Romans, Germans and Celts

1. Romans, GermansandCelts Paragraph 4.5

2. Romans in the Netherlands • The Romans conquered a part of the area that is nowcalled the Netherlands. • People lived on mounds or dunesbecause of floodings.

3. Caesar conquered the southern part of the Netherlands in 57 BC. • Alltribes in southand west, werecalled: Gauls or Celts. • Tribes in the northwerecalled: Germans. • (= Germanen)

4. Celts + Germanslived in agrariansocieties. • (= landbouw samenleving) • Because of Caesar, they had togive a part of theirharvestto the soldiers. • 54 BC: a revoltstartedagainst the Romans. • Thousands of Romans werekilled.

5. Caesar tookrevenge: allinhabitantswere taken away as slaves or killed. • Othertribeswerenowwelcometo live there. • New Germanictribecame: Batavi ( =Bataven)

6. On the border: (=grens) • The Romans wantedto go higherto the north. • But above the RhinelivedveryaggressiveGermanictribes. • The Romans decidedthat the Rhinewouldbe the border, calledLimes. • So the north never belongedto the Roman Empire.

7. The people in the northwerecalled: Frisians. • South of the border livedtribeslike the Bataviand the Cananefates. • The Romans made analliancewith the Batavi: • Theycould live near the border of the empire, anddidn’t have topaytaxes. • In return: theyhelpedtodefend the border.

8. The Batavihelped, but in 69 AD theyrebelledagainst the Romans, becausetheybelieved the Romans didn’ttreatthem well. • Theirrebellion was led by Julius Civilis. • He worked in the Roman army.

9. The emporer sent new troopsto the border, and Julius Civilisdecidedtonegotiate. • Both sides concluded a new treaty, andagreedtohonourtheiroldagreements.

10. Roman cities • Along the Limes, manyfortsandcampswere built. • New citiescame: • Trajectum (=Utrtecht) • Mosa Trajectum( = Maastricht) • Largestcity: Noviomagus ( = Nijmegen)

11. These cities had Roman temples, bath housesandhouseswith running water andcentralheating. • We alsogotroadsandbridges. • Along the roadsweremilestoneswith the distancebetween 2 stones on it.

12. The roadswereusedfor the army, communicationandtrade.

13. The GermansandCeltsadopted the Roman monetaryeconomyandtheircoins. • There was tradewithtribesfrom the north side of the border, e.g. forcowhides.

14. Massmigrations • 3rd century: problemsstarted in the empire = • Epidemicskilled a lot of people. • Lessproductionandlesstrade. • Manyemperors in Rome diedshortlyaftereachother.

15. At the same time, massmigrationsstarted. • Tribeslike the Francs and the Alamanniforcedtheir way into the empire. • Theydestroyed a lot of things on their way to Spain and Italy.

16. 248: EmperorDiocletianrestored order in the empire. • The peacelastedfor 100 years.

17. Emperor Constantine turned the city of Byzantiuminto the new capital in the east: Constantinople ( = nowInstanbul)

18. The fall of Rome • 450: New massmigrationsstarted. • FromAsianstepps ( = steppen/ vlakten) the nomadictribe The Hunscameto the west. • Theyused a lot of violence. • Othertribeslike the Gothswereafraid of them.

19. 395: The empire was split in 2 parts. • It was too big tomaintain as it was. • Western Roman empire: capital Rome • Eastern Roman Empire: capitalConstantinople. • Twoempires, with 2 emperors.

20. After the split, things went bad in the western part: • Rome was 2 timesplunderedbytribes. • The Huns, led byAtilla, invadedGaul. • ( beatenbyGermanictribes in 451)

21. Meanwhile, Germanictribesfoundedtheirownkingdoms in the west. • 467: Germans in Italy overthrew the emperorandreplacedhimwiththeirownking. • This was the end of the Western Roman Empire, after 1000 years. • The eastern part of the empire lastedforanother 1000 years.

22. The end