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The Cimbri and Teutones were Germanic peoples who – probably from Jutland – set out south around 113 BC with women, children and cattle. Not a war expedition but a migration: an entire people searching for new land.
Again and again they beat Roman armies. The low point for Rome was the battle of Arausio in 105 BC – one of the heaviest defeats in Roman history, in which two armies were destroyed at once. In Rome the "terror cimbricus", the Cimbrian terror, was born.
The general Marius reformed the army and finally brought the migrants to battle: the Teutones were destroyed at Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC, the Cimbri at Vercellae in 101 BC. The great trek ended – but the memory of the people from the north stayed burned deep into Rome.
"A small people now, but the glory is immense."after Tacitus, Germania 37, on the Cimbri (public domain, own translation)
The Cimbri and Teutones are the first great clash of north and south – long before the Vikings. Continue with the Rugii and Heruli.
The Chauci · The Suebi · The Cherusci & Arminius · The Rugii · The Heruli.
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