![Die Frauen der Teutonen verteidigen die Wagenburg by Heinrich Leutemann](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Die_Frauen_der_Teutonen_verteidigen_die_Wagenburg_by_Heinrich_Leutemann.jpg)
The Teutons ( la, Teutones, , grc, Τεύτονες) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the
Cimbri
The Cimbri (Greek Κίμβροι, ''Kímbroi''; Latin ''Cimbri'') were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic people (or Gaulish), Germanic people, or even Cimmerian. Several ancient sources indicate that ...
and other groups, in the
Cimbrian War
The Cimbrian or Cimbric War (113–101 BC) was fought between the Roman Republic and the Germanic and Celtic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons, Ambrones and Tigurini, who migrated from the Jutland peninsula into Roman controlled territory ...
with the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
in the late second century BC.
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
described them as a
Germanic people
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
, a term he applied to all northern peoples located east of the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
, and later Roman authors followed him. On one hand, there is no direct evidence that they spoke a
Germanic language
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, E ...
, and evidence such as their name, and the names of their rulers, indicates at least a strong influence from
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages ( usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edwar ...
. On the other hand the indications that classical authors gave about the homeland of the Teutones is considered by many scholars to show that they lived in an area associated with early Germanic languages, and not Celtic languages.
Name
The
ethnonym is attested in Latin as ''Teutonēs'' or ''Teutoni'' (plural) or, more rarely, as ''Teuton'' or ''Teutonus'' (singular).
It transparently derives from the
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
(PIE) stem *''teuteh₂-'' ('people, tribe, crowd') attached to the suffix ''-ones'', which is commonly found in both Celtic (Lingones, Senones, etc.) and Germanic (Ingvaeones, Semnones, etc.) tribal names in the Roman era. The stem apparently had a lower-class connotation, as opposed to an elite group or a ruling class, and its original meaning in PIE times may have been 'the people under arms', as suggested by the
Hittite ''tuzzi''- and the
Luwian
The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fam ...
''tuta'' ('army').
Thus, the name ''Teutones'' may be interpreted as deriving from
Proto-Celtic
Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celti ...
*''towtā'' ('people, tribe'), or it may have been from a stage of Germanic language development prior to the
first consonantal shift ("pre-Germanic") (compare the later form *''þeudō''- 'nation, people, folk'; cf.
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
''þiuda''). A possible corruption of the original name by Greek and Latin writers makes the attribution less secure.
The much later use of ''Teuton'' to refer to speakers of
West Germanic
The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...
languages occurred in the Latin of monastic writers by the ninth century, and has continued into modern times. It originally served as a learned classical Latin word to be used instead of the similar sounding "
theodiscus
' (in Medieval Latin, corresponding to Old English þēodisc, Old High German diutisc and other early Germanic reflexes of Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz, meaning "popular" or "of the people") was a term used in the early Middle Ages to refer to t ...
", an older term that was a Latinization of the then-current pronunciations of the West Germanic word for "of the people".
In modern English, "Teuton" often has been used in a still broader way to mean the same as "Germanic".
Linguistic affiliations
The Teutons commonly are classified as a
Germanic tribe
This list of ancient Germanic peoples is an inventory of ancient Germanic cultures, tribal groupings and other alliances of Germanic tribes and civilisations in ancient times. The information comes from various ancient historical documents, beginn ...
and thought probably to have spoken a Germanic language, although the evidence is fragmentary. However, because of the non-Germanic, possibly Celtic, form of the names of both the Teutones and their associates the Cimbri, as well as the personal names known from these tribes, some historians have suggested a
Celtic origin for the Teutones.
The earliest classical writers classified the Teutones as
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
, but more generally they did not distinguish between Celtic and Germanic peoples. Apparently, this distinction was first made by Julius Caesar, whose main concern was to argue that raids into southern Gaul and Italy by northern peoples who are less softened by Mediterranean civilization, should be seen in Rome as a systematic problem that can repeat in the future, and demands pre-emptive military action. This was his justification for invading northern Gaul.
After Caesar,
Strabo (died about AD 24) and
Marcus Velleius Paterculus
Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; c. 19 BC – c. AD 31) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the per ...
(died about AD 31) classify them as
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...
. Pliny also classified them this way and specified that they were among the
Ingaevones
The Ingaevones were a West Germanic cultural group living in the Northern Germania along the North Sea coast in the areas of Jutland, Holstein, and Frisia in classical antiquity. Tribes in this area included the Angles, Frisii, Chauci, S ...
, related to the Cimbri and
Chauci
The Chauci (german: Chauken, and identical or similar in other regional modern languages) were an ancient Germanic tribe living in the low-lying region between the Rivers Ems and Elbe, on both sides of the Weser and ranging as far inland as the ...
.
Homeland
The fourth century BC traveller,
Pytheas, as reported by
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
(died AD 79), described the Teutones as neighbours of the northern island of Abalus where amber washes up in the spring, which was traded from these Teutones. Abalus is one day's sail from a tidal marsh or estuary facing the ocean (an ''aestuarium'') called ''Metuonis'' where the Germanic "Guiones" (probably an error for
Inguaeones,
Gutones
The Gutones (also spelled Guthones, Gotones etc) were a Germanic people who were reported by Roman era writers in the 1st and 2nd centuries to have lived in what is now Poland. The most accurate description of their location, by the geographer Ptol ...
, or the Teutones themselves) lived.
Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45.
His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...
(died about AD 45) placed them on the largest island, Codannovia, presumed to be Scandinavia, which was one of a group of islands in a large bay called Codanus, open to the ocean. Traditionally, scholars interpret this bay as the
Baltic sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
.
:31. On the other side of the Albis
lbe LBE could refer to:
* The London Borough of Ealing
* The London Borough of Enfield
* Lead-bismuth eutectic
* Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
* Pratt-Read LBE
* Lübeck-Büchen Railway Company (german: Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn)
** LBE Nos. 1 to ...
the huge Codanus Bay
altic Seais filled with big and small islands. For this reason, where the sea is received within the fold of the bay, it never lies wide open and never really looks like a sea but is sprinkled around, rambling and scattered like rivers, with water flowing in every direction and crossing many times. Where the sea comes into contact with the mainland, the sea is contained by the banks of islands, banks that are not far offshore and that are virtually equidistant everywhere. There the sea runs a narrow course like a strait, then, curving, it promptly adapts to a long brow of land. 32. On the bay are the Cimbri and the Teutoni; farther on, the farthest people of Germany, the
Hermiones
The Irminones, also referred to as Herminones or Hermiones ( grc, Ἑρμίονες), were a large group of early Germanic tribes settling in the Elbe watershed and by the first century AD expanding into Bavaria, Swabia and Bohemia. Notably this ...
.
:
..:54. The thirty Orcades
rkney Islandsare separated by narrow spaces between them; the seven Haemodae
enmarkextend opposite Germany in what we have called Codanus Bay; of the islands there, Scandinavia
ic: the manuscript has ''Codannavia'' which the Teutoni still hold, stands out as much for its size as for its fertility besides.
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
in his biography of Marius, who fought the Teutones, wrote that they and Cimbri "had not had intercourse with other peoples, and had traversed a great stretch of country, so that it could not be ascertained what people it was nor whence they had set out". He reported that there were different conjectures: that they were "some of the German peoples which extended as far as the northern ocean"; that they were "Galloscythians", a mixture of
Scythians
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...
and Celts who had lived as far east as the Black Sea, or that the Cimbri were
Cimmerians
The Cimmerians (Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into Wes ...
, from even farther east.
Surviving texts based on the work of the geographer
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
mentioned both Teutones and "''Teutonoaroi''" in
Germania, but this is in a part of his text that has become garbled in surviving copies. Gudmund Schütte proposed that the two peoples should be understood as one, but that different versions of works based on that of Ptolemy used literary sources such as Pliny and Mela to place them in different positions somewhere near the Cimbri, in a part of the landscape they did not have good information for - either in Zealand or Scandinavia, or else somewhere on the southern Baltic coast.
The name of the district of
Thy in
Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
has been connected to the name of the Teutons, a proposal in line with ancient reports that they came from that area.
Cimbrian War
After achieving decisive victories over the Romans at
Noreia
Noreia is an ancient lost city in the Eastern Alps, most likely in southern Austria. While according to Julius Caesar it is known to have been the capital of the Celtic kingdom of Noricum, it was already referred to as a lost city by Pliny the ...
and
Arausio
Orange (; Provençal: ''Aurenja'' or ''Aurenjo'' ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is about north of Avignon, on the departmental border with Gard, which follows th ...
in 105 BC, the Cimbri and Teutones divided their forces.
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...
then defeated them separately in 102 BC and 101 BC respectively, ending the
Cimbrian War
The Cimbrian or Cimbric War (113–101 BC) was fought between the Roman Republic and the Germanic and Celtic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons, Ambrones and Tigurini, who migrated from the Jutland peninsula into Roman controlled territory ...
. The defeat of the Teutones occurred at the
Battle of Aquae Sextiae (near present-day
Aix-en-Provence).
According to the writings of
Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX'' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' ...
and
Florus, the king of the Teutones, Teutobod, was taken in irons after the Teutones were defeated by the Romans. Under the conditions of the surrender, three hundred married women were to be handed over to the victorious Romans as
concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubi ...
s and
slaves. When the
matron
Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies.
Etymology
The chief nurse, in other words the person ...
s of the Teutones heard of this stipulation, they begged the consul that they might instead be allowed to minister in the temples of
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
and
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
. When their request was denied, the Teutonic women slew their own children. The next morning, all the women were found dead in each other's arms, having strangled each other during the night. Their joint martyrdom passed into Roman legends of
Teutonic fury.
[ Lucius Annaeus Florus, Epitome 1.38.16–17 and Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium 6.1.ext.3]
Reportedly, some surviving captives participated as the rebelling
gladiators in the
Third Servile War
The Third Servile War, also called the Gladiator War and the War of Spartacus by Plutarch, was the last in a series of slave rebellions against the Roman Republic known as the Servile Wars. This third rebellion was the only one that directly ...
of 73-71 BC.
See also
*
Furor Teutonicus
{{refimprove, date=September 2014
''Furor Teutonicus'' ("Teutonic Fury") is a Latin phrase referring to the proverbial ferocity of the Teutons, or more generally, of the Germanic tribes of the Roman Empire period.
Generally, the original expres ...
References
* Fick, August, Alf Torp and Hjalmar Falk: ''Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Indogermanischen Sprachen''. Part 3, Wortschatz der Germanischen Spracheinheit. 4. Aufl. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht), 1909.
Attribution:
*
External links
*
{{Germanic peoples
Pre-Roman Iron Age
Cimbrian War
Ingaevones