Germania Inferior
Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's southern and western Netherlands, parts of Flanders, and Nordrhein-Westfalen left of the Rhine. The principal settlements of the province were Castra Vetera and Colonia Ulpia Traiana (both near Xanten), Coriovallum (Heerlen), Albaniana (Alphen aan den Rijn), Lugdunum Batavorum (Katwijk), Forum Hadriani (Voorburg), Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum (Nijmegen), Traiectum (Utrecht), Atuatuca Tungrorum (Tongeren), Bona (Bonn), and Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne), the capital of Germania Inferior.
The army of Germania Inferior, known from inscriptions simply as EX.GER.INF. (Exercitus Germania Inferior), had several legions at its service: of these, the Legions I Minervia and XXX Ulpia Victrix were the most permanent. The Roman Navy's Classis Germanica, charged with patrolling the Rhine and the North Sea coast, was based in Castra Vetera and later in Agrippinensis.
The first confrontations between a Roman army and the peoples of Germania Inferior occurred during Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Caesar invaded the region in 57 BC and in the next three years annihilated several Germanic tribes, including the Eburones and the Menapii.
Germania Inferior had Roman settlements since approximately 50 BC and was at first part of Gallia Belgica; it was established as a Roman province in the year 90, later becoming an Imperial province. It lay north of Germania Superior, together with which it made up Germania. The epithet Inferior refers to its downstream position.
See also
- Conquest of Germania Inferior
- Major rebellions and attacks (see Batavian rebellion for instance)
- Influence of Germania Inferior on Roman politics (see Germanicus)
- Final abandonment of the province
References
Jona Lendering, De randen van de aarde. De Romeinen tussen Schelde en Maas, (2000 Amsterdam)