery which included, we are told, real trees, and other very detailed backgrounds for the events. 

Some interesting items in the Chronology of the Gladiator Games are below submitted for your interest:

--174 BC. Flaminius' games in Rome feature 74 fighters  who fight over three days....(1)

--165 BC. The playwright Terence complains that his popular play "The Mother In Law" is abandoned by the audience, because someone announces a gladiatorial contest is starting in the arena nearby; (2)

--46 BC Julius Caesar stages infantry, cavalry and elephant battles totaling more than 1,200 fighters (3);

--AD 107 The Emperor Trajan stages a four -- month period of entertainment with 10,00 fighters in the Coliseum.  Thousands of fighters perish; (4)

The above examples give some indication of the rise in popularity of Gladiator Fighting.  Of all of the "Games" organized by the Emperors and their staffs were, we are told, the great sea battles fought in flooded amphitheatres and on nearby lakes which were prepared or reserved for the purpose.

While this history may well be disturbing to the modern reader as well as a few of those ancient viewers, it was probably no worse than those of the modern world who have a taste for modern competitions such as car racing, or television in which the audience hopes for injury and death to occur and who are seldom disappointed.

In the period of A.D. 395 to 423 the gladiatorial combats were banned by Imperial decree,, but the Roman "Games" still live on in the spectacular "games" of bullfighting in the arenas of Spain , Mexico and Southern France .

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References

--"The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome ," Chris Scarre, Penguin Books, 1995;
--" Pompeii ," Peter Connolly, Oxford University Press, 1994;
--"Gladiators, 100BC - AD 200," Stephen Wisdom (illustrated by Angus McBride),Osprey Publishing -- Warrior Series, 2001

Foot notes

"Gladiators....." -- Items (1) through (4), pages 7 and 8.

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The Bridge
By Marcus Minucius-Tiberius Audens

The wind was like a knife as it blew across the ice and through the surrounding trees.  It bit through the double thickness of the red cloak on the man who stood in the shadow of the dark trees along the river's edge.  So this was the Pontus Rhenus, thought Marcus, covered with a thick layer of ice, a natural bridge to the barbarian lands on the other side.  He had not believed the stories of the mighty river that controlled the valley through which it flowed, but now it was before his eyes, and it was hard not to believe everything he had heard.

A rumbling, booming, crashing, grating sound tore through the sound of the wind, but nothing stirred on the face of the river.  The Barbarians said that it was the God of the River who spoke thus during the deep winter here.  In the Rainy season it spoke with massive flooding and the crushing of all on it's surface, and along it's banks.  Only in the warmest parts of the year was it fairly quiet, and would it allow ships and boats to use it's surface. 

Marcus shivered both from the cold and from the sounds coming from the river.  It was a terrible entity at the best of times with it's changing sand bars, channels and drifting logs from high above which had been torn loose from their roots by the river spirit.  The river pilot had been most detailed in description of those hazards, as he had tried to convince the young tribune that his job was the most hazardous on the river.  Perhaps he had a point, thought Marcus musing over what he had been told.  He shook himself -- there was no spirit here, it was just a story, He turned and mounted his horse, and turned back to the road that ended close by the river.

But, he thought , if it was just a story what were those god-awful sounds coming from the river.  Puzzled he put his pony  to the newly completed road, and settled down for the ride back to the fort.  The horse sensing that he was headed for the barn, his stall and a good feed, moved ahead smartly.  "Me too," grinned Marcus, "me too," as he saw the eageress of his mount to get back "home."  He thought of the small tavern in the vicus that served a very tasty lamb stew, and had a supply of Falernian to wash it and the crusty rye bread down with.

Marcus Minucius Audens was a bright new Tribunus Archetecturas sent out to build a bridge across the Rhinus.  He was a replacement for another engineer who had been reassigned.  Caesar had done it , of course, but his was a temporary structure at best, and to show his contempt of the barbarians he had destroyed the bridge after he pushed his army back to this side of the Rhenus.   Caesar had seen the river in it's most peaceful period, and had conquered it.  If there was a spirit there Marcus didn't think that it would be willing to be beaten again at least without a fight, and it would certainly not desire a permanent crossing anywhere along it's length.  The bridge would have to be strong, and yet it would have to be built in an area where the river could not muster a particular strength against the bridge. There was much to plan for as he rode toward the fort.  He thought, I am treating the river as some kind of crafty enemy.  That's strange in and of itself.

He came to the road turnoff to the boat sheds along the river.  It was here that the patrol vessels were pulled up onto skids or ways clear of the water, and were protected from the worst of the weather, while maintenance and repairs were carried out on the vessels as required. The sheds were covered with a heavy layer of the new snow.  Marcus thought it quite strange to be on horseback striding through the snow on this new road.  He was more used to seeing snow in the vegetable holder in the kitchen at home, or from a great distance as the white mountain peaks towered to the sky.  It was a different world here.

The last river barges  had arrived just a week ago, and the grain bins were now full, and the supplies needed to maintain the garrison and the legion were safely in store.

Both the Praefectus of the Fort and the legion commander had their patrols out, and the Centurions were watching the river closely for any attack across the river.  The river now hidden under a sheet of ice and a blanket of snow was no longer the watery barrier it was before the cold had descended upon the area.  Now it was a highway for anyone brave enough or crazy enough to venture out on it's surface.  Doubtless the barbarians were brave enough as he had heard the tales over and over about how they hurled themselves literally upon the gladius points of the legionaries who opposed them.  In Marcus' view that made them a little crazy as well, but he wanted to be sure from his own knowledge before he began to label things and people here.  The world was not always as it first appeared, and in a country when things like this winter were so strange, it never would do to jump to conclusions.

Marcus marveled at the difference between the winter season here and the winter season in the South of Provincia Espana where his parents owned a prosperous farm and his father was a successful civil surveyor and Magistrate as well. The weather was sometimes wet in winter but this snow, like the freezing winds, were confined to the high mountains.  It would pay well to be very careful here on this frontier. Praise Mithra for his protection and light! 

The Engineering Office here had been set up in the Pratorium, there was supposed to be two engineers here to begin the work in the spring, but one was recalled for reassignment, and the other fell quite ill having fallen into the Rhenus.  He is in the grip of the lung sickness according to the Surgeon, and is not doing well.  There is a young Optio, who has been working on some basic plans with the help of the Praefectus.  He seems to be an eager young man, though his Greek name is apparently being held against him in some quarters.  Perhaps I should look into that, mused Marcus.  As he approached the gate he dismounted and taking his horses rein's in hand walked through the gates of the fortress.  He acknowledged the salutes of the guards on duty, and headed for the stables to feed and stable his mount.  It was far too cold to leave his mount standing outside the tavern.  It was not a long walk outside the gate to the Tavern, and he could walk it quickly. He could already taste the warm stew, as he rubbed down the horse with a handful of straw, and then poured out a measure of grain.  The horse cared for, and already drooping in sleep he wrapped his double cloak around himself, checked his purse, and walked to the vicus exit

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Roman Technology and Engineering
By Marcus Minucius-Tiberius Audens

With this presentation, the "Eagle" introduces a series of articles devoted to Roman Technology and Engineering.  The skills of the architect and those of the engineer were closely related in Roman times, and so we will discuss not only the building skills of the Roman Architects but also the Engineering aspects of skills devoted to the common everyday manufactured goods, as well as to the large scale projects such as bridges, roads and aqueducts.

A dependable communication network was almost mandatory for the maintenance of the empire, and it's road system provided a means of moving both commercial goods and armies from sector to sector as required.

Fresh drinking water was vital to the growth of Rome and her colonies, and this water was very often brought great distances to large urban areas by the demanding skills of the aqueduct engineer.   

Motive power which used the elements of moving water, muscle power (animal and human both) was utilized for the needs of the empire.  Wind power mostly in driving merchant and warships, water power for milling and muscle power for all else.

Mining was still another element of Roman engineering skill and the technology which was used by the Romans to rid the mines of ground water in the lower mine galleries by both water wheels and screw pumps is very significant.  Harbor works, sewers and public structures such as baths, temples, forums, and arenas were also designed and constructed all over the Roman world.

The development of hydraulic concrete, manufacture of glass and pottery in quantity, and the development of the lifting crane are significant achievements which will all be touched on in this series.

Roman engineering efforts enjoyed some unusual advantages during this period in the plentiful raw materials, time and cheap labor that was available.  Rome was in control of vast wealth in the areas of stone quarries, clay beds for the manufacture of bricks, and the very extensive wealth in the stands of usable timber.

The Roman Engineering and Architectural efforts were concentrated upon the applied sciences and not so much on pure research.  They labored to re-configure the world around them for the convenience of mankind, and they eagerly developed ever new methodology to the construction of their designs. 

Roman engineering was mainly Civil Engineering and was concentrated mainly upon the construction of public buildings, aqueducts, roads, and bridges.  Training for these professions was often from father to son. Vitruvius an early well known Roman engineer states the following requirements for his ideal architect / engineer to be:

"a man of letters, a skilled draftsman, a mathematician, familiar with historical studies, a diligent student of philosophy, acquainted with music, not ignorant of medicine, learned in the responses of jurisconsults, familiar with astronomy and astronomical calculations."(1)  

The Engineer of this period, must have a clear understanding of many related areas of consideration aside from the pure aspects of applied science.  This is a practical given.  Such areas as the financial side of contracting and subcontracting, the area of measurement and valuation procedures, a close understanding of the capabilities and limitations of men, and the machines with which he is working, the restraints imposed by weather and soil conditions, the availability of raw and manufactured materials, and the limitations of such materials.  In addition, engineers and architects had to understand geometry, arithmetic, and some elements of trigonometry.  It becomes evident that the "art of geometry" meant the ability to perceive design and building problems in terms of a few basic geometrical figures which could be manipulated through a series of carefully prescribed steps to produce the points, lines and curves needed for the solution to the problem at hand.  Since such problems could and did range across the entire spectrum of the work of the architect / engineer -- stereotomy, statics, proportion, architectural design and drawing were also important elements for the attention of the engineer. They additionally had to have a detailed knowledge of the properties of the materials with which they dealt, and the way in which fluids and solids behaved within different sets of physical conditions.  Facing a given problem they had to use the sum of the above knowledge and apply it effectively in order to solve the problem in the most satisfactory manner available at the time, either by practical or political constraint.

In this series we will endeavor to explore the various areas of construction and architecture of the Roman world, and bring to the fore some extremely both useful and beautiful elements of their skills and efforts. 

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Reference:

(1)--Tacitus: "Annals", III, 37; Vitruvius, I. i, 3; VI, Pref., 7.

--"A History of Engineering In Classical and Medieval Times," Donald Hill;
--"The Ancient Engineers," Sprague De Camp;
--"Engineering In the Ancient World," J.G. Landels;
--"The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome ," Chris Scarre;
--"Handbook To Life In Ancient Rome ," Adkins and Adkins;

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The Batavian Revolt: Part II
by Jona Lendering
http://www.livius.org/ba-bd/batavians/revolt01.html

The Siege of Xanten

As we have seen in the preceding article, Julius Civilis and the Batavians had reached everything they wanted: an independence that would be recognized by Vespasian (provided that he won the civil war against the emperor Vitellius), and revenge for the oppressive recruitment by the Romans and the death of Civilis' brother.

The only thing they should never do, was attack the base of the two Roman legions at Xanten - no emperor could leave an attack on this symbol of Roman power unpunished. If only one spear would be thrown across the walls of the legionary base, it was inevitable that a large army would come to the north and make up for the humiliation. Of course, the civil war had to be over, but whoever would be its victor, he was obliged to punish the attackers. Everybody knew that almost three years before, the Jews had attacked the Twelfth legion Fulminata, and that the Romans had retaliated ferociously. Julius Civilis, who had fought in the Roman auxiliaries and was a Roman citizen, certainly must have known.               

And yet, at the end of September 69, the Batavians launched an attack on Xanten, or, to use its ancient name, Vetera. The moment was well-chosen: two weeks earlier, the army of the Danuba had sided with Vespasian and now threatened Italy . If there was to be a Roman retaliation, it would be postponed for some time. So, Julius Civilis died his hair red, and swore that he would let it grow until he had destroyed the two legions. We do not know what made him sign his own death sentence.

Whatever the reasons, the Batavians were well-prepared, because they had received the best of all possible reinforcements: the eight auxiliary units that had fought for Vitellius in Italy in the Spring, were sent back to defend the Rhine , and had been recalled for the struggle against Vespasian (above). In the preceding year, they had fought against the levies of Caius Julius Vindex, and still earlier, they had been stationed in the war zone in Britain . These men knew how to fight, and had more battle experience than most legionaries. Civilis' messenger had reached them while they were already marching to the Alps , and had easily convinced them that they had to side with the independent Batavians.

Let us, before we discuss the Batavian attack on Xanten, see what had happened to the eight auxiliary units. The supreme commander of the Roman forces in Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, Marcus Hordeonius Flaccus, had allowed them to pass Mogontiacum or Mainz .

He called his tribunes and centurions together and consulted them on the desirability of bringing the insubordinate troops to heel by force. But he was not by nature a man of action, and his staff were worried by the ambiguous attitude of the auxiliaries and the dilution of the legions by hasty conscription. So he decided against risking his troops outside the camp. Afterwards, he changed his mind, and as his advisers themselves went back on the views they had expressed, he gave the impression that he intended pursuit, and wrote Herennius Gallus, stationed at Bonn in command of the First legion, telling him to bar the passage of the Batavians and promising to follow closely in their heels with his army. The rebels could in fact have been crushed if Hordeonius Flaccus and Herennius Gallus had moved from opposite directions and caught them between two fires. But Flaccus abandoned his plan, and in a fresh dispatch to Gallus warned him not to molest the departing units.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.19; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

It is unclear what really happened. Tacitus obviously blames Flaccus for not destroying the eight units, but things were more complicated than he indicates. We must remember that Germania Inferior, which was threatened by the Batavians, was not an important province; Germania Superior and Gallia Belgica, however, were. Probably, Flaccus wanted to leave the problem in the periphery, and allowed the Batavians to return home. Then, the war would remain somewhere in the north, where it did not threaten vital Roman interests. This attempt to localize the war where it did not hurt could have been a successful strategy, but, as we will see below, Flaccus was murdered, after which everything went wrong.

A second point is that both Roman armies in Mainz and Bonna (modern Bonn ) were smaller than the eight auxiliary units. Only when Flaccus and Gallus were able to attack simultaneously, they were inÿ the majority and could be victorious. Flaccus could not afford that both armies were defeated. Finally, there was a more important war going on in Italy , and he could not move too far to the north. So he decided upon this strategy: keep the vital base of Mainz at all costs, try to keep Xanten, and wait until the civil war is over.

It was sound reasoning, but it implied some risk for the garrison at Xanten, which was commanded by the Munius Lupercus we already met above. The siege started at the end of September 69.

The arrival of the veteran auxiliary units meant that Civilis now commanded a proper army. But he still hesitated on his course of action, and reflected that Rome was strong. So he made all the men he had swear allegiance to Vespasian, and sent an appeal to the two legions which had been beaten in the previous engagement [above] and had retired to the camp at Xanten, asking them to accept the same oath.

Back came the reply. They were not in the habit of taking advice from a traitor nor from the enemy. They already had an emperor, Vitellius, and in his defense they would maintain their loyalty and arms to their dying breath. So it was not for a Batavian turncoat to sit in judgment on matters Roman.ÿHe had only to await his deserts - the punishment of a felon.

When this reply reached Civilis, he flew into a rage, and hurried the whole Batavian nation into arms. They were joined by the Bructeri and Tencteri, and as the tidings spread Germania awoke to the call of spoil and glory.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.21; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

Thus started the siege of Xanten. Some 5,000 legionaries, belonging to the already defeated Fifth legion Alaudae and Fifteenth legion Primigenia, defended their camp. Tacitus mentions the presence of the commander of the Sixteenth legion Gallica, which shows that Xanten had been reinforced with men from Neuss . However this may be, the Romans were in the minority. The Batavians had reasons to be optimistic, not in the least because they possessed eight well-trained units, and because Julius Civilis had been training his men along Roman lines. (It is too romantic to think of the revolt as a war between barbarian Batavians and disciplined Romans. In fact, two Roman armies were fighting each other.)

The camp at the Furstenberg near Xanten was large (56 hectares) and modern - it was only ten years old and well-equipped. Archaeologists have discovered the walls (made of mud brick and wood), foundations of wooden towers, and a double ditch. Besides, the garrison had had time to prepare itself. Tacitus frequently mentions the Roman artillery, which must have possessed a lot of ammunition. He also states that there were no food supplies, which is a bit strange, briefly after the harvest season. In fact, Xanten held out for several months.

The Batavians and their allies first attempted to storm the walls of Xanten, but in vain. Then, they attempted to build siege installations, but they did not have the necessary knowledge. Nonetheless, it shows that they were fighting a 'Roman' war, using Roman siege techniques. Ultimately, Civilis decided to starve the two legions into surrender.

During the siege, Civilis sent out units to plunder towns in Germania Inferior and Gallia Belgica. Germans from the east bank of the Rhine joined in.

The Batavian leader ordered the Ubians and Trevirans to be plundered by their respective neighbors, and another force was sent beyond the Maas to strike a blow at the Menapians and Morinians in the extreme north of Gaul. In both theaters, booty was gathered, and they showed special vindictiveness in plundering the Ubians because this was a tribe of German origin which had renounced its nationality and preferred to be known by a Roman name.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.28; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

In other words, the northern part of the Roman empire was in a state of turmoil. Tacitus plays a very subtle game in these lines. The words 'the Menapians and Morinians in the extreme north of Gaul' [Menapios et Morinos et extrema Galliarum] contain a reference to a well-known line by the poet Virgil, who had called the Morinians the extremi hominum, 'those living on the extreme edges of the earth' (Aeneid 8.727). By using these words, Tacitus remembered his reader of the well-known fact that this was a war against the most savage of all barbarians, which, as every Roman knew, lived on the edges of the world.

The Roman Counter-attack

The legions Fifth legion Alaudae and Fifteenth legion Primigenia were besieged in Xanten. Marcus Hordeonius Flaccus, less indolent than Tacitus wants us to believe, had already taken counter-measures. Pickets were posted along the Rhine to prevent the Germans from entering the empire. He ordered the Fourth legion Macedonica to stay at Mainz, which had to be kept at all costs. Messengers were sent to Gaul, Spain, and Britain, requesting for reinforcements. (As we will see, Basque units were to save the day during a battle near Krefeld.) The Twenty-second legion Primigenia, commanded by Caius Dillius Vocula, marched at top speed to Novaesium or Neuss in the north; Flaccus himself went to the First legion Germanica at Bonn, traveling on board of a naval squadron because he suffered from gout.

Tacitus tells us that at Bonn, the general found it difficult to take authoritative action. The soldiers held him responsible for the free passage of the eight Batavian auxiliary units (above). However, he convinced the First legion to follow him, and together with Vocula's legion, he joined forces with the Sixteenth legion Gallica at Neuss. They continued to Gelduba, modern Krefeld.

And then, suddenly, the advance halted. Tacitus offers all kinds of reasons for the delay: the soldiers had to receive additional training, the Cugerni (a tribe inside the empire that had sided with Civilis) had to be punished, they had to fight with enemies for the possession of a heavily-laden corn-ship... The real reason, however, was that news had arrived from the south: by now, Vespasian's legions were invading Italy.      

It may be remembered that the army of the Rhine had fought for Nero against Caius Julius Vindex in 68 (above); nonetheless, Vindex' friend Galba had become emperor, and he had been suspicious of the Rhine army. Flaccus and Vocula wanted to prevent that this history would repeat itself. Suppose that they defeated Civilis, who claimed to fight for Vespasian, and suppose that he defeated Vitellius... This was an unacceptable risk.

In the first days of November, the soldiers received bad news: their emperor Vitellius and his army -which was made up from units from the Rhine- had been defeated. Those at Krefeld personally knew many of the dead. This did little to improve the morale, especially since it was clear that Vitellius could no longer win the civil war. The officers decided that they had to side with Vespasian.

When Hordeonius Flaccus administered the oath of allegiance, the rank-and-file accepted it under pressure from the officers, though with little conviction in their looks or hearts, and while firmly reciting the other formulae of the solemn declaration, hesitated at the name 'Vespasian' or mumbled it, and indeed for the most passed it over in silence.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.31; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

            Again, Flaccus and Vocula were forced to wait. They did not know what to do, Julius Civilis had to take the initiative. If he had truly been an adherent of Vespasian, the war was now over, because the legions of the Rhine army had sided with this emperor. If, on the other hand, his use of the letter from Vespasian had been nothing but a masquerade, the war had to continue, and the Romans would have to fight with the bravest of all neighboring tribes. Slowly, the days passed on, and nothing happened. No messengers arrived from the north, and Flaccus understood that the Batavian wanted to continue the struggle.

Civilis knew that he had to destroy the army at Krefeld before it had united with the besieged. He knew that, after the attack on Xanten, the Romans would retaliate, but it would cost half a year before they could sent an army across the Alps -the winter was approaching- and if he had destroyed the army at Krefeld, he could take Xanten and enlarge the rebellious region. He was already negotiating with the Trevirans, who would certainly side with him if the most northerly position of the Roman forces were Mainz, which would fall if the Batavians and Trevirans cooperated. However, Civilis was confronted with with one problem: the army of Flaccus and Vocula, even though it consisted of three depleted legions, was too large to face in a regular battle.

Flaccus and Vocula did not have to be clairvoyants to know that the Batavian leader would try to catch them off-guard. And they could also forecast that he would do this on a moonless night, like the night of December 1/2, 69. Tacitus, however, wants us to believe that the attack of the eight Batavian auxiliary units came unexpectedly.

Vocula was unable to address his men or deploy them in line of battle. All he could do when the alarm sounded was to urge them to form a central core of legionaries, around which the auxiliaries were clustered in a ragged array. The cavalry charged, but were brought up short by the disciplined ranks of the enemy and forced back upon their fellows. What followed was a massacre, not a battle. The Nervian auxiliary units, too, were induced by panic or treachery to expose the Roman flanks. Thus the attack penetrated to the legions. They lost their standards, retreated within the rampart, and were already suffering heavy losses there, when fresh help suddenly altered the luck of the battle.

Some Basque auxiliary units [...] had been summoned to the Rhineland. As they neared the camp, they heard the shouts of men fighting. While the enemy's attention was elsewhere, they charged them from the rear and caused a widespread panic out of proportion to their numbers. It was thought that the main army had arrived, either from Neuss or from Mainz. This misconception gave the Romans new heart: confident in the strength of others, they regained their own. The pick of the Batavian fighters -at least so far as the infantry was concerned- lay dead upon the field; the cavalry got away with the standards and prisoners taken in the first phase of the engagement. In this day's work casualties in slain were heavier on our side, but consisted of poorer fighters, whereas the Batavians lost their very best.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.33; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

Again, Tacitus' description is misleading to the extreme. Of course the Basque units did not arrive by accident, as Tacitus seems to imply. They were sent by Flaccus. Likewise, the suggestion that the Nervians 'betrayed' the Romans, is a marvelous example of Tacitean innuendo.

The battle of Krefeld was an important Roman victory, although the losses were severe. This is corroborated by a macabre archaeological discovery: many dead people and horses did not receive a decent cremation, but were hurriedly buried in a large mass grave.

The consequences of the battle were enormous. The eight Batavian auxiliary units now disappear from Tacitus' narrative, although he uses the expression cohortes once in a non-technical sense (at 4.77). Civilis had shown his true intentions and lost his best men, and nothing withheld the Romans from marching on Xanten and lifting the siege.

The camp's walls were strengthened, the ditches deepened, supplies brought in, the wounded taken away. But there was no opportunity to invade the country of the Batavians and retaliate, becauseÿbad news arrived from the south: the Usipetes and Chattians, tribes from the east bank of the Rhine, had crossed the river, were plundering the country and tried to besiege Mainz. It did not seem very serious, but it was prudent not to take any risks. After all, Mainz was more important than Xanten.

Therefore, the expeditionary force, strengthened with 1,000 soldiers from Xanten, returned. Immediately, Civilis renewed the siege of an undergarrisoned but better equipped Xanten. When his cavalry attacked the retreating army near Neuss, however, they were soundly defeated.

The legionaries had shown their worth at Krefeld and Xanten, and when they reached Neuss, there was a pleasant surprise: Flaccus distributed money to celebrate the accession of Vespasian. As loyal adherents of Vitellius, this was more than the soldiers had expected. These were the days of the Roman carnival, the Saturnalia, and the legionaries celebrated it with pleasure. It must have come as some sort of release after the tensions of the preceding weeks. However, the merrymaking was disturbed.

In a wild riot of pleasure, feasting and seditious gatherings at night, their old enmity for Hordeonius Flaccus revived, and as none of the officers dared to resist a movement which darkness had robbed of its last vestige of restraint, the troops dragged him out of bed and murdered him.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.36; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

The same would have happened to Vocula if he had not been able to make his escape from the camp, dressed as a slave. The assault on the two commanders at the moment when Fortune was smiling at the Romans, is one of the unexplained events during the Batavian revolt. We can only speculate about the reason. As we have already seen, the Roman expeditionary force had returned to the south and had taken men from Xanten with them. Tacitus mentions that those that were left behind felt themselves betrayed, and understandably so: they were to keep the defeated Batavians occupied while the main force was occupied somewhere else. Is it possible that the murder was not an act of drunken hysteria, but 'fragging', i.e., the killing of a commander who was careless with soldier's lives?

The Gallic Empire

In Italy, the new year 70 started with excellent omens. The civil war was over, Vitellius was dead, the new emperor Vespasian turned out to be a kind man, and plans were made to put an end to the Jewish war and the Batavian revolt. The big question was whether the expeditionary force sent across the Alps would be in time to prevent the situation north of Mainz from escalating. As it turned out, the Roman reinforcements arrived too late.

The murder of Marcus Hordeonius Flaccus by his own men, just after he had restored order at Bonn, Cologne, Neuss, and Xanten, had given the defeated rebels new self-confidence. Julius Civilis had renewed the siege of the Fifth legion Alaudae and Fifteenth legion Primigenia at Xanten, and the Trevirans and Lingones, ancient Gallic but romanized tribes living along the Mosel and upper Rhine, decided to revolt, too.

They had seen that the three legions that had temporarily lifted the siege of Xanten (I Germanica, XVI Gallica, XXII Primigenia) were too small to deal effectively with the situation. Of course, the Batavian defeats at Krefeld, Xanten, and Neuss had done something to restore Roman prestige, but the knowledge that Julius Civilis was again besieging Xanten and the obvious division among the Roman legionaries took away the last doubts among the Trevirans and Lingones.

The last Roman success was the relief of Mainz (which was now garrisoned with the Fourth legion Macedonica and the Twenty-second), but when general Caius Dillius Vocula set out to offer help to the garrison at Xanten, his Treviran and Lingonian auxiliaries deserted. Tacitus introduces the protagonists:

Messages were exchanged between Civilis and Julius Classicus, the commander of the Treviran cavalry regiment. The latter's rank and wealth put him in a class above others. He was descended from a line of kings, and his forebears had been prominent in peace and war. Classicus himself was in the habit of boasting that he counted among his ancestors more enemies of Rome than allies. Also involved were Julius Tutor and Julius Sabinus, the former a Treviran, the latter a Lingon. Tutor had been placed by Vitellius in command of the west bank of the Rhine. Sabinus for his part, naturally a conceited man, was further inflamed by bogus pretensions to high birth. He claimed that the beauty of his great-grandmother had attracted Julius Caesar during the Gallic War and she had become his mistress.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.55; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

The rebellion of Julius Classicus, Julius Tutor and Julius Sabinus has to be distinguished from the revolt of the Batavians. As we will see, the Trevirans and Lingones were fully romanized and wanted to start an empire of their own -the Gallic empire- whereas the Batavians wanted independence of some sort.

When Vocula saw that Classicus and Tutor persisted in their treachery, he turned round and retired to Neuss. The Gauls encamped three kilometers away on the flat ground. Centurions and soldiers passed to and fro between the camps, selling their souls to the enemy. The upshot was a deed of shame quite without parallel: a Roman army was to swear allegiance to the foreigner, sealing the monstrous bargain with a pledge to murder or imprison its commanders.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.57; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

The former adherents of Vitellius must have found it easy to break their oath to Vespasian. Vocula was killed by a soldier of the First legion Germanica, and Julius Classicus, dressed in the uniform of a Roman general, appeared at the camp and read out the terms of the oath: the legionaries of the First and Sixteenth legions had to uphold the Gallic empire and support its emperor, Julius Sabinus (the fifth emperor in the Roman world in thirteenÿmonths). Thereafter, Tutor attacked troops in Cologne and Mainz, and Classicus sent some of the troops that had capitulated to Xanten to offer quarter to its garrison and lure them into surrender. However, the commander of the beleaguered soldiers, Munius Lupercus, refused to come to terms.

After this, the First and Sixteenth were directed to Trier, far away from the theater of war. Their new emperor Sabinus did not fully trust them. Perhaps he should have used them, because his war against the Sequani (who lived along the Seine) was unsuccessful.

Sabinus' rashness in forcing an encounter was equaled by the panic which made him abandon it. In order to spread a rumor that he was dead, he set fire to the farmhouse where he had taken refuge, and people thought that he had committed suicide there. [...]

With the Sequanian victory, the war movement in Gaul came to a halt. Gradually the communities began to recover their senses and honor their obligations and treaties. In this the inhabitants of Reims took the lead by issuing invitations to a conference which should decide whether they wanted independence or peace.

[Tacitus, Histories 4.67; tr. Kenneth Wellesley]

The result was that the Gauls invited the Trevirans and Lingones to stop their aggression, especially now that the Gallic emperor was (or seemed) dead. However, they refused to do so, and sided with Julius Civilis.

Next month: The Fall of Xanten

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