Everything about The Cimbri totally explained
The
Cimbri were a
Celtic or
Germanic tribe who together with the
Teutones and the
Ambrones threatened the
Roman Republic in the late
2nd century BC. The ancient sources located their home of origin in
Jutland, which was referred to as the Cimbrian peninsula throughout antiquity (Greek: Χερσόνησος Κιμβρική /
Kimbrikē chersonēsos).
Homeland and name
Archaeologists have not found any clear indications of a mass migration from
Jutland in the early Iron Age. The
Gundestrup Cauldron, which was deposited in a bog in
Himmerland in the 2nd or 1st cent. BC, shows that there was some sort of contact with South Eastern Europe, but it's uncertain if this contact can be associated with the Cimbrian expedition.
Advocates for a northern homeland point to Greek and Roman sources that associate the Cimbri with the peninsula of
Jutland. According to the
Res gestae (ch. 26) of
Augustus, the Cimbri were still found in the area around the turn of the Common Era:
Strabo testifies that the Cimbri still existed as a Germanic tribe, presumably in the "Cimbric peninsula" (since they're said to live by the North Sea and to have paid tribute to Augustus):
Ptolemy, the "Kimbroi" are placed on the northernmost part of the peninsula of Jutland., for example in the modern landscape of
Himmerland south of
Limfjorden (since
Vendsyssel-Thy north of the fjord was at that time a group of islands).
Himmerland (Old Danish
Himbersysel) is generally thought to preserve their name, in an older form without
Grimm's law (
PIE k >
Germ. h). Alternatively, Latin
C- represents an attempt to render the unfamiliar Proto-Germanic
h = [χ], perhaps due to Celtic-speaking interpreters (a Celtic intermediary would also explain why Germanic *
Þeuðanōz became Latin
Teutones).
The origin of the name
Cimbri is unknown. One etymology is PIE "inhabitant", from "home" (> Eng.
home), itself a derivation from "live" (> Greek κτίζω, Latin
sinō); then, the Germanic *
χimbra- finds an exact cognate in Slavic
sębrъ "farmer" (> Croatian, Serbian
sebar, Russ.
sjabër).
Because of the similarity of the names, the Cimbri are often associated with
Cymry, the Welsh name for themselves. However, this word is generally derived from Celtic *
Kombroges, meaning
compatriots, and it's hardly conceivable that the Romans would have recorded such a form as
Cimbri. The name has also been related to the word
kimme meaning "rim", for example the people of the coast, but this is incompatible with the association of
Cimbri to
Himmerland since
kimme doesn't exhibit the effects of
Grimm's law. Finally, since Antiquity, the name has been related to that of the
Cimmerians.
Language of the Cimbri
A major problem in determining whether the Cimbri were speaking a
Celtic or a
Germanic language is that at this time the Greeks and Romans tended to refer to all groups to the north of their sphere of influence as Gauls, Celts, or Germani rather indiscriminately. Caesar seems to be one of the first authors to distinguish the two groups, and he's a political motive for doing that (it is an argument in favour of the Rhine border). Yet, one can't always trust Caesar and Tacitus when they ascribe individuals and tribes to one or the other category. Most ancient sources categorize the Cimbri as a Germanic tribe, but some ancient authors include the Cimbri among the Celts.
There are few direct testimonies to the language of the Cimbri: Referring to the Northern Ocean (the
Baltic or the
North Sea),
Pliny the Elder states: "Philemon says that it's called Morimarusa, for example the Dead Sea, by the Cimbri, until the promontory of Rubea, and after that Cronium." The words for "sea" and "dead" are
muir and
marbh in Irish and
mor and
marw in Welsh. The same word for "sea" is also known from Germanic, but with an
a (*
mari-), whereas a cognate of
marbh is unknown in all dialects of Germanic. Yet, given that Pliny hadn't had the word directly from a Cimbric informant, it can't be ruled out that the word is in fact Gaulish instead.
Similarly, the kings of the Cimbri and Teutones carry what look like Celtic names, viz. Boiorix and Teutobodus, but the origin of a name need not say anything about the ethnicity or language of the individual carrying the name. On the other hand, there's no positive evidence of Germanic words or names in connection with the Cimbri. The etymology given above (PIE ) would work just as well in a Celtic context (and the Latin form with
c rather than
h would be easier to explain). Other evidence to the language of the Cimbri is circumstantial: thus, we're told that the Romans enlisted Gaulish Celts to act as spies in the Cimbri camp prior to the final showdown with the Roman army in 101 BC. This is evidence in support of "the Celtic rather than the German theory".
Jean Markale wrote that the Cimbri were associated with the
Helvetii, and more especially with the indisputably Celtic
Tiguri. As will be seen later, these associations may link to a common ancestry, recalled from two hundred years previous. Also, all the known Cimbri chiefs had Celtic names, including Boiorix (King of the Boii), Gaesorix (King of the Gaesatae, who were Alpine Celtic mercenaries), and Lugius (after the Celtic god Lugh). Henri Hubert states "All these names are Celtic, and they can't be anything else". Some authors take a different perspective. For example, Peter S. Wells states that the Cimbri "are certainly not Celts", without providing argumentation.
The journey
Moving south-east
Some time before 100 BC many of the Cimbri, as well as the
Teutones and
Ambrones migrated south-east. After several battles with the
Boii and other
Celtic tribes, they appeared ca 113 BC in
Noricum, where they invaded the lands of one of Rome's allies, the
Taurisci.
On the request of the Roman
consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, sent to defend the Taurisci, they retreated, only to find themselves deceived and attacked at the
Battle of Noreia, where they defeated the Romans. Only a storm, which separated the combatants, saved the Roman forces from complete annihilation.
Invading Gaul
Now the road to Italy was open, but they turned west towards
Gaul. They came into frequent conflict with the
Romans, who usually came out the losers. In
109 BC, they defeated a Roman army under the consul
Marcus Junius Silanus, who was the commander of
Gallia Narbonensis. The same year, they defeated another Roman army under the consul
Gaius Cassius Longinus, who was killed at Burdigala (modern day
Bordeaux). In
107 BC, the Romans once again lost against the
Tigurines, who were allies of the Cimbri.
The war against the Romans
Attacking the Roman Republic
It wasn't until 105 BC that they planned an attack on the Roman Republic itself. At the
Rhône, the Cimbri clashed with the Roman armies. The Roman commanders, the proconsul
Quintus Servilius Caepio and the consul
Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, hindered Roman coordination and so the Cimbri succeeded in first defeating the legate
Marcus Aurelius Scaurus and later cause a devastating defeat on Caepio and Maximus at the
Battle of Arausio. The Romans lost as many as 80,000 men, excluding auxiliary cavalry and non-combatants who brought the total loss closer to 112,000.
Rome was in panic, and the
terror cimbricus became proverbial. Everyone expected to soon see the
new Gauls outside of the gates of Rome. Desperate measures were taken: contrary to the Roman constitution,
Gaius Marius, who had defeated
Jugurtha, was elected consul and supreme commander for five years in a row (104-100 BC).
Defeat
In 103 BC, the Cimbri and their proto-Germanic allies, the
Teutons, had turned to Spain where they pillaged far and wide. During this time C. Marius had the time to prepare and, in 102 BC, he was ready to meet the Teutons and the Ambrones at the Rhône. These two tribes intended to pass into Italy through the western passes, while the Cimbri and the Tigurines were to take the northern route across the
Rhine and later across the
Tyrolian
Alps.
At the estuary of the
Isère River, the Teutons and the Ambrones met Marius, whose well-defended camp they didn't manage to overrun. Instead, they pursued their route, and Marius followed them. At
Aquae Sextiae, the Romans won two battles and took the Teuton king
Teutobod prisoner.
The Cimbri had penetrated through the Alps into northern Italy, The consul
Quintus Lutatius Catulus hadn't dared to fortify the passes, but instead he'd retreated behind the
River Po, and so the land was open to the invaders. The Cimbri didn't hurry, and the victors of Aquae Sextiae had the time to arrive with reinforcements. At the
Battle of Vercellae, at the confluence of the
Sesia River with the
Po River, in 101 BC, the long voyage of the Cimbri also came to an end.
It was a devastating defeat and both the chieftains
Lugius and
Boiorix died. The women killed both themselves and their children in order to avoid slavery. The Cimbri were annihilated, although some may have survived to return to the homeland where a population with this name was residing in northern
Jutland in the
1st century AD, according to the sources quoted above.
Culture
Strabo gives this vivid description of the Cimbric folklore (
Geogr. 7.2.3, trans. H.L. Jones):
völva) sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood (cf. the Old Norse
blót), the nature of which allowed them to see what was to come.
If the Cimbri did in fact come from Jutland, evidence that the they practised ritualistic sacrifice may be found in the
Haraldskær Woman discovered in Jutland in the year 1835. Noosemarks and skin piercing were evident and she'd been thrown into a bog rather than buried or cremated. Furthermore, the
Gundestrup cauldron, found in Himmerland, may be a sacrificial vessel like the one described in Strabo's text. The work itself was of Thracian origin.
Descendants
According to
Caesar, the Belgian tribe of the Atuatuci "was descended from the Cimbri and Teutoni, who, upon their march into our province and Italy, set down such of their stock and stuff as they couldn't drive or carry with them on the near (
for example west) side of the Rhine, and left six thousand men of their company therewith as guard and garrison" (
Gall. 2.29, trans. Edwards). They founded the city of Atuatuca in the land of the
Belgic Eburones, whom they dominated. Thus
Ambiorix king of the Eburones paid tribute and gave his son and nephew as hostages to the Atuatuci (
Gall. 6.27). In the first century AD, the Eburones were replaced or absorbed by the Germanic
Tungri, and the city was known as Atuatuca Tungrorum, for example the modern city of
Tongeren.
The population of modern-day
Himmerland claims to be the heirs of the ancient Cimbri. The adventures of the Cimbri are described by the Danish nobel-prize-winning author,
Johannes V. Jensen, himself born in Himmerland, in the novel
Cimbrernes Tog (1922), included in the epic cycle
Den lange Rejse (English
The Long Journey, 1923). The so-called Cimbrian bull ("Cimbrertyren"), a sculpture by
Anders Bundgaard, was erected 14 April 1937 on a central town square in
Aalborg, the capital of the
region of North Jutland.
In northern Italy, a Germanic language traditionally called
Cimbrian is spoken in some villages near the cities of
Verona and
Vicenza. Since the fourteenth century, it was believed that the speakers were the direct descendants of the Cimbrians defeated at
Vercelli, some hundred kilometers to the west. However, this is most certainly not true. The "Cimbriano" language is in fact related to the
Austro-Bavarian dialects of
German like many other
Upper German dialects in northern Italy, it's only more isolated and therefore less recognizable as German. The name was either indigenous (from
Zimmer = "timber"?) or given to them by Italian humanists who wanted to find this "living fossil" of antiquity.
Further Information
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