From: george knysh
Message: 60496
Date: 2008-09-29
--- On Mon, 9/29/08, tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> (Ariovistus) who had led a major campaign through the
> Wetterau valley and had almost completed the conquest of what is now
> Southern Germany (south of the river Main) from the Boii and
> Helvetii,
>
> GK: We have no idea as to who "led" and who "followed" in this
> "major campaign". The involvement of Jastorf and Przeworsk elements
> is clear. But we simply don't have enough facts to verify your
> hypothesis about the status of Ariovistus in these events . We
> can't rule out the dominant participation of the Volcae, or that
> Ariovistus was simply a mercenary for them then as later for the
> Arverni and Sequani.
The oppida in the Wetterau disappear at that time. If he was a
mercenary for them, he was as big a pain as he later was to the
Arverni and Sequani.
****GK: There is no evidence which would conclusively put this disappearance in ca. 71-62 BCE rather than, say, ca. 52-45 BCE or even slightly later. But had Ariovistus been such a pain to the Volcae he would hardly have been hired by the Arverni and Sequani. Who would need such an unreliable, treacherous auxiliary?****
> A man "without a roof"...
His Germani had been on a war footing for fourteen years. That must
have taken place somewhere. And with some success or they would have
left him.
****GK: Of course. The first part would have been as a successful Volcan mercenary in the reconquista of Western South Germany from the Helvetii and allies. This went back and forth (as Caesar notes in DBG 1:40). Then he was hired by the A/S to help them out, and crossed the Rhine with his 15,000, his wife (singular) and some kin.
And the Volcae were still in control of what he had helped them to gain when Caesar wrote in the winter of 53/52 BCE that "quae gens ad hoc tempus his sedibus sese continet summamque habet iustitiae et bellicae laudis opinionem." The post-Ariovist Suevan whirlwind was about to get them. The archaeological data from Thuringia and the Wetterau may well reflect this slightly later event.****
GK: I will admit that we have no clear indication as to the
exact year of this "hire", and will not insist on 72/71 BCE. But the
conflict went on for some time, enough for the mercenary warlord to
acquire a knowledge of the Gallic language [DBG 1.47). It is, however,
also possible that Ariovistus learned "Gallic" while still in Southern
Germany as a Volcan mercenary...
>
Their enemy, rather.
****GK: See above. No potentially dangerous turncoat would have been hired by the A/S alliance. And it is unlikely that he warred on the side of the Helvetians prior to his hire by A/S(though not absolutely impossible).****