Inguiomer or Ingomar ( la, Inguiomerus; fl. 1st century AD) was a leader of the

Cherusci The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany in the area of the Weser River and present-day Hanover during the first centuries BC and AD. Roman sources reported they considered themse ...

. He is chiefly remembered as the uncle of Arminius.

Name

Alexander Haggerty Krappe proposed the name derives from

Old Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bra ...

, related to

Yngvi Old Norse Yngvi , Old High German Ing/Ingwi and Old English Ingƿine are names that relate to a theonym which appears to have been the older name for the god Freyr. Proto-Germanic *Ingwaz was the legendary ancestor of the Ingaevones, or more ...

, the older name of the Germanic

god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...

Life

Inguiomer was the brother of

Segimer Segimer or Sigimer ( la, Segimerus or ; fl. 1st century BC) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe. He is chiefly remembered as the father of Arminius, who led the Germans to victory over the Romans at Teutoburg Forest in AD9. Life Segi ...

, a

chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as ...

of the Germanic

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

. This made him the uncle of Arminius and

Flavus Flavus is the Latin word for yellow or blond and has given the name to many, more or less yellow, objects: * Subrius Flavus, a failed Roman conspirator against the Emperor Nero * Flavus, brother of Arminius See also * Flavius * Flava (disamb ...

. Inguiomer is mentioned in

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. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

's account of the Roman reprisal campaigns of

Germanicus Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was an ancient Roman general, known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the pat ...

against the Germans after their defeat at Teutoburg Forest. In AD15, he is mentioned arguing against Arminius's defensive strategy. He pursued the retreating army of Caecina across rough terrain, suffering a defeat in which he was personally wounded. Inguiomer is also mentioned joining the

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people * * * that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian. Origi ...

chieftain

Maroboduus Maroboduus (d. AD 37) was a king of the Marcomanni, who were a Germanic Suebian people. He spent part of his youth in Rome, and returning, found his people under pressure from invasions by the Roman empire between the Rhine and Elbe. He le ...

in his war against Arminius in AD17 or 18. He died at some point before AD47, when the Cherusci are recorded appealing to Rome for Inguiomer's grandnephew Italicus as the only surviving member of their royal family.

References

Citations

{{reflist, 30em

Bibliography

, ''

Annals Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

'' s.a. AUC 768–770 (AD 15–17). Cherusci warriors