Teutobod

Categories: History of the Germanic peoples | Pre-Roman Iron Age

Teutobod was King of the Teutons. In the late 2nd century BCE, together with their neighbors, allies and possible relatives, the Germanic Cimbri, the Teutons migrated from their original homes in southern Scandinavia and on the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, south into the Danube valley, southern Gaul and northern Italy. Here they began to intrude upon the lands of Rome (Julius Caeser in Gallic Wars reports that the Boii were they who had attacked Noricum). The inevitable conflict which followed is called the Cimbrian War. The Cimbri (under their King Boiorix and the Teutons, won the opening battles of this war, defeating tribes allied with the Romans and destroying a huge Roman army at the Battle of Arausio in 105 BCE. But Rome regrouped and reorganized under Consul Gaius Marius. In 104 BCE the Cimbri left the Rhône valley to raid Spain, while the Teutons remained in Gaul, still strong but not powerful enough to march on Rome on their own. This gave Marius time to build a new army and in 102 BCE he moved against the Teutons. At the Battle of Aquae Sextiae the Teutons were virtually annihilated and Teutobod along with 20,000 of his people was captured. After this he and his tribe drop out from history. He most likely was the sent to Rome for a triumphal procession to celebrate his defeat, then ritually executed afterwards. The following year, the Cimbri would suffer a similar fate at the Battle of Vercellae.