Ubii

The Ubii (Latin Ubii ) were a West Germanic people, which described Caesar as already civilized.

Habitat

The Ubii first inhabited the right bank of the Rhine in Germania Magna, as the Romans called it, against the Treviri and south of the Sugambrern. Their territory stretched fairly extended from about the victory over the river Lahn to the lower Main.

The Ubii were one of the first Germanic tribes who were getting into on brisk trade with the Romans, gave them their sons in the training and finally declared ready even to pay tributes. They also presented the Romans auxiliary troops (preferably cavalry ) available that used these according to their political motto " divide et impera " to suppress other German tribes and tributary to subdue. This behavior of the Ubii earned them the distrust, envy and eventually the hatred of the other neighboring tribes, which has often led to numerous confrontations between the Ubii and its neighbors in the sequence.

The Ubii came under pressure and between the fronts of the Romans and the other Germanic tribes and threatened to be wiped out. Therefore, they were 19/18 BC by Agrippa resettled during his second governorship on the left bank of the Rhine, the inferior later Roman province of Germania. Until about in the reign of Emperor Domitian was the left bank part of the province of Gallia Belgica. Here they lived in the area near Bonn and Cologne, near Aachen right of the worm and the valley of the Ahr. This is so important, as is always the talk of the Ubii were roman friendly, linksrheinische Germans. Left of Rhine but they are only made ​​by the Roman resettlement policy.

The main town of Ubii was Ara or oppidum Ubiorum, later appointed by Claudius to Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium city of Cologne. After their resettlement Ubii, or at least the " Cologne " part of the tribe were, also known under the name " Agrippinenser " ( Agrippinenses ).

Resettlement

The first campaign in Germania Caesar was 39/38 BC, instead of under the governor Marcus Agrippa Vipsanius. He fought the insurgent Gauls, crossed the Rhine, subdued the tribe of Ubii and received a triumph granted, but he did not execute ( Tac. ann XII 27.1; .. Dio Cass XLVIII, 49, 3-4; see Strab. . IV 3.4 p 194 C; Tac Germ 28).. .

The indication in Tacitus noted as the time of the relocation of the subject Ubii on the left bank of the Rhine in the area of present-day Cologne, just a governorship of Agrippa. It was probably in the relocation of the Ubii a longer process that found its official confirmation or its termination by Agrippa. Agrippa developed the concept, the Rhine line through direct presence of Roman troops, but especially by establishing reliable romfreundlicher tribal groups on the left bank of the Rhine ( Ubii and Batavians, Justification of the central location oppidum Ubiorum ) and by fixed contractual relationships with the right of the Rhine adjacent tribes to protect. Rome's policy was aimed primarily ( abgesesehen few exceptions ) to keep out land seekers from the secured provincial area.

End

The Ubii participated in the revolt of Civilis in the years 69 and 70 AD only forced and even for a short time part. Most recently they were - probably Romanized mostly - in the Ripuarian francs.

Coinage and assumptions to the original area of ​​settlement

The Ubii are considered the peen of Quinar type Dancing little men, a coin that on one side of a seated or dancing man with snake torc and Celtic hairstyle (due to the matching iconography possibly a representation of the deer god Cernunnos ), on the other a stylized represents horse. These coins were minted by the Ubii in the Cologne area, but at the same time also of rechtsrheinisch remaining ubischen people remains to Waldgirmes. Since variants already experienced this type of coin earlier in the oppidum on the Dünsberg in casting, is today mostly assumed that the Ubii must be identified prior to their resettlement with the Celtic or strongly keltisierten residents of the Lahn Valley and adjacent uplands.