Hi all
,
I've recently gone back to studying the Teutoburger Wald Massacre, and I've noticed a few things which people have overlooked:
CountermarksThe most widely known
countermark of Varus was the
monogram of
VAR, P
VAR, or Q
VAR. But at the Kalkriese site, the place where the massacre supposedly happened, they have also found a number of coins with a different
countermark - a star/wheel blotting out the
face of
Augustus. This could perhaps be a mistake for one example, but almost every one of these "wheels" is smack dab on the
face. This, even if accidental, was considered damnatio and the perpetrator would be promptly killed. Also, it was very unusual for governors to put any
countermarks with there name whatsoever on a coin, much less on the
face of the emperor.
CoinsVarus also minted coins of himself. This, though more common than
countermarks, was also quite unusual, especially as he put
his face on the
obverse and
Augustus on the
reverse or not on the coin at all. Other rebels minted their own coins as well - from
Aureolus to the Anglo-Saxon Aethelberht. But this is not cause for suspicion in many cases, as other governors did this as well. But
still, one must wonder what the thought behind these coins was.......
GovernorshipHe was governor of three provinces -
Africa,
Syria, the
Germania. In
Syria he, according to the historians of the time, "came as a
poor man to a rich province, and left
Syria a
poor province as a rich
man". Indeed, he was
notorious for pocketing much of the income. Could this be as to fund a rebellion? Probably not. Most governors of the time did this.
In
his governorship of
Germany, he wished to exapnd the borders of
his province beyond the Rhine, and thus marched with
his three legions into
Germania and began a take-over.
Julius Caesar did the exact same thing as governor of
Gaul, since only Transalpine-Gaul was under
Roman control, he went from coast to coast to coast conquering and getting
money. Varus also allegedly pocketed much of the Germanian income as well. And with three of the best legions, totally loyal to him, he was obviously a formidable entity in
Roman politics.
PoliticsSo, if Varus was causing such a problem, why didn't
Augustus simply have him murdered or executed for treason or extortion? Simply because Varus was related to
Augustus. Varus
had married the aging emperor's grandniece in probably an attempt at attaining higher status in
Rome. But this also saved him from any charges or possible murder.
Augustus was no fool. He simply assigned the power lusting Varus to a governorship that would prove to be quite a challenge. And, though
Augustus probably wanted Varus dead or out of the way, he did want the legions to remain loyal to
Rome. But this would never come to pass.
The MassacreIn late Autumn Varus left the fortress of Aliso on the Lippe river to go
north, no one knows why but some have speculated that he was trying to find
winter quarters, quelling a small rebellion in the
north, or just going out to conquer some more. In any case it seems that he made the fatal mistake of stringing all three legions and 10,000 followers in a single-file line to get through the dense Teutoburger Wald. The 27-year-old Arminius, Varus' guide, chief of the Cherusci, and supposed friend, was with the stretched out
roman force. Arminius made excuses to leave and rode into the forest. Minutes later the Germans attacked from all sides and massacred the
Romans. The slaughter went on for 3 days and in the end, 19,000 to 28,000
Romans were brutally slaughtered. Only 11 escaped. Varus committed suicide at the final "killing ground". Later, the Cherusci dug up the ambitious general's corpse and
mutilated it, ulimately sending the
head to Marbodus, chieftan of the Marcomanni, who
had stayed out of this expulsion of the
Romans at Teutoburg. He later sent the
head to
Augustus who, when hearing the horrendous news, banged
his head against a doorpost shouting "Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!"
So, the question is, was Varus planning a coo? If so, did
Augustus send him to
Germany on purpose? I'm frankly not sure, but I'd love to hear other people's take on this.
Sejanus