Cimbri - Moving south-east, Invading Gaul, Attacking the Roman Republic, Defeat, Culture

A Germanic people from N Europe who migrated S towards the end of the 2nd-c BC in search of new lands. They were defeated and destroyed by the Romans (101 BC) in the Po valley.

The Cimbri were a Germanic-cross-Celtic tribe who together with the Teutons and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Empire in the late 2nd century BC.

Alternatively, the name Cimbri could be related to Cymry, the Welsh name for themselves, and which means The Compatriots.

Moving south-east

Some time before 100 BC many of the Cimbri, as well as the Teutones and Ambrones migrated south-east. At this time, if not before, they had picked up substantial Celtic elements, as allies and the majority of the migrating Cimbri may have been Gauls.

On the request of the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, sent to defend the Taurisci, they retreated only to find themselves deceived and attacked at Noreia.

Invading Gaul

Now the road to Italy was open, but they turned west towards Gaul. In 109 BC, they defeated a Roman army under the consul Marcus Junius Silanus, who was the commander of Gallia Narbonensis. In 107 BC, the Romans once again lost against the Tigurines, who were allies of the Cimbri.

Attacking the Roman Republic

It was not until 105 BC that they planned an attack on the Roman Empire itself. At the Rhône River, the Cimbri clashed with the Roman armies. The Roman commanders, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and the consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, hindered Roman coordination and so the Cimbri succeeded in first defeating the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus and later cause a devastating defeat on Caepio and Maximus at the Battle of Arausio.

Rome was in panic, and the terror cimbricus became proverbial. Desperation measures were taken: contrary to the Roman constitution, Marius, who had defeated Jugurtha, was elected consul and supreme commander for four years in a row (104 BC–101 BC).

Defeat

However, in 103 BC, the Cimbri and their Proto-Germanic allies, the Teutons, had turned to Spain where they pillaged far and wide. These two tribes intended to pass into Italy through the western passes, while the Cimbri and the Tigurines were to take the northern route across the Rhine and later across the Tyrolian Alps.

At the estuary of the Isère River, the Teutons and the Ambrones met Marius, whose well-defended camp they did not manage to overrun.

The Cimbri, however, had penetrated through the Alps into northern Italy. However, the Cimbri did not hurry, and the victors of Aquae Sextiae had the time to arrive with reinforcements. At the Battle of Vercellae, at the confluence of the Sesia River with the Po River, in 101 BC, the long voyage of the Cimbri also came to an end.

It was a devastating defeat and both the chieftains Lugius and Boiorix died. The Cimbri were annihilated, with the exception of a small remaining population of Cimbri which still remained in northern Jutland in the 1st century AD.

Culture

The Cimbri are depicted as ferocious warriors who did not fear death.

Evidence that the Cimbri may have practised ritualistic sacrifice is found in Haraldskær Woman discovered in Jutland in the year 1835.