Germania Inferior

Provincia Germania Inferior

Province of the Roman Empire

83–475

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The province of Germania Inferior within the Roman Empire, c. 117

{{#if:Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (CCAA)|

Capital

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (CCAA)

Historical era

Antiquity

•

Established after the Gallic wars

•

Gallic Empire

260-274

•

Frankish Empire

475

Today part of

Netherlands

Belgium

Germany

Luxembourg

The Roman empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117-138), showing, on the lower Rhine river, the imperial province of Germania Inferior (NW Germany/S. Netherlands, E. Belgium), and the 3 legions deployed there in 125. Note that the coast lines shown in the map are those of today, known to be different from those in Roman times in the North Sea area.

Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the west bank of the Rhine. According to Ptolemy (2.9), Germania Inferior included the Rhine from its mouth up to the mouth of the Obringa, a river identified with either the Aar or the Moselle. ^[1] The territory included modern Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, part of Belgium, and part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, west of the Rhine.

The principal settlements of the province were Castra Vetera and Colonia Ulpia Traiana (both near Xanten), Coriovallum (Heerlen), Albaniana (Alphen aan den Rijn), Lugdunum Batavorum (Katwijk), Forum Hadriani (Voorburg), Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum (Nijmegen), Traiectum (Utrecht), Atuatuca Tungrorum (Tongeren), Bona (Bonn), and Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne), the capital of Germania Inferior.

History

Main article: Lesser Germania

Further information: Romanization (cultural)

The army of Germania Inferior, typically shown on inscriptions as EX.GER.INF. (Exercitus Germaniae Inferioris), included several legions at various times: of these, Legions I Minervia and XXX Ulpia Victrix were the most permanent. The Roman Navy's Classis Germanica (German fleet), charged with patrolling the Rhine and the North Sea coast, was based at Castra Vetera and later at Colonia Agrippinensis.

The first confrontations between a Roman army and the peoples of Germania Inferior occurred during Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Caesar invaded the region in 57 BC and in the next three years annihilated several tribes, including the Eburones and the Menapii, whom Caesar called "Germanic" but who probably were Celtic or at least mixed Celtic-Germanic. Germanic influence (mainly through the Tungri) increased during Roman times, leading to the assimilation of all Celtic peoples in the area.

Germania Inferior had Roman settlements since around 50 BC and was at first part of Gallia Belgica. Although it had been occupied since the reign of Augustus, it wasn't formally established as a Roman province until around AD 85, with its capital at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern Cologne).^[2] It later became an Imperial province. It lay north of Germania Superior; these two together made up Lesser Germania. The adjective Inferior refers to its downstream position.

As attested in the early 5th century Notitia Dignitatum, the province was renamed Germania Secunda (Germania II) in the 4th century. It was administered by a consularis and formed part of the Diocese of Gaul. Up to the end of Roman control, it was an intensely garrisoned province that was inhabited by Romans and Ripuarian Franks in the 5th century. Its capital remained at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, which also became the seat of a Christian bishopric, in charge of an ecclesiastical province that survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

After the final abandonment of the province it became the core of the Frankish Kingdom.

References

↑ "Obringa" in Bruzen la Martiniere, Le Grand Dictionnaire Geographique Volume 6, 1737; Albert Forbiger, Handbuch Der Alten Geographie Volume 3, Mayer und Wigand, 1848, fn (***) p. 126f.
↑ Rüger, C. (2004) [1996]. "Germany". In Alan K. Bowman; Edward Champlin; Andrew Lintott. The Cambridge Ancient History: X, The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. - A.D. 69. 10 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 527–528. ISBN 0-521-26430-8.

Lendering, Jona (2000). De randen van de aarde. De Romeinen tussen Schelde en Maas. Amsterdam.

External links

Livius.org: Germania inferior
http://www.library.ucla.edu/yrl/reference/maps/blaeu/germania-inferior-nt.htm#qvarta_branbantiae Blaeu Atlas Germania Inferior
Hilary of Poitiers, "On the Councils". An open letter sent to the bishop of the province of Germania Secunda, among others.
Documents: Province ecclésiastique de Cologne (Germania secunda)

Provinces of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent (117 AD)

Achaea Aegyptus Africa proconsularis Alpes Cottiae Alpes Maritimae Alpes Poeninae Arabia Petraea Armenia Asia Assyria Bithynia et Pontus Britannia Cappadocia Cilicia Corsica et Sardinia Creta et Cyrenaica Cyprus Dacia Dalmatia Epirus Galatia Gallia Aquitania Gallia Belgica Gallia Lugdunensis Gallia Narbonensis Germania Inferior Germania Superior Hispania Baetica Hispania Tarraconensis Italia ^† Iudaea Lusitania Lycia et Pamphylia Macedonia Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Tingitana Mesopotamia Moesia Inferior Moesia Superior Noricum Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Superior Raetia Sicilia Syria Thracia ^† Italy was never constituted as a province, instead retaining a special juridical status until Diocletian's reforms.

History of the Roman Empire by modern territory

Albania Balkans Belgium Britain France Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan Germany Greece Hungary Israel Italy Lebanon Libya Luxembourg Malta Monaco Montenegro Morocco The Netherlands North Africa Palestine Portugal Romania Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Switzerland Syria Tunisia Turkey Wales

Late Roman provinces (4th–7th centuries AD)

History

As found in the Notitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed and dioceses established by Diocletian, c. 293. Permanent praetorian prefectures established after the death of Constantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by the theme system in c. 640–660, although in Asia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.

Western Empire (395–476)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Gaul

Diocese of Gaul	Alpes Poeninae et Graiae Belgica I Belgica II Germania I Germania II Lugdunensis I Lugdunensis II Lugdunensis III Lugdunensis IV Maxima Sequanorum

Diocese of Vienne¹	Alpes Maritimae Aquitanica I Aquitanica II Narbonensis I Narbonensis II Novempopulania Viennensis

Diocese of Spain	Baetica Balearica Carthaginensis Gallaecia Lusitania Mauretania Tingitana Tarraconensis

Diocese of the Britains	Britannia I Britannia II Flavia Caesariensis Maxima Caesariensis Valentia (?)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Italy

Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy	Apulia et Calabria Campania Corsica Lucania et Bruttii Picenum Suburbicarium Samnium Sardinia Sicilia Tuscia et Umbria Valeria

Diocese of Annonarian Italy	Alpes Cottiae Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium Liguria et Aemilia Raetia I Raetia II Venetia et Istria

Diocese of Africa²	Africa proconsularis (Zeugitana) Byzacena Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Sitifensis Numidia Cirtensis Numidia Militiana Tripolitania

Diocese of Pannonia³	Dalmatia Noricum mediterraneum Noricum ripense Pannonia I Pannonia II Savia Valeria ripensis

Eastern Empire (395–c. 640)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Illyricum

Diocese of Dacia	Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Ripensis Dardania Moesia I Praevalitana

Diocese of Macedonia	Achaea Creta Epirus nova Epirus vetus Macedonia I Macedonia II Salutaris Thessalia

Praetorian Prefecture
of the East

Diocese of Thrace⁵	Europa Haemimontus Moesia II⁴ Rhodope Scythia⁴ Thracia

Diocese of Asia⁵	Asia Caria⁴ Hellespontus Insulae⁴ Lycaonia (370) Lycia Lydia Pamphylia Pisidia Phrygia Pacatiana Phrygia Salutaris

Diocese of Pontus⁵	Armenia I⁵ Armenia II⁵ Armenia Maior⁵ Armenian Satrapies⁵ Armenia III (536) Armenia IV (536) Bithynia Cappadocia I⁵ Cappadocia II⁵ Galatia I⁵ Galatia II Salutaris⁵ Helenopontus⁵ Honorias⁵ Paphlagonia⁵ Pontus Polemoniacus⁵

Diocese of the East⁵	Arabia Cilicia I Cilicia II Cyprus⁴ Euphratensis Isauria Mesopotamia Osroene Palaestina I Palaestina II Palaestina III Salutaris Phoenice I Phoenice II Libanensis Syria I Syria II Salutaris Theodorias (528)

Diocese of Egypt⁵	Aegyptus I Aegyptus II Arcadia Augustamnica I Augustamnica II Libya Superior Libya Inferior Thebais Superior Thebais Inferior

Other territories

Taurica Quaestura exercitus (536) Spania (552)

¹ Later the Septem Provinciae
² Re-established after reconquest by the Eastern Empire in 534 as the separate Prefecture of Africa
³ Later the Diocese of Illyricum
⁴ Placed under the Quaestura exercitus in 536
⁵ Affected (i.e. boundaries modified, abolished or renamed) by Justinian I's administrative reorganization in 534–536

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Germania Inferior

History

See also

References

External links