Batavi (Germanic tribe)

The Batavians (Latin: Batavi outdated, even Batavians ) were a West Germanic tribe. Due to an internal tribal feud, they separated from the chatting and settled in BC at the mouth of the Rhine into the Roman province of Belgica by about 50. In 12 BC they were conquered by the Romans under Drusus and were from then on as faithful allies, with one exception: the Bataveraufstand under Julius Civilis in 69 AD In this context, the Germans succeeded for the first time the conquest of a Roman legionary fortress ( Vetera near Xanten ). Only after the revolt of 69/70 AD was the establishment of a civitas Batavorum that the Roman military base Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum was (today Nijmegen ) in imitation of the oppidum Batavodurum since Trajan. In the 4th century the meantime Romanized Batavian went up in the Swiss franc.

The Batavians were known as good riders and swimmers and were characterized by courage and ability. They were part of the imperial Germanic bodyguard in Rome and were also Germanic mercenaries in the Roman army.

The warriors of the Batavians, also known as Reiter's Legion in Roman service, wore a special helmet, of which only a few were found in the Lower Rhine area between Nijmegen and Xanten. It was made of iron and had a dense braided trimming of horse hair, which was attached with pitch glue. He also possessed a hinge inside of iron, exterior made ​​of silver, which completely covered her face. Such a helmet was reconstructed in 2008 in the Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen with the help of colleagues from Bonn and Mannheim. It also was discovered the composition of the adhesive, the combined iron and silver layer: Baumteer, bitumen and beef tallow. 69 AD, after the uprising of the Batavians, this type of helmet disappeared. He did not appear until a hundred years later as a metal replica of the entire Roman army again. The braids were now driven into metal. The reconstructed copy is permanently on display in the Roman Museum Xanten.

Reception

Under Dutch humanist myth was widespread, the Batavians are not subject but have been free allies of the Romans. As evidence served mainly an inscription " gene Batavorum amici et fratres Romani Imperii " = "people of Batavia, friends and brothers of the Roman Empire " supposedly found in 1500 at Zoeterwoude. Buchelius Arnoldus (1565-1641) judged this inscription as a forgery and graduated from Roman legion stamps and coins he had found along with John de Witt (1565-1622) in the area of Utrecht, that the northern border of the Roman Empire along the Roman military camp Arenacum - Vada (identified by Buchelius with Wageningen ) - Grinnes - Batavodorum am Rhein was.

Batavia is a common in humanistic Latin name for the Netherlands. During the Dutch colonial period was the current capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, also Batavia.

The most "wet " part of the Limes stationed in the 1st century Batavian - cohort is now considered namesake for the city of Passau.