Editing Marcomanni (section)

==The time of Caesar and Ariovistus (58 BC)==
The Marcomanni first appear in historical records among the confederates of [[Ariovistus]] who fought against [[Julius Caesar]] in [[Gaul]]. Ariovistus led a large group of ''[[Germani]]'' settlers who had crossed the [[Rhine]] from what is now Germany, into what is now France. Caesar's report of his battles mentions the Marcomanni among them only once, in his account of his victory in 58 BC.{{sfn|Kehne|2001a|p=291}} Caesar wrote that he approached the Germanic camp and forced them to draw up their forces. They "arranged them by tribe (''generatim'', by ''gens''), at equal distances, the [[Harudes]], Marcomanni, [[Tribocci]], [[Vangiones]], [[Nemetes]], [[Sedusii]], [[Suebi]]; and surrounded their whole army with their chariots and wagons, that no hope might be left in flight. On these they placed their women, who, with outstretched hand and in tears, entreated the soldiers, as they went forward to battle, not to deliver them into slavery to the Romans."<ref>Caesar, ''Gallic War'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001:book=1:chapter=51&highlight=marcomanni 1.51]</ref> According to Caesar the Tribocci, Vangiones and Nemetes came from homelands nearby to the Rhine itself, but the others apparently came from further east.

The exact position of the Marcomanni homelands east of the Rhine at this time is not known. Although there is no scholarly consensus, one of the most common proposals is that they came from the {{ill|Mainfranken|de}} region in northeastern [[Bavaria]].{{sfn|Tejral|2001a|p=302}} It is generally accepted that they lived near to, or even among the Suebi, because later Roman writers connect the two peoples, and because of archaeological evidence showing [[Elbe Germanic peoples]] first entering present day central Germany and later entering the modern Bohemian area at the right time to match the Marcomanni. Caesar understood the country of the Suebi he faced to be in or near present day [[Hesse]], [[Franconia]], and [[Thuringia]]. Caesar himself made no mention of any special connection between the Suebi and Marcomanni, because he only mentioned the Marcomanni once in a list. It is nevertheless possible the Marcomanni were already seen as a branch of the Suebi, although this categorization is only made explicit in much later authors such as [[Strabo]] and [[Tacitus]]. Alternatively, between Caesar and Strabo there may have been changes in the relationship between the Suebi and Marcomanni, or in the terminology that was used.{{sfn|Kehne|2001a|p=291}} Caesar described the Suebi he encountered as the largest and the most warlike Germanic people (''gens''), who were divided into 100 districts (''pagi'') which supplied 1000 men each during war.<ref>Caesar, ''Gallic War'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001:book=4:chapter=1&highlight=suevi 4.1]</ref> The forces of these ''pagi'' were distinct within the Suevi forces, and it is sometimes suggested that the Marcomanni could have been one of these ''pagi''.<ref>{{harvtxt|Kehne|2001a|p=291}} citing Caesar, ''Gallic War'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001:book=1:chapter=37 1.37]</ref> The Suebi were also able to call upon other countries (''nationes'') to supply infantry and cavalry reinforcements.<ref>Caesar, ''Gallic War'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001:book=6:chapter=10 6.10]</ref>

A later Roman historian, [[Cassius Dio]], mentioned that part of a country where the Marcomanni had recently lived was settled by the [[Hermunduri]] in 7 BC with Roman permission, and this was apparently west of the Elbe, if we can assume that the events he described happened in one campaign.<ref>{{harvtxt|Kehne|2001a|p=293}} and {{harvtxt|Kehne|2001c}} citing Cassius Dio, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/55*.html 55].</ref> However this area is also not easy to identify.{{sfn|Kehne|2001c}} This is partly because the Hermunduri themselves were pushed east of the Elbe soon after, by the time of [[Strabo]], who was writing around 20 AD.<ref>Strabo, ''Geography'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D1 7.1]</ref> (Generations later, in the time of Tacitus around 100 AD, the Hermunduri were again friendly with Rome, and once again living west of the Elbe, stretching to the Danube in [[Raetia]], apparently near present day [[Regensburg]] and [[Passau]], to the "sources" of the Elbe, which may include the [[Vltava]]. However, it can't be assumed that this is the same region they settled in 7 BC.) 

In terms of archaeological evidence the Marcomanni and their Suebian neighbours are strongly associated with the Grossromstedter [[archaeological culture]] of the Middle Elbe and [[Saale]] river regions. The area of this culture expanded southwest into the region between the Rhine and [[Werra]] before the Roman empire entered the region.{{sfn|Steuer|2021|p=991}} And after the Roman conquests began it can be found expanding southeast into the Bohemian region. It was influenced not only by the older [[Jastorf culture]] of the central Elbe region, but notably also by the [[Przeworsk culture]] from further east in present day Poland. The variant which subsequently developed in the old [[Boii]] lands is called the Plaňany-Group, and shows the influence of their older Celtic [[La Tène culture]] associated with earlier [[Celts|Celtic]] peoples of these regions, such as the Boii and [[Volcae Tectosages]]. The present day Czech region had itself already come under Przeworsk influence in the generations before the Germanic influx.{{sfn|Beneš|Bursák|2017}}{{sfn|Danielisova|2020}} The name of the Marcomanni, which refers to a frontier, may echo an earlier demarcation somewhere between such Germanic and Celtic cultures.

The Marcomanni are archaeologically difficult to distinguish among the various Suebian groups such as the Quadi and Hermunduri who were bringing the Grossromstedter culture southwards and westwards. Furthermore, the Grossromstedter culture already began to have some influence in the Bohemian area after Caesar's victories, and before the Marcomanni defeat in 9 BC.{{sfn|Tejral|2001a|p=302}}<ref>{{harvtxt|Steuer|2021|p=1008}}: "Die Leute der Großromstedter Kultur, die nach Böhmen einzogen, deckten nicht sehr zahlreich das ehemals keltische Milieu ab. Die Kultur entstand archäologisch im Saale-Elbe-Gebiet wohl schon vor der Mitte des 1. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. und erschien etwa in den Jahren 40/20 v. Chr. in Böhmen".</ref>