All Topics  
Marbod

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Marbod
 
 
  Topics Marbod Topic Home

Marbod or Maroboduus (born c. in 30 BC, died in A.D. 37), was king of the Marcomanni
Marcomanni

The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri , Suebi or Suevi....
. In his novel I, Claudius
I, Claudius

For other uses see I, Claudius .I, Claudius is a novel by England writer Robert Graves, first published in 1934 in literature, that deals sympathetically with the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius and cynically with the history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula...
 Robert Graves
Robert Graves

Robert Ranke Graves was an England poet, translator and novelist. During his long life, he produced more than 140 works. He was the son of the Anglo-Irish writer Alfred Perceval Graves and Amalie von Ranke, a niece of the famous German historian Leopold von Ranke....
 interprets the name 'Marbod' as meaning "he who walks on the bottom of the lake". If Graves' interpretation is correct it would suggest that Marbod was a devotee of a Germanic
Germanic paganism

Germanic paganism refers to the religion beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. The best documented version of the Germanic pagan religions is 10th and 11th century Norse paganism, though other information can be found from Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
 lake divinity, such as Nerthus
Nerthus

Nerthus is a goddess in Germanic paganism associated with fertility goddess. Nerthus is attested by Tacitus, a 1st Century AD Roman historian, in his work entitled Germania ....
. Graves' meaning of the name may be incorrect because "Maroboduus" can be broken down into two Gaulish words, "maru" which means "great", and "boduus" which means "raven".






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Marbod'
Start a new discussion about 'Marbod'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Marbod or Maroboduus (born c. in 30 BC, died in A.D. 37), was king of the Marcomanni
Marcomanni

The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri , Suebi or Suevi....
. In his novel I, Claudius
I, Claudius

For other uses see I, Claudius .I, Claudius is a novel by England writer Robert Graves, first published in 1934 in literature, that deals sympathetically with the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius and cynically with the history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula...
 Robert Graves
Robert Graves

Robert Ranke Graves was an England poet, translator and novelist. During his long life, he produced more than 140 works. He was the son of the Anglo-Irish writer Alfred Perceval Graves and Amalie von Ranke, a niece of the famous German historian Leopold von Ranke....
 interprets the name 'Marbod' as meaning "he who walks on the bottom of the lake". If Graves' interpretation is correct it would suggest that Marbod was a devotee of a Germanic
Germanic paganism

Germanic paganism refers to the religion beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. The best documented version of the Germanic pagan religions is 10th and 11th century Norse paganism, though other information can be found from Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythology....
 lake divinity, such as Nerthus
Nerthus

Nerthus is a goddess in Germanic paganism associated with fertility goddess. Nerthus is attested by Tacitus, a 1st Century AD Roman historian, in his work entitled Germania ....
. Graves' meaning of the name may be incorrect because "Maroboduus" can be broken down into two Gaulish words, "maru" which means "great", and "boduus" which means "raven". As there was extensive mingling of Germans and Gauls in this period, a German or mixed German-Gaulish tribe led by a man with a Gaulish name would be nothing unusual.

Marbod was born into a noble family of the Marcomanni. As a young man he lived in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 and enjoyed the favour of the Emperor Augustus. The Marcomanni had been beaten utterly by the Romans in 10 BC. About 9 BC Marbod returned to Germany and became ruler of his people. To deal with the threat of Roman
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 expansion into the Rhine
Rhine

File:Swiss Grand Canyon.jpgThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
-Danube
Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
 basin he led the Marcomanni to the area later known as Bohemia
Bohemia

History...
 to be outside the range of the Roman influence. There he took the title of a king and organized a confederation of several neighboring Germanic
Germanic peoples

File:Germanische-ratsversammlung 1-1250x715.jpgThe Germanic peoples are a historical Ethnolinguistics group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European languages Germanic languages which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age....
 tribes. He was the first historical ruler of Bohemia.

Augustus planned in 6 A.D. to destroy the mighty kingdom of Marbod, which he considered to be too dangerous for the Romans. The later Emperor Tiberius
Tiberius

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37....
 commanded twelve legions to attack the Marcomanni. But the outbreak of the Great Illyrian revolt
Great Illyrian revolt

The Great Illyrian Revolt, was a major conflict between an alliance of Illyrian tribes and Roman Empire forces that lasted for four years beginning in AD 6 and ending in AD 9....
 in the back of the Romans forced Tiberius to conclude a treaty with Marbod and to recognize him as king.

Rivalry between him and Arminius
Arminius

Arminius, also known as Armin or Hermann was a chieftain of the Cherusci who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest....
, the Cheruscan
Cherusci

The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the northern Rhine valley and the plains and forests of northwestern Germany, in the area between present-day Osnabr?ck and Hanover), during the 1st century BC and 1st century....
 leader who inflicted the devastating defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place in 9 A.D. when an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius, the son of Segimer of the Cherusci, ambushed and destroyed three Roman Empire Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus....
 on the Romans under Publius Quinctilius Varus
Publius Quinctilius Varus

Publius Quinctilius Varus was a Ancient Rome politician and general under emperor Augustus, mainly remembered for having lost three Roman legions and his own life when attacked by Germanic tribes leader Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest....
 in 9 A.D., prevented a concerted attack on Roman territory across the Rhine in the north (by Arminius) and in the Danube
Danube

The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg River rivers which join at the eponymously named German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows eastwards for a distance...
 basin in the south (by Marbod).

However, according to the first century A.D. historian Marcus Velleius Paterculus
Marcus Velleius Paterculus

Marcus Velleius Paterculus was a Roman Empire historian, also known simply as Velleius. Although his praenomen is given as Marcus by Priscian, some modern scholars identify him with Gaius Velleius Paterculus, whose name occurs in an inscription on a north African milestone ....
 Arminius sent Varus' head to Marbod. But the king of the Marcomanni sent it to Augustus. In the revenge war of Tiberius and Germanicus
Germanicus

Germanicus Julius Caesar Claudianus . Born in Lugdunum, Gaul , was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the early Roman Empire. At birth he was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle and received the agnomen Germanicus, by which he is principally known, in 9 BC, when...
 against the Cherusci Marbod stayed neutral.

In 17 A.D., after Arminius had successfully compelled the Romans to abandon their efforts at conquering northern Germany, war broke out between Arminius and Marbod, and after an indecisive battle Marbod withdrew into the area now known as Bohemia in 18 A.D. In the next year Catualda, a nobleman, who had been exiled by Marbod, returned - perhaps by a subversive Roman intervention - and defeated Marbod. The deposed king had to flee to Italy and Tiberius detained him 18 years in Ravenna
Ravenna

Ravenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire and later the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna....
. There Marbod died in 37 A.D.

External links