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Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon (Vesontio), Strasbourg (Argentoratum), Wiesbaden (Aquae Mattiacae), and Germania Superior's capital, Mainz (Mogontiacum). It comprised the Middle Rhine, bordering on the Limes Germanicus, and on the Alpine province of Raetia to the south-east. Although it had been occupied militarily since the reign of Augustus, Germania Superior (along with Germania Inferior) was not made into an official province until c. 85 AD.
Provincia Germania Superior | |||||||
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Province of the Roman Empire | |||||||
85–475 | |||||||
![]() The province of Germania Superior within the Roman Empire, c. 125 | |||||||
Capital | Mogontiacum | ||||||
Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||
• Established after the Gallic wars | 85 | ||||||
• Gallic Empire | 260–274 | ||||||
• Frankish Empire | 475 | ||||||
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Today part of | France Germany Switzerland |

Origin
Initial Roman involvement
The terms, "Upper Germania" and "Lower Germania" do not appear in the Commentarii de Bello Gallico of Julius 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 the Germani cisrhenani, and that the name Germania seems to have been adopted to designate other indigenous tribes in the area. Lower Germania was occupied by the Belgae. Upper Germania was occupied by Gaulish tribes including the Helvetii, Sequani, Leuci, and Treveri, and, on the north bank of the middle Rhine, the remnant of the Germanic troops that had attempted to take Vesontio under Ariovistus, 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), as Cassius 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 the Roman Republic. Tacitus also mentions it as the province of Germania Superior in his Annales (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.
Limit of the empire
Augustus had planned to incorporate all of central Germania in one province, Germania Magna. This plan was frustrated by the Germanic tribesmen at the Battle 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 at Xanten (Castra Vetera) and Mainz (Mogontiacum), from which Drusus operated. A system of forts gradually developed around these bases. In 69–70, all the Roman fortications along the Rhine and Danube were destroyed by Germanic insurrections and civil 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 and Augsburg (Augusta Vindelicorum).
Domitian went to war against the Chatti in 83–85, who were north of Frankfurt (in Hesse named after them). At this time the first line, or continuous fortified border, was constructed. It consisted of a cleared zone of observation, a palisade where practicable, wooden watchtowers and forts at the road crossings. At the end of the war against the Chatti Germania Superior was reestablished as an Imperial Roman province in 85, taking large amounts of territory from Gallia Lugdunensis. The Helvetii settlement area also became part of the province of Germania Superior.
The system reached maximum extent by 90. A Roman road went through the Odenwald and a network of secondary roads connected all the forts and towers. The future Emperor Trajan ruled the province from 96 until his accession in 98.
Defensive strategy
The plan governing the development of the limes was relatively simple. From a strategic point of view, the Agri Decumates, or region between the Rhine and Danube, offers a bulge in the line between the Celts and the Germanics, which the Germanics 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 the masse 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, see Limes 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 the Suebi who had come to fight for Ariovistus, the Chatti and the Alamanni now lived in comfortable Romanized villages around the limes.
End of the province
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 the Provincia Maxima Sequanorum before they became part of Burgundy in the early 5th century. The northern parts became part of Alemannia.
Governors of Germania Superior
- Gaius Silius AD 14–16
- Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus 29–39
- Servius Sulpicius Galba, 39–41, later emperor in 69.
- Publius Pomponius Secundus 50–54[citation needed]
- Hordeonius Flaccus c. 69
- Gaius Dillius Vocula 69–70
- Appius Annius Gallus 70–72
- Gnaeus Pinarius Cornelius Clemens 72–75
- Quintus Corellius Rufus 79–83
- Lucius Antonius Saturninus 87–89
- Gaius Octavius Tidius Tossianus Lucius Javolenus Priscus 89–92
- Sextus Lusianus Proculus 93–96
- Marcus Ulpius Traianus 96–97; better known as Trajan
- Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus 97/98
- Ignotus 110–112
- Kan[us Junius Niger] 116–118
- Gaius Quinctius Certus Poblicius Marcellus Between 121 and 128
- [...]ius Celer 128/129-130/131
- Tiberius Claudius Quartinus 134 – 13?
- Titus Caesernius Statianus c. 149 – c. 152
- Gaius Popilius Carus Pedo c. 152 – c. 155
- Lucius Dasumius Tullius Tuscus c. 155 – c. 158
- Gaius Aufidius Victorinus c. 162 – c. 166
- Lucius Victorinus Flavius Caelianus c. 166 – c. 169
- Caerellius Priscus, name uncertain; possibly c. 174 – c. 177
- Publius Cornelius Anullinus c. 177 – c. 180
- Marcus Helvius Clemens Dextrianus From 187
- Gaius Caesonius Macer Rufinianus c. 200 – c. 203
- Titus Statilius Barbarus c. 203
- Quintus Aiacius Modestus Crescentianus c. 206 – 209
- [...] Avitius Attested 28 March 213
- Quintus Junius [...] Quintianus Attested October 213
- Claudius Aelius Pollio c. 218
- Maximus Attianus Attested 28 March 229
- Sextus Catius Clementinus Priscillianus c. 231
Civitates
- Ladenburg (Lopodunum) = Civitas Ulpia Sueborum Nicretum;
- Wimpfen = Civitas Alisinensium;
- Stuttgart = Cannstatt Castrum
- Rottenburg (Sumelocenna) = Civitas Sumelocennensis;
- Rottweil (Arae Flaviae)
- Baden-Baden (Aquae) = Civitas Aquensis;
- Mainz (Mogontiacum) = Civitas Aresacium;
- Worms (Borbetomagus) = Civitas Vangionum;
- Speyer (Noviomagus) = Civitas Nemetum;
- Wiesbaden (Mattiacorum) = Civitas Mattiacorum;
- Heddernheim (Nida) = Civitas Taunensium;
- Dieburg = Civitas Auderiensium
See also
- List of Germanic peoples
- Heremus Helvetiorum
Notes
References
- Rüger, C. (2004) [1996]. "Germany". In Alan K. Bowman; Edward Champlin; Andrew Lintott (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: X, The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69. Vol. 10 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 526–528. ISBN 0-521-26430-8.
- Schulze, Hagen (1998). Germany: A New History. Harvard University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-674-80688-3. OCLC 39042956.
- Hoad, T. F., ed. (2003) [1st pub. 1996]. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (online ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 641. doi:10.1093/acref/9780192830982.001.0001. ISBN 9780192830982. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
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ignored (help) - M. Gwyn Morgan, 69 AD: The Year of Four Emperors, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 27.
- Unless otherwise noted, governors from 69 to 112 are taken from Eck, Werner (1982). "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139". Chiron. 12: 281–362. ISBN 3406078524. ISSN 0069-3715. OCLC 932001499.
- Weiß, Peter (2004). "Ein neuer Legat Domitians von Germania superior in einem Militärdiplom: Sex. Lusianus Proculus". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. Band 147: 229–234.
- Eck, Werner (2004). "Diplome, Konsuln und Statthalter: Fortschritte und Probleme der kaiserzeitlichen Prosopographie". Chiron. 34: 25–44, here page 37.
- Unless otherwise noted, governors from 116 to 135 are taken from Eck, Werner (1983). "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139, II". Chiron. 13. Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck: 147–237. ISBN 3406093337. ISSN 0069-3715. OCLC 932001499.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link) - Unless otherwise noted, governors from 149 to 180 are taken from Alföldy, Géza (1977). Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter den Antoninen [Consuls and Senators under the Antonine Emperors]. Volume 27 of Antiquitas: Abhandlungen zur Alten Geschichte [Antiquitas: Essays on Ancient History] (in German). Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag. pp. 228–229. ISBN 978-3-7749-1334-9. OCLC 299616620. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
- Leunissen, Paul M.M. (1989). Konsuln und konsulare in der zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander: 180–235 n. Chr. Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archaeology. Vol. VI. Amsterdam: Verlag J.C. Gieben. pp. 245–247. ISBN 90-6053-028-6. OCLC 803822187.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
Further reading
- Valerie M. Hope: Constructing Identity: The Roman Funerary Monuments of Aquelia, Mainz and Nimes; British Archaeological Reports (16. Juli 2001) ISBN 978-1-84171-180-5
External links
- The Fleets and Roman Border Policy
- LIMES GERMANIAE SUPERIORIS Germany.
This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this article Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Germania Superior news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2013 Learn how and when to remove this message Germania Superior Upper Germania was an imperial province of the Roman Empire It comprised an area of today s western Switzerland the French Jura and Alsace regions and southwestern Germany Important cities were Besancon Vesontio Strasbourg Argentoratum Wiesbaden Aquae Mattiacae and Germania Superior s capital Mainz Mogontiacum It comprised the Middle Rhine bordering on the Limes Germanicus and on the Alpine province of Raetia to the south east Although it had been occupied militarily since the reign of Augustus Germania Superior along with Germania Inferior was not made into an official province until c 85 AD Provincia Germania SuperiorProvince of the Roman Empire85 475The province of Germania Superior within the Roman Empire c 125CapitalMogontiacumHistorical eraAntiquity Established after the Gallic wars85 Gallic Empire260 274 Frankish Empire475Succeeded byFrankish EmpireToday part ofFrance Germany SwitzerlandThe Roman empire in the time of Hadrian ruled AD 117 138 showing on the upper Rhine river the imperial province of Germania Superior Franche Comte Alsace Lorraine Baden Wurttemberg and the two legions deployed there in 125OriginInitial Roman involvement The terms Upper Germania and Lower Germania do not appear in the Commentarii de Bello Gallico of Julius 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 the Germani cisrhenani and that the name Germania seems to have been adopted to designate other indigenous tribes in the area Lower Germania was occupied by the Belgae Upper Germania was occupied by Gaulish tribes including the Helvetii Sequani Leuci and Treveri and on the north bank of the middle Rhine the remnant of the Germanic troops that had attempted to take Vesontio under Ariovistus 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 as Cassius 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 the Roman Republic Tacitus also mentions it as the province of Germania Superior in his Annales 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 Limit of the empire Northern part of the province with the Limes Germanicus Augustus had planned to incorporate all of central Germania in one province Germania Magna This plan was frustrated by the Germanic tribesmen at the Battle 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 at Xanten Castra Vetera and Mainz Mogontiacum from which Drusus operated A system of forts gradually developed around these bases In 69 70 all the Roman fortications along the Rhine and Danube were destroyed by Germanic insurrections and civil 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 and Augsburg Augusta Vindelicorum Domitian went to war against the Chatti in 83 85 who were north of Frankfurt in Hesse named after them At this time the first line or continuous fortified border was constructed It consisted of a cleared zone of observation a palisade where practicable wooden watchtowers and forts at the road crossings At the end of the war against the Chatti Germania Superior was reestablished as an Imperial Roman province in 85 taking large amounts of territory from Gallia Lugdunensis The Helvetii settlement area also became part of the province of Germania Superior The system reached maximum extent by 90 A Roman road went through the Odenwald and a network of secondary roads connected all the forts and towers The future Emperor Trajan ruled the province from 96 until his accession in 98 Defensive strategy Germania Superior and Germania Inferior in the 3rd century The plan governing the development of the limes was relatively simple From a strategic point of view the Agri Decumates or region between the Rhine and Danube offers a bulge in the line between the Celts and the Germanics which the Germanics 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 the masse 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 see Limes 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 the Suebi who had come to fight for Ariovistus the Chatti and the Alamanni now lived in comfortable Romanized villages around the limes End of the provincePost 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 the Provincia Maxima Sequanorum before they became part of Burgundy in the early 5th century The northern parts became part of Alemannia Governors of Germania SuperiorGaius Silius AD 14 16 Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus 29 39 Servius Sulpicius Galba 39 41 later emperor in 69 Publius Pomponius Secundus 50 54 citation needed Hordeonius Flaccus c 69 Gaius Dillius Vocula 69 70 Appius Annius Gallus 70 72 Gnaeus Pinarius Cornelius Clemens 72 75 Quintus Corellius Rufus 79 83 Lucius Antonius Saturninus 87 89 Gaius Octavius Tidius Tossianus Lucius Javolenus Priscus 89 92 Sextus Lusianus Proculus 93 96 Marcus Ulpius Traianus 96 97 better known as Trajan Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus 97 98 Ignotus 110 112 Kan us Junius Niger 116 118 Gaius Quinctius Certus Poblicius Marcellus Between 121 and 128 ius Celer 128 129 130 131 Tiberius Claudius Quartinus 134 13 Titus Caesernius Statianus c 149 c 152 Gaius Popilius Carus Pedo c 152 c 155 Lucius Dasumius Tullius Tuscus c 155 c 158 Gaius Aufidius Victorinus c 162 c 166 Lucius Victorinus Flavius Caelianus c 166 c 169 Caerellius Priscus name uncertain possibly c 174 c 177 Publius Cornelius Anullinus c 177 c 180 Marcus Helvius Clemens Dextrianus From 187 Gaius Caesonius Macer Rufinianus c 200 c 203 Titus Statilius Barbarus c 203 Quintus Aiacius Modestus Crescentianus c 206 209 Avitius Attested 28 March 213 Quintus Junius Quintianus Attested October 213 Claudius Aelius Pollio c 218 Maximus Attianus Attested 28 March 229 Sextus Catius Clementinus Priscillianus c 231CivitatesLadenburg Lopodunum Civitas Ulpia Sueborum Nicretum Wimpfen Civitas Alisinensium Stuttgart Cannstatt Castrum Rottenburg Sumelocenna Civitas Sumelocennensis Rottweil Arae Flaviae Baden Baden Aquae Civitas Aquensis Mainz Mogontiacum Civitas Aresacium Worms Borbetomagus Civitas Vangionum Speyer Noviomagus Civitas Nemetum Wiesbaden Mattiacorum Civitas Mattiacorum Heddernheim Nida Civitas Taunensium Dieburg Civitas AuderiensiumSee alsoList of Germanic peoples Heremus HelvetiorumNotesReferencesRuger C 2004 1996 Germany In Alan K Bowman Edward Champlin Andrew Lintott eds The Cambridge Ancient History X The Augustan Empire 43 B C A D 69 Vol 10 2nd ed Cambridge University Press pp 526 528 ISBN 0 521 26430 8 Schulze Hagen 1998 Germany A New History Harvard University Press p 4 ISBN 0 674 80688 3 OCLC 39042956 Hoad T F ed 2003 1st pub 1996 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology online ed Oxford England Oxford University Press p 641 doi 10 1093 acref 9780192830982 001 0001 ISBN 9780192830982 Retrieved 2016 10 01 a href wiki Template Cite book title Template Cite book cite book a website ignored help M Gwyn Morgan 69 AD The Year of Four Emperors Oxford University Press 2006 p 27 Unless otherwise noted governors from 69 to 112 are taken from Eck Werner 1982 Jahres und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69 70 bis 138 139 Chiron 12 281 362 ISBN 3406078524 ISSN 0069 3715 OCLC 932001499 Weiss Peter 2004 Ein neuer Legat Domitians von Germania superior in einem Militardiplom Sex Lusianus Proculus Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik Band 147 229 234 Eck Werner 2004 Diplome Konsuln und Statthalter Fortschritte und Probleme der kaiserzeitlichen Prosopographie Chiron 34 25 44 here page 37 Unless otherwise noted governors from 116 to 135 are taken from Eck Werner 1983 Jahres und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69 70 bis 138 139 II Chiron 13 Munich Verlag C H Beck 147 237 ISBN 3406093337 ISSN 0069 3715 OCLC 932001499 a href wiki Template Cite journal title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint ignored ISBN errors link Unless otherwise noted governors from 149 to 180 are taken from Alfoldy Geza 1977 Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter den Antoninen Consuls and Senators under the Antonine Emperors Volume 27 of Antiquitas Abhandlungen zur Alten Geschichte Antiquitas Essays on Ancient History in German Bonn Rudolf Habelt Verlag pp 228 229 ISBN 978 3 7749 1334 9 OCLC 299616620 Retrieved 12 April 2017 Leunissen Paul M M 1989 Konsuln und konsulare in der zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander 180 235 n Chr Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archaeology Vol VI Amsterdam Verlag J C Gieben pp 245 247 ISBN 90 6053 028 6 OCLC 803822187 a href wiki Template Cite book title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint ignored ISBN errors link Further readingValerie M Hope Constructing Identity The Roman Funerary Monuments of Aquelia Mainz and Nimes British Archaeological Reports 16 Juli 2001 ISBN 978 1 84171 180 5External linksThe Fleets and Roman Border Policy LIMES GERMANIAE SUPERIORIS Germany