Vidrus
Encyclopedia
The Vidrus fluvius, Greek Ouidros potamos, is a river of Ptolemy
's Geographia
(2.10) located in greater Germany
. Its exact location is not known for certain, but it must be in the lowlands.
Ptolemy places the mouth of the Vidrus next to the mouth of the Rhine. Next in order follows a port, Marnamanis, and then the mouth of the Amisius, or Ems. The next river in that direction is the Visurgis, which has to be the Weser River
. Based on the similarity of the name, some have identified the Vidrus with the Weser. The evidence, however, is all to the contrary. The two words are probably not related.
By mouth of the Rhine, Ptolemy probably meant the mouth of the IJssel, which flows from the Rhine near Arnhem
. The Romans knew it as the Flevus. It did not originally connect to the Rhine, but the Romans themselves joined the two with a canal. This waterway gave them an outlet to the IJsselmeer
, formerly the Zuider Zee
, which the Romans called Flevus Lacus. They maintained a fleet on it.
That the Vidrus was between the Rhine and the Ems is indicated by a touching story in Book I of the Annals of Tacitus
. In 9 AD the Romans had lost 3 legions in the Teutoburg Forest
at what is now Bramsche east of the Ems. The commander, Publius Quinctilius Varus
, was lured into the swamps by his friend and former ally of Rome, Arminius
(Hermann). Not having a place to stand, and caught by surprise, the Romans were massacred.
Six years later, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, as consul, was conducting further operations against the Germans with the commander of the army of lower Rhine, Aulus Caecina
. Augustus
was gone and Tiberius
, Germanicus' brother, was emperor. Deciding to forestall a new Germanic conspiracy, Germanicus sent Caecina to the Ems from further up the Rhine, through the country of the Bructeri
, which Caecina devastated. Germanicus embarked more troops and sailed from Flevus up the Ems to join forces.
While on the Ems they decided visit the site of the famous battle, the first Roman forces to do so. They found the scene just as Arminius had left it, with the bones of thousands of men piled around and in their former camp. In an emotional scene they buried the remains in a mass grave, on which Germanicus himself placed the first clod. They were prevented from further operations by Arminius, who was dogging them with a new army. Not being able to fight in the swamp, Germanicus sent Caecina back through it to repair the causeway. He embarked the rest of the troops. Caecina was ambushed by Arminius in the swamp but this time the Romans were victorious.
While in the IJsselmeer, Germanicus found the water too shallow for the heavily laden troop ships, so he disembarked many of them to walk back to the Flevus along the beach. A storm came up and inundated the entire region through which they were passing. Many drowned. The next day the land was exposed again and they came to the Vidrus River. The only river that fits this story is the Vecht. Most scholars (including Smith, Van der Aa, Bruijnesteijn and Anthon) equate Vecht and Vidrus.
There is a sort of partial confirmation in the map and commentary of Ortelius, which was published in a number of editions, 1570 on. In the commentary on the map of Friesland
, he points out that the Zuider Zee was not there in ancient times, but was created by a storm subsequently, perhaps of the sort that drowned Germanicus' men. Their route along the then beach along with the harbor of Marnamanis must be under the waves, unless we are to dig for them under the polder
s.
Ortelius says that the Vidrus was the old name for the Regge, a tributary of the Vecht. However, Germanicus' men could not have walked the beach to the Regge. Vidrus must have applied to the whole river.
Etymologically Vidrus is close to Indo-European
*wod-or, which becomes Germanic *watar by Grimm's Law
. The d stays on for Germanic *wed-, becoming wet, and there is an –sk- form as well, *wat-skan, "to wash", which might account for the Vecht form. A derivation from "water" is consistent with Ortelius' statement that parts of Holland were called "Waterland."
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Geographia
Geographia (Ptolemy)
The Geography is Ptolemy's main work besides the Almagest...
(2.10) located in greater Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Its exact location is not known for certain, but it must be in the lowlands.
Ptolemy places the mouth of the Vidrus next to the mouth of the Rhine. Next in order follows a port, Marnamanis, and then the mouth of the Amisius, or Ems. The next river in that direction is the Visurgis, which has to be the Weser River
Weser River
The Weser is a river in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann. Münden by the Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the historic port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport...
. Based on the similarity of the name, some have identified the Vidrus with the Weser. The evidence, however, is all to the contrary. The two words are probably not related.
By mouth of the Rhine, Ptolemy probably meant the mouth of the IJssel, which flows from the Rhine near Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
. The Romans knew it as the Flevus. It did not originally connect to the Rhine, but the Romans themselves joined the two with a canal. This waterway gave them an outlet to the IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer is a shallow artificial lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. The IJsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe....
, formerly the Zuider Zee
Zuider Zee
The Zuiderzee was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km inland and at most 50 km wide, with an overall depth of about 4 to 5 metres and a coastline of about 300 km . It covered...
, which the Romans called Flevus Lacus. They maintained a fleet on it.
That the Vidrus was between the Rhine and the Ems is indicated by a touching story in Book I of the Annals of Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
. In 9 AD the Romans had lost 3 legions in the Teutoburg Forest
Teutoburg Forest
The Teutoburg Forest is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia which used to be believed to be the scene of a decisive battle in AD 9...
at what is now Bramsche east of the Ems. The commander, Publius Quinctilius Varus
Publius Quinctilius Varus
Publius Quinctilius Varus was a Roman politician and general under Emperor Augustus, mainly remembered for having lost three Roman legions and his own life when attacked by Germanic leader Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.-Life:His paternal grandfather was senator Sextus Quinctilius...
, was lured into the swamps by his friend and former ally of Rome, Arminius
Arminius
Arminius , also known as Armin or Hermann was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest...
(Hermann). Not having a place to stand, and caught by surprise, the Romans were massacred.
Six years later, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, as consul, was conducting further operations against the Germans with the commander of the army of lower Rhine, Aulus Caecina
Aulus Caecina
Aulus Caecina, son of Aulus Caecina who was defended by Cicero in a speech still extant, took the side of Pompey in the civil wars, and published a violent tirade against Caesar, for which he was banished....
. Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
was gone and Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, Germanicus' brother, was emperor. Deciding to forestall a new Germanic conspiracy, Germanicus sent Caecina to the Ems from further up the Rhine, through the country of the Bructeri
Bructeri
The Bructeri were a Germanic tribe located in northwestern Germany , between the Lippe and Ems rivers south of the Teutoburg Forest, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia around 100 BC through 350 AD....
, which Caecina devastated. Germanicus embarked more troops and sailed from Flevus up the Ems to join forces.
While on the Ems they decided visit the site of the famous battle, the first Roman forces to do so. They found the scene just as Arminius had left it, with the bones of thousands of men piled around and in their former camp. In an emotional scene they buried the remains in a mass grave, on which Germanicus himself placed the first clod. They were prevented from further operations by Arminius, who was dogging them with a new army. Not being able to fight in the swamp, Germanicus sent Caecina back through it to repair the causeway. He embarked the rest of the troops. Caecina was ambushed by Arminius in the swamp but this time the Romans were victorious.
While in the IJsselmeer, Germanicus found the water too shallow for the heavily laden troop ships, so he disembarked many of them to walk back to the Flevus along the beach. A storm came up and inundated the entire region through which they were passing. Many drowned. The next day the land was exposed again and they came to the Vidrus River. The only river that fits this story is the Vecht. Most scholars (including Smith, Van der Aa, Bruijnesteijn and Anthon) equate Vecht and Vidrus.
There is a sort of partial confirmation in the map and commentary of Ortelius, which was published in a number of editions, 1570 on. In the commentary on the map of Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
, he points out that the Zuider Zee was not there in ancient times, but was created by a storm subsequently, perhaps of the sort that drowned Germanicus' men. Their route along the then beach along with the harbor of Marnamanis must be under the waves, unless we are to dig for them under the polder
Polder
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...
s.
Ortelius says that the Vidrus was the old name for the Regge, a tributary of the Vecht. However, Germanicus' men could not have walked the beach to the Regge. Vidrus must have applied to the whole river.
Etymologically Vidrus is close to Indo-European
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
*wod-or, which becomes Germanic *watar by Grimm's Law
Grimm's law
Grimm's law , named for Jacob Grimm, is a set of statements describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European stops as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC...
. The d stays on for Germanic *wed-, becoming wet, and there is an –sk- form as well, *wat-skan, "to wash", which might account for the Vecht form. A derivation from "water" is consistent with Ortelius' statement that parts of Holland were called "Waterland."