Ambrones
The Ambrones (Ancient Greek: Ἄμβρωνες) were a tribe that appeared briefly in the Roman sources relating to the 2nd century BC.[1] They formed part of a coalition of peoples with the Cimbri of Jutland and the Teutones who were forced south by the flooding of their homeland.[2]
Contents |
[edit] History
The three neighbors began their career in Roman history as an alliance determined to emigrate to the lands of the south. A roman source reports that "The Cimbri, Teutones and Tigurini, fugitives from the extreme parts of Gaul, since the Ocean had inundated their territories, began to seek new settlement throughout the world."[3] The Zuider Zee region was suffering from catastrophic salt-water flooding; this section of seacoast had been barely above sea level during the BCE period of human history, but was now in the process of sinking below it.
The Ambrones were part of the fleeing multitude. Plutarch gives the numbers advancing on Italy as 300,000 armed fighting men, and much larger hordes of women and children. The Barbarians divided themselves into two bands, and it fell to the lot of the Cimbri to proceed through Noricum in the interior of the country against Catulus, and of a passage there, while the Teutones and Ambrones were to march through Liguria along the sea-coast against the consul Gaius Marius, who had set up camp on the Rhône. Plutarch tells us that Ambrones alone numbered more than 30,000 and were the most warlike division of the enemy, who had earlier defeated the Romans under Manlius and Caepio.[4] It was the Battle of Arausio in 105 in which the Romans were defeated under Servilius Caepio and Gnaeus Mallius.[5]
The Teutones and Ambrones assaulted the camp of Marius and were repulsed. They decided to go on and streamed around the camp, giving the Roman soldiers messages for the wives they should encounter as domestics when enslaved. Marius followed swiftly and again encamped next to them at Aquae Sextiae at the foot of the Alps. The year was 102 BC.[6]
The battle began as a chance encounter but the Romans turned it into a victory. Roman camp followers attempting to draw water from a nearby river were attacked by the Ambrones, who were still using it. The Ligurians acting as Roman auxiliaries came to their rescue and were repulsed across the river. The opportunity was not lost on Marius. The Romans quickly formed ranks and caught the Ambrones trying to recross the river. The Ambrones lost the main part of their force. Two days later Marius repulsed an attack on the camp and caught the enemy force between his own main force in the front and an ambush of 3000 men in the enemy rear. Marius took 100,000 prisoners. The Ambrones were destroyed.[7] Although Caesar mentions that the remnants of the Cimbri and Teutones formed a new tribe in Belgic Gaul, the Aduatuci, he does not mention any remnants of the Ambrones.[8]
[edit] Homeland and ethnicity
The exact location of the homeland of the Ambrones is unknown. They had been driven out of it by flooding before Greek and Roman geographers began to note the locations of the tribes of northern Europe. Their name has been connected to the islands of Fehmarn, old name Imbria, and Amrum. If so they may be the Ymbers of Widsith. However the inundation of the Wadden Sea region during this period suggests that they lived west of Jutland, not east of Jutland.
As to their ethnicity there is no agreement. While the Teutones were likely Germanic there is evidence that the Ambrones and Cimbri may may have been a different or amalgamated people. Later in their brief and sanguinary course across Europe, the Cimbri were ruled by Boiorix, a Celtic name, "King of the Boii."[9] The amb- in Ambrones is an initial segment of many Celtic tribal names. It is related to Greek amphi and Latin ambi, meaning "around" or "on both sides" from a Proto-Indo-European root.[10] The Ambrones followed a Celtic custom in shouting the name of their tribe going into battle.[11] However they apparently came from an area that had been recently Germanized from the North, and this was also a time when the Germanic tribes were influenced by Celtic culture.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Plutarch, The Lives, The Life of Marius.
- ^ Lucius Annaeus Florus, The Epitome of Roman History, book I, part 38.
- ^ Lucius Annaeus Florus, The Epitome of Roman History, book I, part 38.
- ^ Plutarch, Lives: Life of Marius.
- ^ Livy, Periochae, book 67.
- ^ Plutarch, Lives: Life of Marius; Livy, Periochae, book 68.
- ^ Plutarch, Lives: Life of Marius.
- ^ Caesar, Gallic War, book 2, chapter 29.
- ^ Livy, Periochae, book 67.
- ^ J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (2006), p.289.
- ^ Plutarch, Lives: Life of Marius.
