Also known for very good reason as the "Varian Disaster"

This is a good thumbnail of events:




A Timeline documentary on the subject:

"Quintili Vare, legiones reddel!"

Netflix has a fictional series based around this event. A German made production, speaking in German and the Roman soldiers speaking in Latin, drives home the cultural divide when these two groups came together. Everyone likes to point-out the three destroyed legions, what happened next was equally horrific, the genocide of the German tribes as Rome sought payback.

https://www.netflix.com/title/81024039

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Netflix has a fictional series based around this event. A German made production, speaking in German and the Roman soldiers speaking in Latin, drives home the cultural divide when these two groups came together. Everyone likes to point-out the three destroyed legions, what happened next was equally horrific, the genocide of the German tribes as Rome sought payback.

Damn, I may have to sign back up for Netflix to check this out, it looks great.

Para’s clip above mentions the fear of the Germanic tribes of the Roman retribution over this, it sounds like they even returned the head of some prominent Roman leader, as a sort of peace offering.

Most Roman soldiers did not speak Latin, though, did they? It was my understanding that they either spoke Greek or their native tongue.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Most Roman soldiers did not speak Latin, though, did they? It was my understanding that they either spoke Greek or their native tongue.

A lot of that depends on when, maybe more so than even where you're talking about as "Rome." Later on from this, as what we think of as Rome - the western half of the empire - crumbled and the eastern half, which contained modern day Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, largely referred to as Byzantium continued on, yes, Greek was widely spoken. But so were all of the ancient tongues of those places. Surely you've heard somewhere that Roman soldiers spoke Greek and that became unbound from the qualifiers that were probably attached to it, perhaps along the lines of "In eastern Rome, it was likely as common or moreso to hear Greek being spoken as it was Latin."

But no, in all official capacities, including militarily, Latin was the official language.

Teutoberg changed the Romans. A little sideline about the aftermath of the battle of Teutoburg Forest: Birthed in the retaliation carried out by Germanicus was his son, Gaius Germanicus, who was present in the camps during those campaigns. He was given child-sized dress of the legions to wear, including caligi, or the hobnail sandals they wore. His nickname from this, Caligula, roughly translates to "Bootykins." What happened to his family was horrible and violent, and what he saw as a child in Germany was likely also. It surely shaped him as a young ruler. That we know of him by this mocking name that followed him around not only through his life but for millenia afterward says perhaps more about how he was seen by his subjects than it does about him. He'd likely be embarrassed and ashamed to know that's how he is remembered.

I’ll admit to being ignorant of this battle in history. I’m plebeian enough that the first thing I thought of was the opening battle in Gladiator. Good to learn however, that it was also an historic event, albeit about 170 years later.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Netflix has a fictional series based around this event. A German made production, speaking in German and the Roman soldiers speaking in Latin, drives home the cultural divide when these two groups came together. Everyone likes to point-out the three destroyed legions, what happened next was equally horrific, the genocide of the German tribes as Rome sought payback.

Damn, I may have to sign back up for Netflix to check this out, it looks great.

Para’s clip above mentions the fear of the Germanic tribes of the Roman retribution over this, it sounds like they even returned the head of some prominent Roman leader, as a sort of peace offering.

Most Roman soldiers did not speak Latin, though, did they? It was my understanding that they either spoke Greek or their native tongue.

Latin was the official language for both the Republic and Imperial period, legionaries were recruited from all provinces so they may speak Greek, Hebrew, Egyptian, Aramaic, German, etc but, Latin was the must learn. Besides the Hellenic regions, Greek was only spoken by scholars and the educated. One of the under-rated aspects of Ancient Rome, was they integrated people from all parts of the regions they conquered, so long as taxes were paid, and Roman gods were acknowledged (not necessarily worshiped), people of various backgrounds could exist, do business within and gain citizenship.

Season-2 of Barbarian I've got an uneasy feeling. What happened after Teutoburg forest was an absolute extermination by Rome; Germanicus was sent with a third of the Roman army (8+ legions) with orders from Emperor Augustus to annihilate the German tribes and recover the lost eagles. Basically they're gonna have to show genocide, ancient style, and the trailers look to be showing a bit too much 'representation' casting.

The series has some soap opera stuff in it but it is worth the watch.

The part of this battle that amazes me is that the Romans held together for 3 days. That is some outstanding discipline in the face of the nightmare scenario in which they found themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Netflix has a fictional series based around this event. A German made production, speaking in German and the Roman soldiers speaking in Latin, drives home the cultural divide when these two groups came together. Everyone likes to point-out the three destroyed legions, what happened next was equally horrific, the genocide of the German tribes as Rome sought payback.

Damn, I may have to sign back up for Netflix to check this out, it looks great.

Para’s clip above mentions the fear of the Germanic tribes of the Roman retribution over this, it sounds like they even returned the head of some prominent Roman leader, as a sort of peace offering.

Most Roman soldiers did not speak Latin, though, did they? It was my understanding that they either spoke Greek or their native tongue.

Interesting part of history I was unaware of. Thanks for enlightening me.

quote:

Originally posted by daikyu:
The part of this battle that amazes me is that the Romans held together for 3 days. That is some outstanding discipline in the face of the nightmare scenario in which they found themselves.

It's what they were known for. That, and just never giving up.