''Arminius. Dialogus Huttenicus quo humo patriae amantissimus patriae laudem celebravit,'' more commonly known simply as ''Arminius,'' is a Latin dialogue by the German Renaissance humanist

Ulrich von Hutten Ulrich von Hutten (21 April 1488 – 29 August 1523) was a German knight, scholar, poet and satire, satirist, who later became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer. By 1519, he was an outspoken criticism, critic of the Roman Cat ...

(1488–1523). It was likely written in 1520, but not published until 1529, six years after Hutten's death. ''Arminius'' is notable for being the first modern text to adapt the story of the Germanic military leader

Arminius Arminius (; 18/17 BC–AD 21) was a chieftain of the Germanic peoples, Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, in which three Roman legions under th ...

(often called Hermann) after the rediscovery of

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

' ''Annals'' and ''Germania'' in the fifteenth century, and for inspiring several later adaptations by German authors, perhaps most notably Heinrich von Kleist's 1808 play ''Die Hermannsschlacht''.

Background and content

' ''Annals'' were rediscovered in the early 1400s and became more widely known from 1492. Part of the ''Annals'' discusses the figure of

, a Germanic chieftain who commands a confederation of tribes to defeat a superior Roman force at the

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, also called the Varus Disaster or Varian Disaster () by Ancient Rome, Roman historians, was a major battle fought between an alliance of Germanic peoples and the Roman Empire between September 8 and 11, 9&nbs ...

in 9AD, thereby rescuing the tribes from Roman domination. After the rediscovery of the ''Annals'', the story of Arminius quickly became important for German humanists, as it provided a historical figure who could be idealised and presented as a model for contemporary Germans and their leaders. Thus Conrad Celtes and Jakob Wimpfeling made use of Arminius in their nationalist writings. Hutten studied in Italy in 1515, where he became familiar with the text of Tacitus' ''Annals'' as well as Lucian's ''Dialogues of the Dead'', but it was not until 1520 that Hutten's ''Arminius'' was composed. In writing the dialogue, Hutten took inspiration from these two sources; the author used Tacitus' positive depiction of Arminius to insert the chieftain into the scene of Lucian's twelfth dialogue, which features

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–) was a Roman general and statesman who was one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Ancient Carthage, Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the greatest milit ...

, and

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

arguing for the position of the greatest general of history, with

Minos Main injector neutrino oscillation search (MINOS) was a particle physics experiment designed to study the phenomena of neutrino oscillations, first discovered by a Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) experiment in 1998. Neutrinos produced by the NuMI ...

as judge. In Hutten's dialogue, Arminius joins the other leaders to plead his own case, and calls on Tacitus to verify his claims. Arminius' rhetoric is so powerful that he wins the competition, and thus Minos concludes the dialogue with the following words:As Doyé notes, Hutten's conclusion sets Arminius amongst the great Greco-Roman generals, thus creating a place for Germans in antiquity.

Legacy

Hutten's dialogue was published several times in the 1500s, but the first major German translation did not arrive until 1815. Nonetheless, Hutten's ''Arminius'' is credited with having "started the Hermann cult in German poetry" and having influenced later adaptations of the Arminius/Hermann story, such as Heinrich von Kleist's 1808 play ''Die Hermannsschlacht''. MagShamhráin argues that Kleist likely was familiar with Hutten's text in the original Latin, and views Kleist's play as directly "attacking" the ''Arminius'' dialogue.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Cite book , last=Ulbricht , first=Justus H , title=Aufbrüche, Seitenpfade, Abwege: Suchbewegungen und Subkulturen im 20. Jahrhundert , publisher= Königshausen & Neumann , year=2004 , editor-last=Baumgartner , editor-first=Judith , location=Würzburg , pages=135–146 , language=de , chapter=Hermann heeßt'r': Germanenphantasien als deutsche Selbstbilder zwischen Befreiungs- und Vernichtungskriegen , editor-last2=Wedemeyer-Kolwe , editor-first2=Bernd Arminius Battle of the Teutoburg Forest Cultural depictions of Arminius 16th-century works