Marcomanni

The Marcomanni were a Germanic people who lived close to the border of the Roman Empire, north of the River Danube, and are mentioned in Roman records from approximately 60 BC until about 400 AD. They became one of the most important members of a powerful cluster of allied Suebian peoples, which also included the Hermunduri, Varisti, and Quadi north of the Danube, and the Semnones and Langobardi to their north. They were first reported by Julius Caesar among the Germanic peoples who were attempting to settle in west of the Rhine in Gaul in 58 BC under the leadership of Ariovistus, but he did not explain where their homeland was. Archaeological evidence suggests that they originally lived in what is now Germany, probably near the central Elbe river and Saale, or possibly to the southwest of this region in Franconia. After a major defeat to the Romans in about 9 BC, the Marcomanni received a new king named Maroboduus, who had grown up in Rome. He subsequently led his people and several others into a region surrounded by forests and mountains somewhere in what is now the Czech Republic, in a part they called "Boiohaemum" — the origin of the name Bohemia — because it was land that had been abandoned by the Boii people. From his new base, Maroboduus built up a Rome-aligned Suebian empire, but the Langobardi and Semnones left when Maroboduus failed to support the rebellion of Arminius against Rome. The subsequent war among the Germanic peoples was damaging to both sides. This damaged Maroboduus's reputation, and he was eventually toppled from power, and died in exile in Ravenna. This suited the empire because despite their neutrality towards Rome, Roman rulers saw the Marcomanni as a potential threat to them, within striking distance of Italy. Over...