From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Germanicus Caesar
(24 May 15
BC
? 10 October 19
AD
) was a
Roman
general
. He was the son of the general
Nero Claudius Drusus
, and nephew of Emperor
Tiberius
.
Germanicus commanded the Roman forces in their campaign of 14/16 AD against the
Germanic tribes
. Three whole
Roman legions
had been wiped out in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
in 9 AD. It was the greatest disaster in Roman military history.
Plans for the revenge were started by the Emperor
Augustus
, and put into effect by his successor
Tiberius
. Germanicus had command of eight legions, one-third of the Roman Army. He destroyed the opposing German tribes, and recovered two of the three symbolic
legionary
eagles which had been lost. He was called back by Tiberius after he crossed the
Rhine
. The reasons for the recall are not agreed, but Augustus had set the Rhine as the limit of Rome's ambitions in Germany.
Germanicus was given an official triumph. A contemporary
calendar
gives 26 May as the day in which "Germanicus Caesar was borne into the city in triumph". Coins issued under his son Gaius (
Caligula
) depicted him on a triumphal chariot, with the reverse reading "Standards Recovered. Germans Defeated".
[1]
In AD 18 he was given charge of the eastern part of the empire and fought in Asia and Egypt. Germanicus died in
Syria
of unknown causes.
- ↑
Beard, Mary 2007.
The Roman Triumph
. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
ISBN 978-0-674-02613-1
pp=107?109