a bit OT, 3rd Century battlefield

**schlappi** · 12-14-2008, 11:36

http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/m...595919,00.html

Scientists discovered a large roman battlefield in the "Kalefeld", lower saxony, with over 600 roman artifacts recovered so far, about 200 years after the battle of teutoburg forest, which was assumed to mark the end of campaining in germany for the roman empire.

I thought some of you might find this interesting.

Edit: Sorry, wrong thread, could someone please move this? Thanks

**Centurion Crastinus** · 12-14-2008, 23:09

Thatis really interesting. I just wish I could understand German better.

**Aemilius Paulus** · 12-14-2008, 23:46

Originally Posted by Centurion Crastinus

Thatis really interesting. I just wish I could understand German better.

Google Translate?

**Pontius Pilate** · 12-15-2008, 00:26

Originally Posted by Aemilius Paulus

Ludens is right. Tiberius himself stated that the purpose was to revenge for Teutoburg defeat, to show the Germans what the Romans could do, and to quote "revive the honor of the Roman arms" - his exact words. No Roman emperor after Augustus ever tried to subjugate Germania. They knew it was more than they could hold. Rhine River and the limes were a great defensible frontier, and Germania itself did not have such frontiers. All it had was endless forests, which Romans themselves would often cut down to lessen the chance of surprise attack (this behavior was observed everywhere, not just in Gaul or Germania). Defending conquered Germania would be too much for Roma.

Not only this, but Germania at that time was not such a tempting piece of real estate. British Isles had tin and other metals. Gaul had fertile land, metals, already developed Celtic civilization with numerous useful crafts, while Germania was very sparsely settled in comparison, with very few large settled communities.

very true. Germania had little to no resources that were vaulable to the Romans. agriculture was limited due to the extreme cold and constant attacks made any garrisons too far into the interior indefendable. the army was also incapable of holding onto such a huge area, due to limited manpower. after Augustus, or more accurately the first century AD., Rome pretty much stopped making huge territorial expansions, with some exceptions here and there. there was no were left to go, with the Partians blocking access to the east, Germania to north, and the sahara in Africa.

Originally Posted by Aemilius Paulus

Google Translate?

well, online translators don't work very well from my experience. they only translate individual words not phrases in a sentence, so you might not get an accuarte translation. I don't know about google translate though.

interesting article by the way.

**Aemilius Paulus** · 12-15-2008, 03:11

Originally Posted by Pontius Pilate

well, online translators don't work very well from my experience. they only translate individual words not phrases in a sentence, so you might not get an accuarte translation. I don't know about google translate though:

I've had converse experience. Google Translate can usually pick up context clues.

**Dayve** · 12-15-2008, 03:14

Very much looking forward to this... make sure you post a link to what they find when they find it.

Heh, i'm looking forward to this more than i'm looking forward to Christmas. Mind you, Christmas is shit when you're 20, and being an Atheist doesn't help either.

**Narhon** · 12-15-2008, 03:47

Originally Posted by schlappi

http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/m...595919,00.html

Scientists discovered a large roman battlefield in the "Kalefeld", lower saxony, with over 600 roman artifacts recovered so far, about 200 years after the battle of teutoburg forest, which was assumed to mark the end of campaining in germany for the roman empire.

I thought some of you might find this interesting.

Edit: Sorry, wrong thread, could someone please move this? Thanks

Did not the Romans conduct the occasional punitive expedition into Germany and could this be one of them.

**Aemilius Paulus** · 12-15-2008, 03:57

Originally Posted by Narhon

Did not the Romans conduct the occasional punitive expedition into Germany and could this be one of them.

If the article mentioned an exact date instead of just "200 years after Varus's debacle", then it would be pretty nice.

**russia almighty** · 12-15-2008, 05:05

Well, if the Romans breached into Bohemia....well, the coffers of SPQR would never be empty again.

**Aemilius Paulus** · 12-15-2008, 06:08

Originally Posted by russia almighty

Well, if the Romans breached into Bohemia....well, the coffers of SPQR would never be empty again.

What's so special about it?

**palmtree** · 12-15-2008, 15:48

Bohemia had extensive gold deposits, pretty much all mined out by now, though I'm not sure if their existance was at all known in ancient times.

**Ca Putt** · 12-15-2008, 16:21

until now they haven't said much more than in the initial statement, but they say it seems to be a VERY big battle and they think the romans won(another theory is that Germans fought against Germans with captured weapons)