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| Provincia Germania Superior | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of theRoman Empire | |||||||
| 85–475 | |||||||
.svg) The province of Germania Superior within the Roman Empire,c. 125 | |||||||
| Capital | Mogontiacum | ||||||
| Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||
• Established after theGallic Wars | 85 | ||||||
| 260–274 | |||||||
| 475 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Today part of | France Germany Switzerland | ||||||
Germania Superior ("UpperGermania") was animperial province of theRoman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the FrenchJura andAlsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities wereBesançon (Vesontio),Strasbourg (Argentoratum),Wiesbaden (Aquae Mattiacae), and Germania Superior's capital,Mainz (Mogontiacum). It comprised theMiddle Rhine, bordering on theLimes Germanicus, and on the Alpine province ofRaetia to the south-east. Although it had been occupied militarily since the reign ofAugustus, Germania Superior (along withGermania Inferior) was not made into an official province until c. 85 AD.[1]
The terms, "Upper Germania" and "Lower Germania" do not appear in theCommentarii de Bello Gallico ofJulius Caesar,[citation needed] yet he writes about reports that the people who lived in those regions were referred to as "Germani" locally, a term used for a tribe that the Romans called theGermani cisrhenani, and that the name Germania seems to have been adopted to designate other indigenous tribes in the area.[2][3] Lower Germania was occupied by theBelgae. Upper Germania was occupied by Gaulish tribes including theHelvetii,Sequani,Leuci, andTreveri, and, on the north bank of the middle Rhine, the remnant of the Germanic troops that had attempted to takeVesontio underAriovistus, but who were defeated by Caesar in 58 BC.
The Romans did not abandon this region at any time after then. During a 5-year period in the initial years of his reign (28–23 BC), asCassius Dio tells us (53.12),Augustus assumed direct governorship of the major senatorial provinces on grounds that they were in danger of insurrection and he alone commanded the troops required to restore security. They were to be restored to the Senate in ten years under proconsuls elected by the Senate.
Among these independent provinces was Upper Germania. Apparently it had become a province in the last years of theRoman Republic.Tacitus also mentions it as the province of Germania Superior in hisAnnales (3.41, 4.73, 13.53). Cassius Dio viewed the Germanic tribes as Celts, an impression given perhaps by Belgica, the name assigned to lower Germania at the time. Dio does not mention the border, but he views upper Germany as extending to the source of the Rhine. It is not clear if he was aware of the Upper Rhine in Switzerland, upstream from Lake Constance. Today the section of the Rhine running through upper Germania is called the middle Rhine.
Augustus had planned to incorporate all of central Germania in one province, Germania Magna. This plan was frustrated by the Germanic tribesmen at theBattle of the Teutoburg Forest. Augustus decided to limit the empire at the Rhine-Danube border. Thereafter continual conflict prevailed along it, forcing the Romans to conduct punitive expeditions and fortify Germania Superior.
By 12 BC, major bases existed atXanten (Castra Vetera) andMainz (Mogontiacum), from whichDrusus operated. A system of forts gradually developed around these bases. In 69–70, all the Roman fortications along theRhine andDanube were destroyed by Germanic insurrections andcivil war between the legions. At the conclusion of this violent but brief social storm they were rebuilt more extensively than before, with a road connecting Mainz andAugsburg (Augusta Vindelicorum).
Domitian went to war against theChatti in 83–85, who were north ofFrankfurt (inHesse named after them). At this time the first line, or continuous fortified border, was constructed. It consisted of a cleared zone of observation, apalisade where practicable, wooden watchtowers and forts at the road crossings. At the end of the war against the Chatti Germania Superior was reestablished as anImperial Roman province in 85, taking large amounts of territory fromGallia Lugdunensis. TheHelvetii settlement area also became part of the province ofGermania Superior.
The system reached maximum extent by 90. A Roman road went through theOdenwald and a network of secondary roads connected all the forts and towers. The future EmperorTrajan ruled the province from 96 until his accession in 98.
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The plan governing the development of the limes was relatively simple. From a strategic point of view, theAgri Decumates, or region between the Rhine and Danube, offers a bulge in the line between the Celts and the Germans, which the Germans had tried to exploit under Ariovistus. The bulge divided the densely populated Celtic settlements along the entire river system in two. Invading forces could move up under cover of the Black Forest. Roman defensive works therefore cut across the base of the bulge, denying the protected corridor and shortening the line.
The key point was the shoulder of the bulge at Mogontiacum (Mainz) where themasse de manoevre or strategic reserves were located. The forts through the forest were relatively lightly defended and on that account were always being burned by the Alamanni. They gave advance notice, however. On being notified, the legions would strike out in preventative and punitive expeditions from Mainz or Strasburg, or Augsburg on the other side.
The entire system could only succeed if heavy troop concentrations were kept at Mainz. Fixed defenses alone are not much of a defense, in either ancient or modern times. Other forces are required for attack. At best the fixed defenses serve to warn or delay until a counterattack can be launched. For more complete details on the development of the limes, or frontier, seeLimes Germanicus.
In the subsequent peaceful years, the limes lost its temporary character. Vici, or communities, developed around the forts. By 150, the towers and the bases had been rebuilt in stone. The soldiers now lived in good stone barracks within walls decorated by frescoes. Germanic civilization had changed as well. Where Caesar had described burning the wretched brush hovels of theSuebi who had come to fight for Ariovistus, theChatti and theAlamanni now lived in comfortable Romanized villages around the limes.
Post 400, as Rome slowly was losing control over its northernmost provinces over a period of 50 years, the southern (Swiss) parts of Germania Superior were incorporated into theProvincia Maxima Sequanorum before they became part ofBurgundy in the early 5th century. The northern parts became part ofAlemannia.
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