Treveri


The Treveri were a Celtic–Germanic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle in modern day Germany from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringes of the Silva Arduenna, a part of the vast Silva Carbonaria, in what are now Luxembourg, southeastern Belgium and western Germany; its centre was the city of Augusta Treverorum, to which the Treveri give their name. Although reported to have spoken a Celtic language, according to Tacitus they claimed Germanic descent. Their culture is noted for containing both Gallic and Germanic influences.
Although early adopters of Roman material culture, the Treveri had a chequered relationship with Roman power. Their leader Indutiomarus led them in revolt against Julius Caesar during the Gallic Wars; much later, they played a key role in the Gaulish revolt during the Year of the Four Emperors. On the other hand, the Treveri supplied the Roman army with some of its most famous cavalry, and the city of Augusta Treverorum was home for a time to the family of Germanicus, including the future emperor Gaius. During the Crisis of the Third Century, the territory of the Treveri was overrun by Germanic Alamanni and Franks and later formed part of the Gallic Empire.
Under Constantine and his 4th-century successors, Augusta Treverorum became a large, favoured, rich and influential city that served as one of the capitals of the Roman Empire, Eboracum, Mediolanum. During this period, Christianity began to succeed the imperial cult and the worship of Roman and Celtic deities as the favoured religion of the city. Such Christian luminaries as Ambrose, Jerome, Martin of Tours and Athanasius of Alexandria spent time in Augusta Treverorum.
Among the surviving legacies of the ancient Treveri are Moselle wine from Luxembourg and Germany and the many Roman monuments of Trier and its surroundings, including neighbouring Luxembourg.
Three Roman roads, very important for their role in transregional trade and military deployment capability, went through the territory of the Treveri:
  • the first came from the south, connected Divodurum and Ricciacus with Augusta Treverorum and went further to the Rhine river in the northeast, the border of the Roman Empire
  • the second came from the southwest and connected Durocortorum with Andethana and Augusta Treverorum
  • the third went through the Ardennes in present-day Belgium and Luxembourg and connected Durocortorum to the major city and garrison of Colonia Agrippinensis on the Rhine river.

    Name

Attestations

They are mentioned as Treveri by Caesar, Pliny and Tacitus, Trēoúēroi by Strabo, Tríbēroi by Ptolemy, Trēouḗrōn by Cassius Dio, Treuerorum by Orosius, and as Triberorum in the Notitia Dignitatum. The variant Treberi also appears in Pliny, and few highly deviant variant forms are also attested as Trēoũsgroi in Strabo or Triḗrōn in Cassius Dio.
The first syllable is shown long and stressed in Latin dictionaries, thus giving the Classical Latin pronunciation.

Etymology

The ethnonym Trēverī is a latinized form of Gaulish *Trēueroi. It is generally viewed as referring to 'crossing a river' or to a 'flowing river'. Linguists Rudolf Thurneysen and Xavier Delamarre have proposed to interpret the name as trē-uer-, presumably because these people helped cross the Moselle river. It is composed of a suffix trē- attached to -uer-.
This etymology is reinforced by the Old Irish cognate treóir, meaning 'ford, place to cross a river' or 'guiding, leading'. The Treveri also had a special goddess called Ritona, which either means 'that of the ford' or 'that of the course', and a temple dedicated to Uorioni Deo.
The city of Trier, attested 1st c. AD as Treueris Augusta and on inscriptions as Augusta Trēvērorum, is named after the tribe.

Geography

Territory

In the time of Julius Caesar their territory extended as far as the Rhine north of the Triboci; across the Rhine from them lived the Ubii. Caesar mentions that the Segni and the Condrusi lived between the Treveri and the Eburones, and that the Condrusii and Eburones were clients of the Treveri. Caesar bridged the Rhine in the territory of the Treveri. They were bordered on the northwest by the Belgic Tungri, on the southwest by the Remi, and on the north, beyond the Ardennes and Eifel, by the Eburones. To the south their neighbours were the Mediomatrici
Later the Vangiones and Nemetes, whom ancient sources identify as Germanic, would settle to the east of the Treveri along the Rhine; thereafter, Treveran territory in present-day Germany was probably similar to that which afterwards became the Diocese of Trier. In addition to this area which is formed mainly by the northern part of the Moselle river valley and the neighbouring Eifel region, the Treveri populated also the area of the present-day Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the major part of the adjacent Belgian Province of Luxembourg. The Rhine valley was removed from Treveran authority with the formation of the province of Germania Superior in the 80s CE. The valley of the Ahr would have marked their northern boundary.

Settlements

Colonia Augusta Treverorum, established under Augustus ca. 17 BCE to guard a crossing of the Moselle, was the capital of their civitas under the Empire. There is strong evidence that the recently excavated oppidum on the Titelberg plateau in the extreme southwest of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was the Treveran capital during the 1st century BCE. An important secondary centre was Orolaunum, which, in Edith Wightman's assessment, "became a kind of regional capital for the western Treveri", attaining "a degree of prosperity only otherwise reached by civitas capitals". The site of La Tranchée des Portes near Étalle, the largest of Belgium by its size has not still revealed its rank. A recent study shows that it had already human presence around 4000 BCE. Other important pre-Roman centres were located at Martberg, Donnersberg, Wallendorf, Kastel-Staadt, and Otzenhausen.
The transfer of their activities to Trier followed the construction of Agrippa's road linking Trier with Reims which bypassed the Titelberg. During the Roman period, Trier became a Roman colony, and the provincial capital of Belgica itself. It was the frequent residence of a number of emperors. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Treveri were divided into five cantons centred respectively on the pre-Roman oppida of the Titelberg, Wallendorf, Kastel, Otzenhausen and the Martberg. Inscriptions from the Roman imperial period indicate that the civitas was divided into at least four pagi: the pagus Vilcias, the pagus Teucorias, the pagus Carucum extending north of Bitburg, and the pagus Ac or Ag. Wightman tentatively suggests that the pagus Vilcias might have been the western region around Arlon and Longuyon, and the pagus Teucorias the southern region around Tholey. Wightman considers it uncertain whether the Aresaces and Cairacates may originally have been pagi of the Treveri, but asserts that their territory – lying around Mogontiacum – "always showed particularly close cultural connections with Treveran territory". External to the Treveri, but subject to them as clients, were the Eburones and perhaps also the Caeroesi and Paemani.
The 4th-century poet Ausonius lived in Trier under the Gratian's patronage; he is most famous for his poem Mosella, evoking life and scenery along the Treveri's arterial river.

Language and ethnicity

Caesar is not explicit in De Bello Gallico about whether the Treveri are to be considered to belong to Gallia Celtica or Gallia Belgica, although the former hypothesis enjoys some favour. Writing about a century after Caesar, Pomponius Mela identifies the Treveri as the "most renowned" of the Belgae.
According to the Roman consul Aulus Hirtius in the 1st century BCE, the Treveri differed little from Germanic peoples in their manner of life and "savage" behaviour. The Treveri boasted of their Germanic origin, according to Tacitus, in order to distance themselves from "Gallic laziness". But Tacitus does not include them with the Vangiones, Triboci or Nemetes as "tribes unquestionably German". The presence of hall villas of the same type as found in indisputably Germanic territory in northern Germany, alongside Celtic types of villas, corroborates the idea that they had both Celtic and Germanic affinities.
Strabo says that their Nervian and Tribocan neighbours were Germanic peoples who by that point had settled on the left bank of the Rhine, while the Treveri are implied to be Gaulish.
Jerome states that as of the 4th century their language was similar to that of the Celts of Asia Minor. Jerome probably had first-hand knowledge of these Celtic languages, as he had visited both Augusta Treverorum and Galatia.
Very few personal names among the Treveri are of Germanic origin; instead, they are generally Celtic or Latin. Certain distinctively Treveran names are apparently none of the three and may represent a pre-Celtic stratum, according to Wightman.
After the Roman conquest, Latin was used extensively by the Treveri for public and official purposes.

Politics and military

Originally the oppida of the Titelberg, Wallendorf, Kastel, Otzenhausen and the Martberg were roughly equal in significance; however, sometime between 100 and 80 BCE, the Titelberg experienced an upsurge of growth which made it "the central oppidum of the Treveri". A large open space in the central square of the Titelberg which would have been used for public meetings of a religious or political nature during the 1st century BCE. By the time of Caesar's invasion, the Treveri seemed to have adopted an oligarchic system of government.
The Treveri had a strong cavalry and infantry, and during the Gallic Wars would provide Julius Caesar with his best cavalry. Under their leader Cingetorix, the Treveri served as Roman auxiliaries. However, their loyalties began to change in 54 BCE under the influence of Cingetorix' rival Indutiomarus. According to Caesar, Indutiomarus instigated the revolt of the Eburones under Ambiorix that year and led the Treveri in joining the revolt and enticing Germanic tribes to attack the Romans. The Romans under Titus Labienus killed Indutiomarus and then put down the Treveran revolt; afterwards, Indutiomarus' relatives crossed the Rhine to settle among the Germanic tribes. The Treveri remained neutral during the revolt of Vercingetorix, and were attacked again by Labienus after it. On the whole, the Treveri were more successful than most Gallic tribes in cooperating with the Romans. They probably emerged from the Gallic Wars with the status of a free civitas exempt from tribute.
In 30–29 BCE, a revolt of the Treveri was suppressed by Marcus Nonius Gallus, and the Titelberg was occupied by a garrison of the Roman army. Agrippa and Augustus undertook the organization of Roman administration in Gaul, laying out an extensive series of roads beginning with Agrippa's governorship of Gaul in 39 BCE, and imposing a census in 27 BCE for purposes of taxation. The Romans built a new road from Trier to Reims via Mamer, to the north, and Arlon, thus by-passing by 25 kilometres the Titelberg and the older Celtic route, and the capital was displaced to Augusta Treverorum with no signs of conflict. The vicinity of Trier had been inhabited by isolated farms and hamlets before the Romans, but there had been no urban settlement here.
Following the reorganisation of the Roman provinces in Germany in 16 BCE, Augustus decided that the Treveri should become part of the province of Belgica. At an unknown date, the capital of Belgica was moved from Durocortorum Remorum to Augusta Treverorum. A significant layer of the Treveran élite seems to have been granted Roman citizenship under Caesar and/or Augustus, by whom they were given the nomen Julius.
During the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius, and particularly when Drusus and Germanicus were active in Gaul, Augusta Treverorum rose to considerable importance as a base and supply centre for campaigns in Germany. The city was endowed with an amphitheatre, baths, and other amenities, and for a while Germanicus' family lived in the city. Pliny the Elder reports that Germanicus' son, the future emperor Gaius, was born "among the Treveri, at the village of Ambiatinus, above Confluentes ", but Suetonius notes that this birthplace was disputed by other sources.
A faction of Treveri, led by Julius Florus and allied with the Aeduan Julius Sacrovir, led a rebellion of Gaulish debtors against the Romans in 21 CE. Florus was defeated by his rival Julius Indus, while Sacrovir led the Aedui in revolt. The Romans quickly re-established cordial relations with the Treveri under Indus, who promised obedience to Rome; in contrast, they completely annihilated the Aedui who had sided with Sacrovir. Perhaps under Claudius, the Treveri obtained the status of colonia and probably the Latin Right without actually being colonized by Roman veterans. Under Roman rule, there was a senate of the Treveri including about a hundred decurions, of which the executive was formed by two duoviri.
More serious was the revolt that began with Civilis' Batavian insurrection during the Year of the Four Emperors. In 70, the Treveri under Julius Classicus and Julius Tutor and the Lingones under Julius Sabinus joined the Batavian rebellion and declared Sabinus as Caesar. The revolt was quashed, and more than a hundred rebel Treveran noblemen fled across the Rhine to join their Germanic allies; in the assessment of historian Jeannot Metzler, this event marks the end of aristocratic Treveran cavalry service in the Roman army, the rise of the local bourgeoisie, and the beginnings of "a second thrust of Romanization". Camille Jullian attributes to this rebellion the promotion of Durocortorum Remorum, capital of the perennially loyal Remi, at the expense of the Treveri. By the 2nd and 3rd centuries, representatives of the old élite bearing the nomen Julius had practically disappeared, and a new élite arose to take their place; these would have originated mainly from the indigenous middle class, according to Wightman.
The Treveri suffered from their proximity to the Rhine frontier during the Crisis of the Third Century. Frankish and Alamannic invasions during the 250s led to significant destruction, particularly in rural areas; given the failure of the Roman military to defend effectively against Germanic invasion, country dwellers improvised their own fortifications, often using the stones from tombs and mausoleums.
Meanwhile, Augusta Treverorum was becoming an urban centre of the first importance, overtaking even Lugdunum. During the Crisis of the Third Century, the city served as the capital of the Gallic Empire under the emperors Tetricus I and II from 271 to 274. The Treveri suffered further devastation from the Alamanni in 275, following which, according to Jeannot Metzler, "The great majority of agricultural domains lay waste and would never be rebuilt". It is unclear whether Augusta Treverorum itself fell victim to the Alamannic invasion.
From 285 to 395, Augusta Treverorum was one of the residences of the western Roman Emperor, including Maximian, Constantine the Great, Constantius II, Valentinian I, Magnus Maximus, and Theodosius I; from 318 to 407, it served as the seat of the praetorian prefecture of Gaul. By the mid-4th century, the city was counted in a Roman manuscript as one of the four capitals of the world, alongside Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople. New defensive structures, including fortresses at Neumagen, Bitburg and Arlon, were constructed to defend against Germanic invasion. After a Vandal invasion in 406, however, the imperial residence was moved to Mediolanum while the praetorian guard was withdrawn to Arelate.