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| KRIEG DER KELTEN |
Freitag, 30. 07. 2010 |
In 54 BCE, Caesar
quartered a legion and five cohortes (one and a half legions)
during the winter in the country of the Eburones,
under the command of his legates, Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta.
The Eburones, headed by their two kings, Ambiorix and Cativolcus, and evidently aided by their allies the Nervii, attacked the Roman camp;
and after inducing the Romans to leave their stronghold on the promise of a safe passage,
they massacred nearly all of them (approximately 6000 men). (B. G. v. 26-37.)
The legion also lost its standard.
A further attack on another camp held by Quintus Tullius Cicero, brother of the famous orator,
was thwarted by timely intervention of Labienus, one of Caesar's most trusted generals.
In the following year Caesar entered the country of the Eburones, and Ambiorix fled before him.
Cativolcus poisoned himself.
The country of the Eburones was difficult for the Romans, being woody and swampy in parts;
and Caesar invited the neighboring people to come and plunder the Eburones,
in order to save his own men, and, also, with the aid of great numbers, to exterminate the nation. (B. G. vi. 34).
The Sicambri were one of the main raiders. While Caesar was ravaging the country of the Eburones, he left Q. Tulius Cicero with a legion to protect the baggage and stores, at a place called Atuatuca, which he tells us in this passage had been the fatal quarters of Sabinus and Cotta, though he had not mentioned the name of the place before (v. 24).
He places Atuatuca about the middle of the territory of the Eburones; and there is good reason for supposing that the place is near D-Aachen.
Caesar burnt every village and building that he could find in the territory of the Eburones, drove off all the cattle, and his men and beasts consumed all the corn that the weather of the autumnal season did not destroy.
He left those who had hid themselves, if there were any, with the hope that they would all die of hunger in the winter.
And so it seems to have been, for we hear no more of the Eburones. Until now ...
 ©2010 | Atuatuca | Si non è vero, è ben trovato!
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