In 22 BC, following a census of the region in 27 BC, Augustus ordered Agrippa to restructure Gallia Comata (=Aquitania, Celtica and Belgica), on the basis of language, race and community. Celtica (central, east-west) was reduced in size and renamed Lugdunensis (northwest-southeast); and the land it lost was taken by Aquitania (southwest) and Belgica (northeast) respectively. In 14 BC Hispania was split into three imperial provinces: Baetica (≈Andalusia) in the south, Lusitania (≈Portugal) in the southwest, and Tarraconensis in the north/ southeast. Cisalpina (northern Italy) remained unchanged.
To ease overland communications between Gaul and Italy it was necessary for Augustus to subjugate the western Alps. In 25 BC 06Terentius Varro Murena campaigned in northwest Italy against the Salassi in the Aosta Valley: ruthless suppression and the foundation of a large military colony, Augusta Praetoria (Aosta), secured the area.
In total in the western Alps there were four passes in use that eventually resulted in the creation of three small Alpine provinces: Alpes Maritimae (14 BC), close to the sea; Alpes Cottiae (63), named after a Ligurian king; and Alpes Graiae et Poeninae (c.47), in the land of the Salassi (Aosta Valley) running through Mons Graius and Summus Poeninus, now called the Little and Great Saint Bernard passes respectively.
The Roman Empire had two natural barriers with the rest of Europe: the Rhine flowing northwards 760 miles (1200 km) from Switzerland to the North Sea – a western border already established between Gaul and western Germania; and the Danube flowing eastwards 1800 miles (2860 km) from southwest corner of Germany to the Black Sea, a northern border with southern Germania, Sarmatia and Dacia.
To secure his northern frontier Augustus needed to annex the regions south of the Danube: Raetia (Switzerland/southern Bavaria/western Austria), Noricum (eastern Austria), Pannonia (western Hungary), Dalmatia (coastal northwestern Balkans) and Moesia (Serbia/Bulgaria).
In 27 BC Augustus created a new province of Achaea, which included Epirus and all of Thessaly, fixing for the first time the southern boundary of Roman Macedonia. In 12-10 BC 15Calpurnius Piso (cos.15 BC) campaigned in Thrace during which he suffered a defeat but recovered to gain a victory over a major uprising by the Bessi.
In summer 16 BC news reached Rome that the Sugambri and other Germanic tribes had crossed the Rhine and inflicted a defeat on Marcus Lollius (1) (c.53; fl.42-02 BC). Augustus hurried from Rome but before he could reach Gaul, the Sugambri had already retreated back over the Rhine.
In 17/16 BC the governor of Illyricum, 01Silius Nerva (cos.20 BC) subdued the Alpine tribes in northern Italy, north of the Po (=Transpadana), and the Norici of the eastern Alps. In 15 BC Tiberius and his brother 28Claudius Drusus pacified the area between the western Alps and the Upper Danube by defeating the Raetians and their allies, the Vindelici. Noricum (north of the eastern Alps) was included in the campaigns at this time, but at what point the region was formally annexed is disputed. In the same year Tiberius conquered the Scordisci centred on present-day Serbia (northern Balkans).
Drusus’ legionaries then spent two years building five forts and a connecting road along the Rhine, a canal northwards connecting the river to Lake Flevo (Zuiderzee) and the North Sea, and a fleet of barges and troop transports. During this time the Ligurians were subjugated and the Maritime (southwestern) Alps annexed (14 BC).
In 13 BC Drusus was the commander in Gaul and Agrippa in the Alps. Tiberius was ignored at this time but when Agrippa died the following year, Tiberius was made the commander of the Danube army. It was probably about this time that Augustus decided to shorten his frontier by advancing his western front eastwards from the Rhine to the Elbe River, which runs 680 miles (1090 km) northwestwards into the North Sea.
Campaigning began in 12 BC with Drusus defeating an incursion by the Sugambri. Later in the year he sent a naval expedition north via the canal he built between the Rhine and Lake Flevo. A Roman squadron defeated the rowing fleet of the Bructeri on the Ems River; a local tribe, the Frisii, submitted and assisted naval operations against the Chauci (Weser).
In 12 and 11 BC Tiberius and his allies, the Scordisci, completed the war against the Pannonians, moving Roman control northwards at the middle Danube from the Savus to the Dravus, right (south) tributaries of the Danube, making it possible for Rome to consolidate in the area between the Dravus and the Adriatic and integrate it with Illyricum province.
In 11 BC Illyricum was changed to an imperial province and reconstituted to include Pannonia. During the Principate the Roman control of Pannonia would expand to reach the middle Danube. In AD 10 Illyricum was split into the imperial provinces Illyricum Inferius and Illyricum Superius; later (AD 14) known as Pannonia and Dalmatia respectively.
During the year Drusus crossed the Rhine and moved along the valley of the Lippe River, and this became the normal route for Roman advances into Westphalia. He went as far as the Weser, encountering the Usipetes and the Sugambri on the way. In 10 BC he set out from Moguntiacum (=Mainz), farther south on the Rhine, and advanced through the Wetterau area to join up with the territory already taken further north. The following year he marched through Lippe and the Wetterau to the east attacking the Marcomanni, Suebi and Cherusci on his way to the Elbe River. While Drusus was returning to winter quarters nearer the Rhine he was injured in a riding accident and died later of infection.
After Drusus’ death, Tiberius completed the Germanic campaign. He continued the advance in 8 BC, notably accepting the surrender of the Sugambri, the principal belligerents, and relocating them west of Rhine; the Marcomanni and Suebi avoided submission by migrating eastwards. But by this time it was evident that most of the people of Germania were not going to submit easily and the Romans temporised by forming alliances with several nations, including the Chatii. Tiberius withdrew from public life and went to Rhodes where he stayed from 6 BC to AD 2, after which he returned to Rome and was adopted as Augustus’ successor in AD 4.
Moesia, south of the lower Danube, was captured by 17Licinius Crassus (cos.30 BC) in 28 BC. In 10 BC there was an incursion by the Dacians over the frozen Danube; its repulse was probably by Marcus Vinicius (cos.19 BC). 09Domitius Ahenobarbus (cos.16 BC), probably Tiberius’ replacement in Germania, commanded the army and crossed the Elbe. 54Cornelius Lentulus (cos.14 BC) was ordered to bring order to the southern edge of the Carpathians (Romania) and was successful in keeping the Dacians and Sarmatians ‘at a distance from the Danube’; he also established guard-posts here north of the river at the Iron Gates (Serbia/Romania)
In AD 6 Tiberius launched a double attack against Maroboduus, king of the Marcomanni (Bohemia). Tiberius set out with his legions from Illyricum, while his legate, Sentius Saturninus (cos.19 BC) marched eastwards through the country of the Chatti (southwest Germania). To raise the twelve legions being used, active troops had been drawn from their stations in Illyricum and elsewhere, which left a vacuum that the local peoples were soon to exploit.
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