The Cimbrian War: Germanic Tribes Threaten Rome
The Cimbri and Teutones moved into Roman territory in 113 BC and destroyed four Roman armies before Marius stopped them. They came from Jutland — the archaeology and the ancient accounts agree on a northern origin, and rising sea levels or flooding are the traditional explanation — and were moving as whole peoples with families and wagons rather than as raiding armies. They asked for land to settle on, repeatedly, and were refused each time. The consul Papirius Carbo attacked them at Noreia in 113 BC after promising them safe conduct, and lost his army. Silanus lost another in 109. Longinus lost a third in 107, and his surviving troops were made to pass under the yoke. Arausio in 105 BC was the worst. Two Roman armies faced them on opposite banks of the Rhône, separately, because Quintus Servilius Caepio would not serve alongside a consul who was a new man. Both were destroyed on the same day, with losses on the scale of Cannae. The panic in Rome was such that the ancient religious prohibition on human sacrifice was set aside and two Gauls and two Greeks were buried alive. The Cimbri then went to Spain rather than Italy, which is the only reason Rome survived it. Marius was elected consul five years running against every precedent, abolished the property qualification for service, and rebuilt the army as a professional force. He destroyed the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC and the Cimbri at Vercellae in 101. The reforms he made to win it created armies loyal to their commanders, which destroyed the republic within two generations.
- Year: 113 BCE
- Category: Military
