Two Thumbs Up for German series "Barbarian"

Finished watching the new German Netflix original series "Barbarian" last night and I give it a big two thumbs up! Excellent acting, stayed pretty close to historical events, and I was awestruck by scenes of how large a Roman encampment of three legions was (especially in comparison to the small local villages which I think was the point) and how fearsome the legions marching in formation must have appeared to the local tribesmen who referred to them as columns of steel.

I'm currently listening to book 4 of S.J.A. Turney's Marius' Mules series of novels about Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and at this point in the war (55 BCE) Caesar had eight legions with him not just the three Varus commanded, which still looked quite formidable in the German film. Caesar's encampment must have truly appeared as a metropolitan city in the middle of a near wilderness.

I also enjoyed watching the legions on the march realistically packing all of their kit on their backs with their centurions striding along in the front line and the tribunes and legates riding along beside each legion. It really made the images of Legate Fronto and his tenth legion described in Turney's novels come alive for me!

I'm also grateful supernatural elements, did not dominate the film as they did in "Britannia."  

Just one historical note - Arminius was a hostage raised in Rome, but not by Publius Quinctilius Varus as depicted in the film.  I can understand how this fictional relationship served a dramatic purpose, though, to emphasize Arminius' conflicted nature about betraying the people who had raised him from a child. He was drafted into the Roman military at an early age, during which he was granted Roman citizenship and became a Roman knight as accurately depicted in the film. After serving with distinction in the Great Illyrian Revolt, he was sent to Germania to aid the local governor, Varus, in completing the Roman conquest of the Germanic tribes.  In the aftermath of the battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Arminius fought retaliatory invasions by the Roman general Germanicus in the battles of Pontes Longi, Idistaviso, and the Angrivarian Wall, and deposed a rival, the Marcomanni king Maroboduus before eventually being assassinated by his own people in 21 BCE.  I assume these battles will be the focus of future seasons of the series.

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Headless Romans of Eboracum focus of new studies

Just in time for Halloween - I see that the Journal of Archaeological Science has released the results of a study of 80 headless Roman skeletons that were unearthed back in 2004 and 2005 in York - ancient Eboracum. In an effort to determine their place of origin through differences in their diet that had been transmitted to their bones, a team led by Gundula Müldner of the University of Reading in the U.K analyzed the skeletons for the presence of different elemental isotopes.

Roman Sarcophagus with Battle Scene Antonine
Period  2nd century CE Marble.  Photographed
at the  Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas.

"Based on the geology and climate of where a person grew up, their bones hold telltale traces of isotopes absorbed from the local food and water," Mülder explained.

Oxygen and strontium isotopes in the bones of the headless Romans indicate that just 5 of the 18 individuals tested came from the York area...The rest of the men came from elsewhere in England or mainland Europe, possibly from France, Germany, the Balkans, or the Mediterranean. Traces of carbon and nitrogen show that five of the headless Romans ate very different foods from York's local population. And two individuals had a carbon signature from a group of food plants—including sorghum, sugarcane, and maize—not known to have been cultivated in England at that time.

Although Mülder's team favored evidence that the men were probably Roman soldiers because Eboracum contained a large garrison and the skeletons bore evidence of contact with bladed weapons, other evidence suggests the men may have been gladiators.

Evidence for this notion includes some skeletons' unequal arm development—associated with the specialized use of single-handed weapons—and, on one skeleton, tooth marks from a large carnivore, possibly a gladiatorial lion or bear.

"If the carnivore bite mark is indeed genuine, then, why not, they may indeed have been gladiators," Müldner said. - More: National Geographic

However, if they were gladiators, I wonder why so many were decapitated? Even gladiators ritually killed in the arena were not usually decapitated. However, decapitation was a common practice by victorious Celts if you think about the evidence found by Germanicus and his troops sent to retrieve the remains of the legions massacred in the Teutoburg Forest. Celts also routinely kept and employed war dogs, quite large and capable of inflicting substantial tooth marks. As for the unequal arm development, veteran legionaries would probably exhibit the same physical trait from training and frequent use of their weapons.

A Good background series on the Roman Invasion of Britain: (Part 1 of 5 - other parts will appear in a list to the right of this clip on YouTube.)

Related articles

• More Decapitated Roman Remains (rogueclassicism.com)
• Hadrian's Wall child murder: estimated time of death pre-367AD (guardian.co.uk)

        

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3rd century Roman Battlefield uncovered in northern Germany

This is really exciting. Apparently, Rome didn't totally withdraw from Germania after the Teutoburg Forest disaster after all.

[Image -The battle in the Teutoburg Forest in 9AD, by H. Knackfuss, 1890. Norddeutsches Schulmuseum, Friesland (School Museum in Northern Germany), courtesy of the Museum and Park at Kalkriese]

"Archaeologists have found an ancient battlefield in Germany that indicates that the Roman Legions were still fighting Germanic tribes deep inside "barbarian" territory as late as the 3rd Century AD – 200 years later than hitherto believed.

The discovery comes as preparations are being made to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of the famous Battle of Teutoburg Forest in September 2009. In the battle, Germanic guerrilla fighters annihilated three elite Roman Legions, the XVIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth, in September of the year 9 AD.

...the new archaeological discovery, if verified, could mean that the history books must be rewritten, as the newly discovered 3rd Century battlefield is located 100 miles (160 kilometres) further east of the Teutoburg Forest.

..."The find can be dated to the 3rd Century and will definitely change the historical perception of that time," said Dr. Henning Hassmann, director of historic preservation in the state of Lower Saxony.

So far, 600 artefacts have been unearthed that are clearly of Roman 3rd Century origin and dating, says Michael Wickmann, an official in the town of Northeim, where the dig has been conducted over a period of months.

...Initial reports said that DNA fingerprinting evidence indicated that some of the arrows had been made of African wood, which was the preferred wood used in the manufacture of Roman arrows. However, Hassmann said he could not confirm those reports.

It is unknown whether that outpost predates the 9 AD battle of Teutoburg Forest or whether it might be a later tribal camp where Germanic warriors stocked up on Roman-made armaments smuggled or looted from imperial frontier garrisons.

I thought this little "hagiographic view" of Arminius' victory at Teutoburg was like a classical period "Triumph of the Will"

The Battle of Teutoburg Forest between
myth and reality: an hagiographic view

I think a little more objective explanation of the events surrounding the disaster are contained in the History Channel presentation, "Decisive Battles". I really liked this series that used the game engine from "Rome Total War" to recreate a number of important battles in the classical world. I bought the entire set on DVD. I think I would have preferred the "big picture" game images interspersed with reenactment closeups though. It would have given the presentation more of a human touch. If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!