i think the acting was great , samara weaving was spectacularly feral as usual felt like the script was weak in some places but overall a great effort, loved sarah michelle gellar, she had me WEAK really wanted some grace x ursula action like the fics are being written in my head as they come especially there’s so much possibility for angst if we don’t kill ursula also the kills were more exciting and different this time it was fun, watching too much of the pitt definitely made me that person that went like that’s not medically accurate even tho i’m not a real doctor also there is a possibility of exploring a part three where the sisters get haunted or can kill the shitfuck annoying nodding dude the le bail altogether like end this shit once and for all
AND DADDY TITUS WAS DADDYING STRAIGHT TO SATAN’S PANTIES LIKE HERE I COME, OH I DEFINITELY CAME
The Battle of the Weser River (a.k.a Idistaviso) - Research post for VTitusToTheMax
{Seriously, dude, get yourself a submissions page or something :-P}
Introduction
- Sarcophagus image of battle between Scythians and Amazons
In AD 16, a force of Roman Legions defeated a confederation of German tribes in the hinterland beyond the border of the River Rhine, the boundary of the Roman empire. This was the culmination of three sets of punitive campaigning into "free" germania by the Roman Commander, Germanicus, heir apparent to the Emperor Tiberius.
The battle was a decisive win for the Romans; as the Roman historian Tacitus puts it, writing 200 years after the fact, "from nine in the morning to nightfall the enemy were slaughtered, and ten miles were covered with arms and dead bodies, while there were found amid the plunder the chains which the Germans had brought with them for the Romans, as though the issue were certain" (Annals 2.18). However, this was a battle shot through with more than simple casualty figures, and the victory for Rome was more than a simple display of superiority.
The Legacy of the Teutoberg
- Basically, they're fucked.
The head of the German force, and principle actor behind the coalition that had faced the Romans on that day, was called Arminius, chief of the Cherusci. He had been sent to Rome with his brother Flavus as a hostage when he was younger, and grown up in and around the imperial palace. Then, in 9 AD, he accompanied the XVII, XVIII and XIX legions into Germany. The force was commanded by Publius Quinctillius Varus, a decorated general who had recently put down the riots in Judea after the death of Herod the Great. Arminus was meant to act as a guide for the Roman forces as they pushed into the uncharted German forests. Instead, he led them straight into a pre-arranged ambush.
The battle of the Teutoberg forest was one of the most devastating defeats the Romans ever suffered. 15,000 of the best troops in the known world, under one of their most capable commanders, along with local auxiliaries, were cut apart by a rag-tag force of forest-fighters, whose only clothing was warpaint and the gathering night, and whose only training was years of survival in the deep forests. Fewer than a thousand roman troops made it back to the rhine, as they were hunted for sport on the way back, discarding their shields and bright roman armour until the creatures that reached the Rhine boundary barely resembled humans, let alone the Marines of the Roman world.
Rome was devastated by the loss. The Emperor Augustus was thrown into a despair that he would never really recover from before his death, five years later; heard to wander the halls at night, sleepless, crying out "Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!" The Rhine affixed itself in the Roman imagination as the frontier, the end of the line - to attempt to make ground beyond it was an act of hubris.
It was not the loss of manpower that caused the Teutoberg to take on such a significance. Rather, it was the loss of the legionary standards, the Eagles, the spiritual heart and soul of the Roman fighting force. When the eagles were carried into battle, everything that Rome was, had done, and aspired to accomplish, was carried with them. The loss of an eagle a stain on the honour of Rome, and of the legion that had lost it. The loss of three eagles to what amounted to a glorified bunch of highwaymen was more than a slap in the face - it was a cultural wound hacked across the face of the empire.
In AD 16, on the banks of the Weser, that wound was closed with German blood. In the aftermath of the battle, the site of the Teutoberg massacre was found, and the bodies buried. At least one of the eagles was recovered from the battlefield, where the Cherusci had been using it as a standard of their own to taunt their foe. Arminius fled the battle, and was later killed by court machinations as German federal politics swung in favour of the Romans.
The battle of the Weser was more than a simple victory. It also represented revenge and closure for the battle of the Teutoberg, seven years earlier.
The Legions
- Chaos descends on the battlefield as local horse-rustling rings strikes again
Tactitus reckons that there were four legions present at the battle of the Weser, though he neglects to mention which, along with two "praetorian" cohorts. The praetorians were crack troops dedicated to protecting the emperor - a personal bodyguard of 1,000 of the deadliest fighters in Europe.
For this campaign, the legions would most likely have been drawn from those stationed on the Rhine boundary, in the provinces of Upper and Lower Germania, Lower being the area around belgium, upper being in Austria/Switzerland/Germany, nearer to the source of the Rhine river. You can find information about all of them here, but I'll break down the salient points for you:
- There are eight potential legions Titus' dad could be part of: I Germanica, V Alaudae, XX Valeria Victrix, XXI Rapax, II Augusta, XIII Gemina, XIV Gemina, and XVI Gallica.
- The Germanica and Alaudae (a Gallic word meaning "larks", possibly referring to the practice among the legion of adorning their helmets with larks' wings) were brother legions, manning the Lower Rhine in modern-day Belgium. We don't know for certain whether they were at the Weser or not, but the Germanica served under Tiberius in his Germanic campaigns of 25-13 BC, and the Alaudae served under his brother Drusus in a contemporary campaign that would see this brother killed. The Germanica were probably given their honorific name by Tiberius himself as a reward for their service.
- We know that the Alaudae and Rapax ("predators, raptors") were on campaign with Germanicus in 16 AD, so may well have been at the Weser.
- The Valeria Victrix (can be read as "valiant and victorious" or "victorious black eagle" - knowing the Romans, it was probably both, the showy fuckers) operated in at least one of Germanicus' campaigns, under someone name Caecina.
- The II Augusta (not to be confused with the III Augusta, which was operating in Numidia at this time) was moved to the frontier as a direct result of the Teutoberg disaster. It definitely took part in Germanicus' campaigns, and may well have been at the Weser.
- The Gemina ("twin") legions were re-constituted at the same time in 41 bc by Octavion (who would become Augustus) from the leftovers of other legions. After the Teutoberg, the XIII was stationed in Vindonissa (Windish, today, in switzerland) to guard the alpine passes against a Germanic invasion of Italy, while the XIV was stationed in Mainz, in Upper Germania, with the XVI Gallica.
- The Gallica had been stationed in Mainz since before the Teutoberg, and was to all intents and purposes a brother legion of the XVII - XIX; the one that left before they got massacred, you might say.
So, to sum up, the Augusta, Alaudae and Rapax probably were at the battle. The other prime candiates are the Valeria Victrix and, for me, the Gallica. The others seem to have been more on defensive duty.
It's up to you how you want to play it - how much of a connection do you want daddy Titus to have with the Teutoberg and/or the imperial family? If you're going for a direct connection to the disaster, then it seems best to place him in the Augusta or the Gallica - that last one especially if you want a little hint of the vengeance quest to his narrative. If you want a connection to the imperial family, then putting him in the Alaudae or Germanica seems the better option.
At the end of the day, it's up to you. I hope this has been helpful.
Much roman lovin',
Catullinian
Further reading:
Tacitus' Annals 2.12-18 deals with the battle, as well as giving some extra details (names of commanders, for example) which I didn't see fit to put in here.
