Talk:Publius Quinctilius Varus

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Is the Twelve Caesars supposed to redirect here? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Caesars

[edit] Head of Varus?

According to this article the head of Varus was sent to Rome by Arminius. But in the main Arminius article it says: "Arminius had repeatedly sought to forge an anti-Roman alliance with Marbod (he even sent him the head of Varus after the victory of Teutoburg Forest), but the latter was not willing to play a supporting role to Arminius. "

Did he first send the head to Marbod and then to Rome or is there an error in either articles?

Or possibly multiple contradictory sources. I couldn't find any mention of head fates in the literature I have here. Stan 22:07, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

I suppose that it's not impossible that the head was sent both to Marbod and then to Rome. The taking of heads in battle and showing them publicly was a traditional Germanic "custom". Actually if I remember correctly the Romans had some problems with their germanic auxilia, they were taking heads of their fallen enemies and showing them to Roman centurions&commanders which wasn't that apreciated.

There are about four or five roman/greek authors, from who we know about all this stuff: Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Velleius Paterculus, Cassius Dio Cocceianus and Lucius Anneus Florus. Varus killed himself like his father killed himself, so that their family won't suffer any restrictions due to his name. He apparently found no better solution. When the german fighters stormed the camp, the dead body of Varus was obviously not entirely burnt by his subordinates. Arminius still had an issue with the markomannian king Marbod. Otherwise he would have sent the head to someone more roman or the whole thing would not have been worth mentioning, though Tacitus (Annales) describes that a relative to Arminius did jokes about the dead body of Varus. Marbod, who kept himself and his people neutral during the conflict, received the head and sent it further to rome, where Augustus let it be buried with all honours. So we do know where the head is, but we still don't really know were the body lies. There is this roman author named Sextus Julius Frontinus, who wrote a book about military tactics. In Book II (Chapter: "On Bringing the War to a Close after a Successful Engagement") he sais, that "Arminius, leader of the Germans, likewise fastened on spears the heads of those he had slain, and ordered them to be brought up to the fortifications of the enemy."84.57.82.68 03:10, 3 January 2007 (UTC) Gunther

[edit] Cassius Chaerea

Cassius Chaerea's participation in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was ficiton created by R.Graves. If you think otherwise, quote your source. Naerhu 04:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)