Clades Lolliana

As clades Lolliana (Latin: "Defeat the Lollius " ) is a battle between Roman troops and Germanic tribes of the Sicambri, Tencteri and Usipetes referred to the BC took place 17 or 16 and ended with a Roman defeat.

After another incident of three Germanic tribes in the left bank of the Rhine, which belonged to the Roman province of Gaul, the local governor Marcus Lollius went out to meet them. However, the Germanic tribes were victorious over Lollius and were even able to capture the eagle of the 5th Legion. This loss meant a great loss of prestige for the emperor Augustus, who had just pointed out the importance of the legion eagle in the Roman public in order to represent the end of the conflict with the Parthians, who had returned three captured legionary eagles on the Roman Empire in a better light. Augustus broke even in the year 16 BC Gaul, where he stayed for three years. The Lollius defeat is often seen as the triggering factor for its beginning with the campaigns of Drusus attempt to conquer Germania.

The defeat is mentioned by numerous ancient writers. The most detailed descriptions can be found in Paterculus Velleius and Dio Cassius. Tacitus and Suetonius represent the defeat of Lollius with the Varus 9 AD together. More mentions there is at Iulius Obsequens, the Greek epigrams Krinagoras and possibly Propertius. How hard the Roman defeat is actually failed, nevertheless shows hardly. According to Cassius Dio ( and a hint at Horace ), the Germans made ​​it up as soon as they heard of the impending arrival of Augustus, but there is no mention of whether it is also came to the return of the eagle.