TheChasuarii were a Roman eraGermanic people known mainly from the report of one author,Tacitus, who wrote in late first century AD. At least in the time of Tacitus, they lived in present day north Germany.
Since the 19th century the name has been interpreted as indicating that the Chasuarii lived near the riverHase, which feeds into theEms. There is a proposed Germanic etymology for the name of this river, which connects it to the word for a grey colour. The second component of the name was common among the neighbouring Germanic peoples in the first century, such as theAmpsivarii,Chattuari, andAngrivarii, and it is believed to have meant "dwellers" or "inhabitants".[1]
This means they lived near modernOsnabrück, west of theWeser.[2]
Although the theory is not widely accepted, the Chasuarii have occasionally been equated to theChattuari, based on similarity of names.[3]
Tacitus in hisGermania (Chapter34) says they lived north of theAngrivarii andChamavi. Also north of the Angrivarii and Chamavi were the Dulgubnii, although the position of the Dulgubnii was reported byPtolemy to be east of the Weser.[4]
At that time Tacitus wrote, he reported that the Angrivarii and Chamavi had invaded the area once belonging to theBructeri, between Ems, Weser andLippe).[5]
To the north of these peoples, on the coast of theNorth Sea, were theChauci. According to Tacitus, the Chauci in his time also stretched down to border upon the lands of theCherusci (north of theHarz mountains) andChatti (in modernHessen).[6]
Claudius Ptolemy in his 2nd-centuryGeography placed Chasuarii (Κασουάροι), east of theTencteri andAbnoba mountains, which he described as running north-south and parallel with the Rhine. There is no consensus about how to interpret this information.[7]
The Chasuarii were also mentioned centuries later in theLaterculus Veronensis, which was made about 314 AD. It mentions thecivitas (tribal district) of the "Casuari" as one of 5 such tribal districts east of the Rhine which had once been part of the empire, under the jurisdiction ofMainz on theRhine, until they were invaded by barbarians in the time of emperorGallienus, who ruled 254-268 AD. It is therefore considered possible that the Chasuarii migrated southwards into previously Roman lands during theCrisis of the Third Century.[8]
