Ariovistus

Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul, assisting the Arverni and Sequani in defeating their rivals, the Aedui. They then settled in large numbers into conquered Gallic territory, in the Alsace region. They were defeated, however, in the Battle of Vosges and driven back over the Rhine in 58 BC by Julius Caesar.

Primary sources

Ariovistus and the events he was part of are known from Caesar's ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico''. Caesar, as a participant in the events, is a primary source, but as his ''Commentaries'' were partly political, they may be suspected of being self-serving. Later historians, notably Dio Cassius, are suspicious of his motives.

Role and status

Ariovistus was a native of the Suebi. He spoke Gaulish fluently. He had two wives, one of whom he had brought from home. The second, who was the sister of King Voccio of Noricum, he acquired in an arranged political marriage.

Ariovistus is described by Caesar as ''rex Germanorum''.Caesar, ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' 1.31 That is often translated as "king of the Germans", but as Latin had no definite article, it could equally be translated as "king of Germans", with no implication that he ruled all Germans. Indeed, Germania is known to have been divided into many tribal and political groups, many of which were ruled by kings. It is likely that Ariovistus's authority extended only over those Germans who had settled in Gaul.

He was recognised as a king by the Roman Senate, but how closely the Roman title matched Ariovistus's social status among the Germans remains unknown. Similarly, what the senate meant by ''rex'' at that moment in the history of the Roman Republic is not clear. The word "king" can have many meanings and did so throughout Rome's centuries of history. Tacitus says that the Germans made a distinction between kings, who were chosen by birth, and military leaders, who were chosen by ability, and that kings did not have absolute power.

Intervention in Gaul

Some time before Caesar's governorship of Gaul (which began in 58 BC), the Gaulish Arverni and Sequani enlisted Ariovistus's aid in their war against the Aedui. The latter were a numerous Celtic people occupying the area of the upper Loire river in France. Their territory lay between their neighbors to the northeast, the Sequani, who occupied the Doubs.

Caesar does not say what the cause of the conflict was, but the Sequani controlled access to the Rhine river along the valley of the Doubs. To that end, they had gradually built up an ''oppidum'', or fortified town, at Vesontio. Tradesmen headed up the Rhone and its tributary the Saône (the ancient Arar) could not pass the Doubs at Vesontio without coming to terms with the Sequani, and no one could pass from the Rhine to the Rhone but on similar terms. The east of the entire great channel is bordered by the Jura mountains and the west by the Massif Central. Vesontio is from that stretch of the Rhine between Mulhouse and Basel.

The Arar formed part of the border between the Aedui and the Sequani. Strabo, who lived a generation after Caesar in the late republic and early empire, does make a statement concerning the cause of the conflict between the Sequani and Aedui, and it was in fact commercial, at least in Strabo's view. Each tribe claimed the Arar and the transportation tolls from traffic along it, "but now", says Strabo, "everything is to the Romans." The Sequani also habitually supported the Germans in their previous frequent expeditions across the river, which shows that Ariovistus's subsequent devastation of Sequani lands represented a new policy.

The location of the final battle between the Aedui and their enemies, which Caesar names as the Battle of Magetobriga, remains unknown, but Ariovistus's 15,000 men turned the tide, and the Aedui became tributary to the Sequani. Cicero writes in 60 BC of a defeat sustained by the Aedui, perhaps in reference to this battle.Cicero, ''Letters to Atticus'' 1.19 Ariovistus seized a third of the Aeduan territory, settling 120,000 Germans there. To avoid infringing on his allies for the moment, Ariovistus must have passed over the low divide between the Rhine and the Doubs in the vicinity of Belfort and then have approached the Aedui along the Ognon river valley. That move left the Sequani between him and the Jura mountains, not a tolerable situation for either if they were not going to be allies.

Ariovistus made the decision to clear out the Sequani from the strategic Doubs valley and to repopulate it with Germanic settlers. He demanded a further third of Celtic land for his allies the Harudes. Caesar makes it clear that Germanic tribes were actually in the land of the Sequani and terrorising them. They are said to have controlled all the oppida, but that is not entirely true, as Vesontio was not under Germanic control. However, the country to the north of there was presumably under Germanic control.

Confrontation with Caesar

In 59 BC, while Julius Caesar was consul, Ariovistus had been recognised as "king and friend" by the Roman Senate. He had likely already crossed the Rhine at this point. Cicero indicates that the Aedui's defeat took place in or before 60 BC. Pliny the Elder mentions a meeting between Caesar's predecessor as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, and a king of the Suebi; which took place during Celer's proconsulship in 62 BC. The sequence of events given by Caesar also seems to indicate that, when his governorship began in 58 BC, the Germans had been settled in Gaul for longer than one year. However, without the status of friend, Ariovistus never could have secured Roman tolerance of his Rhine crossing, whenever it was, but would have been treated as hostile.

However, the Aedui were also allies of Rome, and in 58 BC Diviciacus, one of their senior magistrates, complained of Ariovistus's cruelty and pleaded with Caesar to intervene on their behalf. Caesar sent ambassadors to summon Ariovistus to a conference. Ariovistus refused the summons on the grounds that if Caesar wanted to speak to him, he should come to him; besides, he was not prepared to enter Caesar's territory without his army, which it would be impractical and expensive to gather.

Caesar, therefore, sent his ambassadors back to Ariovistus with his demands: that he bring no more of his people across the Rhine, and that he and his allies restore the hostages they had taken from the Aedui and undertake not to make war against them. He pointed out that Ariovistus was a friend to Rome and that the Romans had a prior interest, which they certainly would enforce. Ariovistus was welcome to keep the friendship of Rome if he would comply. Otherwise he, Caesar, acting in accordance with the decrees of the senate, could not let the harassment of the Aedui go unpunished.

Ariovistus refused to comply, asserting the right of conquest and the right of the conqueror to exact tribute from the conquered. Ridiculing Rome's ability to protect its friends and boasting of Germanic invincibility, Ariovistus invited Caesar to attack him if he wished.

Caesar presents himself as attempting to act as an honest broker in the conflict, offering reasonable terms to settle the matter; however, as Caesar himself relates, Ariovistus later accused him of intending to lead an army against him right from the outset. Cassius Dio, writing more than two centuries later, agrees, characterising Caesar as attempting to provoke a war to win glory and power while he took pains not to look like the aggressor.

Whatever the motivation, Ariovistus overestimated the strength of his position. He apparently believed his official relationship to Rome was one of equals, but the Romans accepted no equals and saw the relationship as one between patron and client. He also appears to have believed the Romans would not attack him.

At the same time that Caesar received Ariovistus's message, he heard from his Celtic allies that the Harudes were devastating the country of the Aedui and that 100 units of Suebi under the brothers Nasua and Cimberius were about to cross the Rhine. In response to such provocative acts, Caesar mobilized his troops.

Battle

Caesar was not far away, probably at or near Bibracte, where he had just won a major victory over the Helvetii and other Celtic tribes, and had disposed of the remaining Boii, allowing them to settle in Aeduan land. As only small numbers of Boii were left after the battle, the Aedui were obliging. Caesar must have immediately begun marching up the Saône valley.

Ariovistus, being a skilled general in his own right, identified Vesontio as the key to the strategic Doubs valley and marched for it, but Caesar, probably relying on intelligence from the Gauls, arrived there first and established a main base. He had to combat a panic among his own men, who had heard that the Germans were some sort of superior warriors. Caesar called a meeting and then berated the centurions for making that necessary instead of just following orders. In one of his noted speeches he recalled them to duty and ended by threatening to march the next morning early with only the 10th legion, about whose valour he said he had no doubts at all. The speech had the intended effect of arousing fanatical loyalty in the 10th and shame and rivalry in the others.

Vesontio is about from the Rhine. Apparently Ariovistus had learned of the Roman presence there because he stopped marching and waited. Using Diviciacus as a guide, Caesar's troops marched in 7 days, arriving probably in the vicinity of Belfort. The army was moving only 7 miles per day and was relying on Diviciacus to lead them through open country; thus, it is probably safe to assume there were no Roman roads between Besançon and Belfort at that time. Caesar says that he took a detour to stay in open country, most likely west of the Doubs

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