#eburones

Celtic River Offerings

These objects that you see here have all been found near the Dutch place of Kessel and Lith in Limburg in the river Maas. Just like how the river Rhine was seen as sacred and had its own deity, the Maas was also viewed as a sacred place where offerings were made to this river. These objects are dated to between 250-0BC and thought to be offerings given to a deity of the Maas.

You can see fibulae, bracelets, triquetrum coins, a comb, belt hooks and a La Tène sword. Next to these objects, remains of animal and human bones were found as well. Judging by the style of these objects, they must be Celtic in origin and if you look at the location where they have been found, it isn't that strange. The Maas lies below the Germanic border of the Rhine and this area was once territory of the Celtic Eburones tribe.

I have written about the Eburones a few months ago for those who want to know more about this tribe. The Celts viewed certain places in nature as sacred, per example certain mountains, rivers, lakes, swamps, forests etc. This is basically the same religious view that the Germanics had about nature.

Eburones

The Eburones were a Celtic tribe but with Germanic influences, although Julius Caesar described them as being Germanic. They lived between the river Rhine and the Maas in modern day southern Netherlands and northern Belgium. Their name, if it is Celtic, means yew. Yew trees and wood was seen as sacred by the Germanic tribes of modern day Netherlands, almost all runic inscriptions have been found on yew wood.

Despite Caesar claiming they were Germanic, all evidence leads to them being Celtic in origin. Their close location to the Germanic tribes may have led to Germanic influences but judging by their name and archeological finds, they are Celtic. It is often hard to define which Belgic tribes are Celtic or Germanic since most of them have mixed ethnicities.

Not much is known about the Eburones except for what Caesar described. We do know they had a sacred place at Empel which I described before in a post about the Empel temple. During Caesar's invasion of Gaul, the Belgic tribes allied themselves against the Romans, this included the Eburones.

In 55BC, the Germanic tribes of the Usipetes and the Tencteri tried to settle on new land after being driven away by the Suebi. These two tribes eventually bumped into the Belgic Menapii tribe and attacked them. Not only do they attack the Menapii, they also attack the Eburones and the neighbouring Condrusi. Caesar moved north to deal with this Germanic threat on Celtic lands and manages to free the leader of the Eburones, Ambiorix.

However in 53BC, Ambiorix and Cativolcus instigate a revolt. The Eburones with the help of the Treveri manage to destroy a Roman legion under Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta, both Roman generals die in this conflict as well. The surviving Roman forces committed suicide in order to avoid capture by the Celts. In all about 8000 Romans were killed.

Ambiorix proudly marched towards the Atuatuci after this victory, a tribe about whom I wrote a post a few weeks ago, and encouraged them and the Nervii to join the Eburones against the Romans. This alliance attacked a legion of Cicero. Julius Caesar makes his way to Cicero with 7,000 of his men when they are attacked by 60,000 Gauls.

Unfortunately the battle turned sour for the Eburones and they are defeated by Caesar. Ambiorix flees and Cativolcus commits suicide. Caesar then burned down every village of the Eburones, killed countless of people, stole their crops and so eventually destroyed the tribe. Surviving members most likely joined neighbouring tribes. The land itself was resettled by the Germanic Tungri.

Temple in Empel In the place of Empel, part of the Dutch city of Den Bosch, a temple has been found. The earliest findings in this place suggest that the site was first used as a place of worship/sacrifice by the Eburones tribe around 100BC. The Eburones were Celtic in origin with Germanic influences. Unfortunately the entire tribe was wiped out by Julius Caesar after Ambiorix, leader of the Eburones, destroyed a Roman legion. Those that survived Caesar's genocide, most likely joined surrounding tribes like the Batavi, Tungri, Ubii, Texuandri and the Frisiavones.

Archeologists believe this site was used by the Eburones because of quite a large amount of Celtic coins that were found which were not used by the Germanics. Ater the destruction of the Eburones, the Batavi took over this site and continued its use as a place of worship.

Between 0-100AD, the Batavi constructed a temple here. The temple was made from stone and heavily influenced by Roman architecture. The temple is believed to be dedicated to Hercules Magusanus, a God linked to Donar/Thor, judging by a statue of him found at Empel. Most metal finds, about 2000, are dated to this period when the temple was in use. 

The temple was surrounded by a temple court of 50 by 50 meters with an entrance building. The temple itself was only 10 by 10 meters surrounded by a row of columns. Sadly the construction was destroyed around the third century AD by a fire. 

A few metal finds at this site predate the Roman era, 20 bronze fibulae, fragments of bronze swords, belt hooks and 70 Celtic coins. These are linked to the previously mentioned Eburones tribe. These objects were most likely offerings to either the Gods, landspirits or ancestors. Not only objects were found but also thousands of animal bone fragments. This site was clearly heavily used as a religious place. 

Another thing to notice is that a lot of the objects found at this site had a military character. These military objects such as weapons, gear for horses and even a helmet all belonged to the Batavi. We know that quite some Batavi men served in the Roman army. Maybe this site has a connection with some sort rite of passage. When the military service of a Batavi warrior ended, he could have given his weapons at this site to thank Hercules Magusanus for protecting him during his service. 

Eburones Revolt

Yesterday I wrote a post about the Eburones. In that post I mentioned how the Eburones revolted against the Romans and slaughtered a Roman legion. I wanted to share some more information about this event. 

It was the year 54BC and the Roman war season was ending around half October. The army settled down in Eburones territory to stay there for the winter. Armies usually did not go on campaigns during the winter until around/after the Napoleonic era. 

Ambiorix was most likely aware of where the Roman army was having its break. Only two weeks after the arrival of the Romans, Ambiorix and Catuvolcus gave the sign to start the revolt. The Romans were gathering wood outside of the camp's defences when they were attacked. Ambiorix managed to lure the Romans out of their camp with the use of a lot of slingers. 

The attack was not decisive and Ambiorix requested a meeting for negotiations. Ambiorix tried to convince the Romans that he did not start the attack but that his men provoked the attack instead. He also told Caius Arpineius, the friend of Roman army leader Sabinius who was sent to negotiate, that a large horde of Germanics were on their way and that they would arrive in two days. Ambiorix then proposed a deal in which the Romans could safely pass through his territory so that they could reconnect with nearby legions. 

The Romans discussed their options in a quite fierce debate that went on the rest of the day according to Julius Caesar. Caesar himself was not present, he was in fact in Italy at this time which is probably why the Eburones felt comfortable enough to attack. 

Eventually the Romans decided to leave their location to travel to Cicero's camp. This decision was to be a fatal one for the Romans. Near the modern day Dutch city of Maastricht in the Jekerdal at the border of Belgium, the 14th legion of Julius Caesar together with 5 cohorts walked right into an ambush set up by Ambiorix. The Romans were marching through a valley when they were attacked on all sides, one photo shows the ambush. The Romans were trapped and they barely had any space to go into battle formations. Roman battle formations were one of the most important factors in the success of its army. Because they had no time and space to prepare for this battle, the whole legion and the five cohorts were wiped out. 

According to Caesar's words, the battle would have started around 7:30 in the morning and it probably lasted about six hours. Between 5500-7200 Roman soldiers died, one and a half legion was destroyed. According to Caesar, dead Romans littered the ground.

It was definitely one of Caesar's major defeats and he was enraged by this destruction of his legion. Caesar took his revenge and in turn destroyed the entire tribe, which I mentioned yesterday. 

The Eburones are not the only tribe where the ancient classification of a Germanic tribe is being questioned today.

In 57 BCE, Julius Caesar conquered the valley of the Upper- and Middle- Meuse, which, he said, was inhabited by Belgian tribes. Among the members of the Belgic confederation were the Eburones. In his campaign notes, the Roman general mentions them together with three other tribes, adding that they were called Germanic (Gallic War, 2.4). This may indeed mean that they were of Germanic descent, but the four Eburonian names we know are perfectly  comprehensible in Celtic (Eburonesis related to the word for yew; Aduatuca means “place of the soothsayer”;Ambiorix means “ruler-king”; and Catuvolcus means “hero”).

http://rambambashi.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/the-eburones/