Archeologists have unearthed remains of a battle fought in Germany between Roman legionnaires and Germanic tribes 200 years after Romans were believed to have retreated behind the Rhine.
Until now, the Teutoburg Forest defeat of three Roman legions by Germanic tribes, 2,000 years ago next year, was thought to have ended Rome’s expansion into northeastern Europe and set the limits of the empire at the Rhine.
The latest archeological find was originally made by amateurs using metal detectors who discovered a number of Roman weapons in a hilly pine-wooded region between Hanover and Kassel.
SECRET
The precise location of the site is being kept secret to prevent pilfering, with more supervised digging to take place next summer.
Archeologists, who began exploring the site in 2006, have now ascertained that a bloody battle took place on the approach to a pass, involving archers and cavalry equipped with long-range catapults capable of piercing shields at a distance of 300m.
“The findings show that possibly 1,000 Romans were involved” in the battle, said archeologist Petra Loenne. “This is an unrivaled, well-preserved site.”
Some 600 artefacts have so far been found, including spears, arrowheads, axes, armour plating, tent pegs, catapult bolts and coins.
One coin depicts Roman Emperor Commodus, who reigned from 180AD to 192AD, while fragments of swords and carts suggest the battle took place in the first half of the third century AD.
Arrowheads point to the involvement on the Roman side of Persian and North African archers, while the paths followed by the Roman soldiers can be traced thanks to nails left from their sandals.
Archeologists do not know who won the battle.
They have discovered little by way of artefacts left by the Germanic fighters and believe the tribes may have carried away their dead for burial.
But, unlike other battlefields where victims were stripped of their belongings, the Roman dead appear to have been left where they lay, their armour and weapons untouched.
The archeologists believe the Roman soldiers might have been heading home, some 200km to the southwest, after carrying out a raid deep into enemy territory.
Eighty percent of the arrowheads were found to the south of the battlefield, suggesting the legionnaires were attempting to break through in that direction.
Until now historians have believed that, in the wake of the Teutoburg Forest massacre in which thousands of legionnaires were slaughtered, the Romans limited their military operations east of the Rhine to short punitive raids.
SOLDIER-EMPEROR
Maximinus Thrax, the first Roman soldier-emperor who reigned briefly from 235-238, was personally involved in operations against the Germanic tribes.
Historical records even suggested he had led an army towards the North Sea to subdue the “barbarians.”
“Until now these sources had been considered quite unreliable,” historian Michael Geschwinde said.
But “we must now look at the historical records in a new light,” said Henning Hassmann, another archeologist involved.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS