Teutoburg Forest

Like the British looking back to Boudicca, or the Jews looking back to Masada, or the Scots looking back to Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Or the ancient Germanic leader Arminius and his victory over the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest way back in ancient times.

German nationalists turned Arminius into Hermann, a national symbol.

Arminius didn't see himself as German.

So we officially also declare you good cunts and honorary Australians, and you would be uncomfortably shocked at the love the Wahs are getting over here.

And yes, our Dads Army's going to emulsify you this year in the cricket, like Arminius luring the Romans into hell at Teutoburg Forest.

Till next.

Remember him when you look at the night sky.

[whimpers] No. No.

My husband died in the Teutoburg Forest.

[whimpers] I mourned him.

Helvia, look at me.

Having ended the Pannonian Wars, Tiberius was granted a triumph at Rome.

But on his return to the city, he delayed the celebration when news of the massacre of three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest in central Germania by a massive alliance of Germanic tribesmen reached the city.

It had transpired that the project to extend the northern border to the River Elbe had been too ambitious, and the Romans now pulled back to the River Rhine.

Tiberius left to oversee these maneuvers.

His aim was to split the main tribes of central Germania, such as the Cherusci and Chatti, from one another.

Germanicus moved first against the Chatti with the legions of the Upper Rhine, routing them from their lands, and when he refused to grant a peace, the tribe split, with some joining him while others melted away into the forests of the parts of Germania beyond the Roman border.

In the months that followed, further campaigning occurred as Arminius, the German warlord who had orchestrated the defeat of three Roman legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest back in 9 AD, materialized as the primary antagonist to Germanicus.

Arminius roused both his own followers and the neighboring tribes against the Romans.

In a way, I suppose.

No, my husband died in the Teutoburg forest.

I mourned him.

Elvia, look at me.

But the whole time, he was waiting for his revenge.

And if you get a chance, look up the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, where basically this kid, Aramis, the Romans called him Aramis, the Germans would have called him Hermann, led the Romans into a huge ambush, and it was the worst defeat the Romans ever suffered at that point in their history.

Legions disappeared, were written out of the books, and they never came back.

I believe it was the 19th and 20th legions, but don't quote me.

Sabine can tell us.

if he's still a point of historical contact.

Now, they're not entirely sure where the Teutoburg Forest Battle was, but there's always people looking for exactly where it happened because there are piles of stuff that we can analyze and look at.

Every once in a while they find stuff, like the Germans clearly played with the bodies for a very, very long time.

Now this isn't the first time this has happened.

If you listened to our episode on the Teutoburg Forest, we also learned that there an eagle standard was captured following their defeat.

So the standard basically displayed what we call the Aquila, the prominent symbol of an eagle used in ancient Rome.

And each legion would carry one eagle and it almost had like a religious significance to Roman soldiers.