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| Arminius: An ostensible Roman? |
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| The events that occurred in this year brought the Germanic tribes and some Germanic individuals into the light of history. For the first time the historians in antiquity treated some of the Germanic leaders as strong individual personalities. Now, the Cherusker tribe had settled in the area of the Teutoburg Forest and Weser River as far as the Harz. The tribe, whose name means “deer people,” kept out of the way of the Romans for a considerable period of time. Due to their reputation, Tiberius chose to enter into a contract that allied the Cherusker tribe to the forces that would campaign into Germanic territories. The most distinguished leaders of the tribe were obviously satisfied with this decision since the titular leader, Sigimer, had two of his sons placed into the service of the Romans. They were so thoroughly integrated that only the Latin names of the two boys have come down to us: Flavus and Arminius. Both had fought in the Roman army as officers. Arminius had proved himself both loyal and brave at the Pannonian uprising and he may even have acted as prefect over the Cherusker auxiliary troops. He thus felt comfortable in the Roman world, certainly within the province, perhaps even in Rome. He was fluent in the Latin language. He would have cut a good figure even among the Romans, had he but possessed Roman citizenship and the rank of equestrian. Nevertheless, Arminius also showed his roots as a barbarian; he kidnapped Thusnelda, daughter of the chieftain Segestes and took her as his wife. This deeply offended tribal custom and won Arminius the mortal enmity of his father-in-law. |
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