Marcomanni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Suebi or Suevi.

Contemporary scholars believe their name derives from one of two possible sources: (1) old Germanic forms of March (frontier) and Men, or (2) the tribe has taken on the name of a Roman captain named Marcus Romanus who deserted the legions of Drusus during his German campaign in c. 13 BC, and is thought to have banded together a ragtag group of Germanic tribes into a cohesive fighting force (see POMOERIVM, vol.3, 1998).

Drusus attacked the Marcomanni in 9 BC, forcing them into what is now Bohemia. In that region, their king Maroboduus established a powerful kingdom that Augustus perceived as a threat to Rome. Before he could act on this, the war in Illyria intervened. Eventually, Maroboduus was deposed and exiled by Catualda (AD 19).

In the 2nd century AD, the Marcomanni entered into a confederation with other peoples including the Quadi, Vandals, and Sarmatians, against the Roman Empire. This was probably driven by movements of larger tribes, like the Goths. According to the historian Eutropius, the forces of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius battled against the Marcomannic confederation for three years at the fortress of Carnuntum in Pannonia. Eutropius compared the war, and Marcus Aurelius' success against the Marcomanni and their allies, to the Punic Wars. The comparison was apt in that this war marked a turning point and had significant Roman defeats; it caused the death of two Praetorian Guard commanders. The war began in 166 and lasted until Marcus Aurelius' death in 180. It would prove to be only a limited success for Rome; the Danube river remained as the frontier of the Empire for its duration.

The Christianisation of the Marcomanni occurred under their queen Fritigil (mid fifth century), who corresponded with Ambrose of Milan to bring about the conversion.

There is a runic alphabet called the Marcommanic runes, but they are not believed to be related to the Marcommanic people.

[edit] Trivia

In the 2000 hit film Gladiator, the (entirely fictitious) protagonist Maximus Decimus Meridius commands Rome's northern armies against the Marcomanni.