Sources on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

1. Velleius Paterculus (20 BC – AD 30)

He presumably was descended from the equestrian order in Campania, possibly from the city of Capua. Under the commander P. Vinicius he was a military tribune in Thrace and Macedonia. He then accompanied the son of Augustus, Gaius Caesar, to the eastern provinces. Following the early death of Gaius, he became commander of the cavalry under Tiberius, moved with the latter to Germania, and in AD 15 became praetor. 

He wrote his Historia Romana in AD 29-30. It contains an abridged Roman history down to the principate of Tiberius.

1.1 Velleius Paterculus on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

2. Publius Cornelius Tacitus (AD 55-120?)

Little is known of him that is precise since he himself gives only a sparing account of his own life.

He was descended from an equestrian family in Gallia Narbonensis or Gallia Cisalpina. Tacitus was educated by M. Aper and Iulius Secundus in Rome to be an orator and a jurist. Already at an young age, he was a court speaker and a teacher of rhetoric.

In AD 77 he married the daughter of the consul Iulius Agricola; in 88 he was praetor; and in about 90 he left Rome and occupied higher offices in the provinces. When he became consul in 97, he began his writing career. In Agricola, which he wrote in 98, he erects a memorial to his father-in-law. The Germania were also written in the same year. In the Annals, which have not been preserved in their entirety, he describes the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero.

His second large historical work are the Histories, which were probably written between AD 105 and 110. He seems to have been Proconsul of the Province of Asia during 112-113.

The precise year of his death is not known; he died in about AD 120.

Stylistically his works are excellent, though not always “sine ira et studio,” as he himself noted.

2.1 Publius Cornelius Tactitus on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

3. Lucius Annaeus Florus

Regrettably, extremely little is known of the author about the Epitome of Roman History. He was born in Africa and as a boy took part in the Capitolinian Games put on by Domitian (81-96). He must have then traveled for a while before beginning his career as a writer in Tarraco, Spain. During the principate of Hadrian (117-138) he seems to have been in Rome. Presumably, he was related to Seneca, Lucian, and Pomponius Mela.

He wrote the Epitome in the second half of the principate of Hadrian; they describe Roman history from the founding of the city to the time of Emperor Augustus. His source and his model seems to have been Livius. The work was obviously a panegyric to the Roman people, for in all the events the Romans are portrayed better than they were in reality. The author abstains from all political valuations; however, he did side with Caesar in the civil war against Pompeius.

Although the work is often imprecise in detail and contains some chronological and geographical errors, it nevertheless provides a good survey of the whole of Roman history.

3.1 Lucius Anneus Florus on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

4. Cassius Dio Cocceianus (AD 164-230?)

Lucius Cassius Dio was both a Greek and a Roman, for his family came from Nicaea, one of the two largest cities in the Province of Bithynia. Thus he was shaped by the Greek language and culture, but he followed his father to Rome and, like him, pursued a career in the Senate. 

In AD 194 he was praetor in Rome; he writes as an eyewitness about Commodus (180-192) and the Senate in the first person plural, thus as a member of the Senate. Under Septimius Severus (193-211) he was consul in 204, and before and thereafter probably a governor in an eastern province. Under the latter’s successor, Caracalla, he stayed in Nicomedia in Bithynia and under Elabagal he was the curator of the cities of Pergamon and Smyrna. 

In AD 223 he was Proconsul of Africa and, under Severus Alexander (222-235) became a consul for the second time (229). However, since the Praetorians were against him in Rome, Alexander permitted him to return to Bithynia, where he apparently died, though when precisely is not known.

By Dio’s own testimony, he collected material for ten years after the reign of Severus and then wrote his Roman History in AD 211-212.

(Note: For the Greek characters to be displayed, you must have the shareware font SGreek from Silvermountain http://www.silvermnt.com/fonts.html installed in your system.)

4.1 Cassius Dio on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

5. The Literary Sources in Comparison

1. We do not have information about the “clades Variana” from participants or eyewitnesses, but rather from authors who report about it long after the fact: Velleius Paterculus, Tacitus, Florus, and Cassius Dio.

2. The literary sources do not give precise information about the geographical location of the event; the course of the battle is portrayed only by Cassius Dio.

3. With the exception of Velleius Paterculus, each of the authors writes from a distance of at least 90 years after the event.

4. The compilation of the four authors’ accounts reveal several points of agreement and disagreement:

a) The country between the Ems, Weser, and Elbe Rivers was settled by Germanic tribes; the Romans did not know enough about the conditions in which the tribes lived.

b) The main tribes that took part in the defeat of Varus remain undifferentiated; in essence, all the reports refer to the Cheruscans. Their size also goes unmentioned, but on the Roman side there were three legions, three cavalry squadrons, and six cohorts (Vell. II, 117, 1; Tac. Ann. I, 62; Flor. II, 30, 34). Of these, only the Legion XIX is explicitly mentioned when its eagle is found again (Tac. Ann. I, 60, 3); when another eagle is discovered among the Marsi (Tac. Ann. II, 25) and later in AD 42 among the Chauki (though not without controversy) (Cass. Dio 60,8,7), the numbers of the legions are not named. Legion XVIII, however, is mentioned on the famous Caelius-tombstone in connection with the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

c) Among the Germanic tribal princes there were pro-Roman (Segestes) and anti-Roman (Arminius, Segimerus) princes (Vell. II, 118, 2 and 4; Flor. II, 30, 32, 33; Cass. Dio 56, 19,2; Tac. ann. 58,2).

d) All the authors refer to the unfavorable terrain, the wooded and marshy areas (Vell. II, 119, 2; Flor. II, 30, 36; Tac. ann. II, 61), as well as to the inhospitable climate, the rain and the cold (Cass. Dio 56, 20, 3).

e) The main cause of the uprising of the Germanic tribes in AD 9 was their discontentment about how they were being treated by the Romans and especially by Varus: the payments of tribute that were felt to be unjust and the introduction of Roman jurisdiction (Flor. II, 30, 31; Vell. II, 118; Cass. Dio 56, 18, 3).

f) The authors agree in emphasizing the incompetence (guilt) of Varus (Vell. II, 118, 2; Flor. II, 30, 32, 33; Cass. Dio 56, 19, 1, 3, and 4), but also that Fortuna was hostile to him.

g) The skilled exploitation of topographic conditions (forest, mountains, and bad paths) by Arminius is considered to be treachery and treason (Vell. II, 119, 2; Flor. II, 30, 36; Cass. Dio 56, 20, 4).

h) The “clades Variana” is felt by the Romans to be just as humiliating as the “clades Lolliana” and the Battle of Cannae (Vell. II, 119, 1; Flor. II, 30, 35, and 39).

The Tombstone of M. Caelius
(the sole epigraphic reference to
the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest)
Index