Alpine regiments of the Roman army

These and the 20 surviving Julio-Claudian units are recorded at least until the mid 2nd century, but by that time only around a quarter were still based in the Alpine provinces or in neighbouring Germania Superior (Upper Rhine area).

[4] Celtisation is also implied by the establishment of joint Raetorum et Vindelicorum regiments alongside the Celtic-speaking Vindelici, and by the union of the territories of both peoples to form the Raetia et Vindelicia province.

[13] The evidence suggests that, as in the western Alps, the non-Celtic elements were either displaced or assimilated, while their native languages had virtually disappeared by the time of the Roman conquest.

[16] Although the Alpine tribes are described as "wild" or "savage" by the classical authors, their material culture was sophisticated, as it was predominantly of the La Tène variety, which is characterised by advanced metal-working techniques and of elaborate metal artwork.

La Tène gradually replaced the pre-existing Halstatt culture in the eastern Alps in broadly the same period as that region was infiltrated by the Celts (c. 400 - 200 BC).

In any event, by the time of the Roman conquest, the entire Alpine region was predominantly La Tène, including patterns of settlement (mainly hillforts) and funerary rites (mostly cremation).

[17] One especially important feature of Alpine culture was chalybs Noricus ("Noric steel"), celebrated in Roman times, from the region of Noricum (Austria).

The ore needed to be rich in manganese (an element which remains essential in modern steelmaking processes), but also to contain very little, or preferably zero phosphorus, whose presence would compromise the steel's hardness.

[20] The Taurisci Celtic people of Noricum empirically discovered that their ore made superior steel around 500 BC and established a major steel-making industry around it.

Although Rome had subjugated all Gaul up to the Rhine and much of Illyricum, the Alpine region which separated these possessions from Italy and from each other remained outside Roman control and in the hands of independent mountain tribes.

[22] These were warlike and troublesome, alternately attacking and robbing transient Roman troops and supply convoys or exacting exorbitant tolls from them for the privilege of using the key Alpine mountain passes e.g. the Salassi, who reportedly ambushed Julius Caesar on one occasion by hurling rocks on his army, charged Messalla extortionate fees for supplies and forced the escaping murderer of Caesar Decimus Brutus to pay a toll of one denarius per man to allow his army to cross the Great St Bernard Pass in 43 BC.

[23] That Rome's overland communications with its transalpine territories should be thus held to ransom was no longer tolerable, especially as Augustus was intent on advancing the Roman sphere of control as far as the Danube river.

A secondary strategic aim of annexing the Alpine regions was to seize control of their substantial mineral wealth, which included gold and the prized iron ore of Noricum.

The inscription on the monument, transcribed by Pliny the Elder, listed 45 Alpinae gentes devictae ("conquered Alpine tribes"), including the Raeti and Vindelici.

As the shortest route from Italy to Germania Superior province in the Upper Rhine region, this pass became strategically vital to the Romans after Julius Caesar' s conquest of Gaul was completed in 51 BC.

After centuries of raiding the Po Valley and decades of exacting tolls and exorbitant prices for supplies from transient Roman troops and travelers, interspersed with brigandage, the Salassi were finally subjugated in 25 BC by Augustus' general Aulus Terentius Varro Murena.

Their territory became the core of the Alpes Graiae province, set up by 7 BC, with a new Roman colony, Augusta Praetoria Salassorum (Aosta, Italy) as its capital.

[27] The Taurini controlled the main Roman route from Italy to Gaul through the western Alps, the Val di Susa to the Col de Montgenèvre (1,850m).

[28] This area formed the Alpes Cottiae province, named after the local king Cottius, who initially resisted Augustus' imperialism but eventually submitted and became the emperor's ally and personal friend.

[29] In 8 BC, Cottius showed his gratitude for this reprieve from dynastic oblivion by erecting a triumphal arch to Augustus in his capital, Segusio (Susa, Piedmont, Italy), which still stands.

[31] The Raetorum and Vindelicorum cohorts were originally composed of Raeti, a collective name given to a group of central Alpine tribes, which occupied southern Switzerland and the Tyrol and of their neighbours to the North, the Vindelici.

According to Livy, their original Etruscan culture had been lost as a result of living in the harsh Alpine environment (as opposed to the plains of the Po).

The Vindelici occupied the northern part of Raetia (i.e. Germany south of the river Danube) and whose chief town was Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg, Ger).

[Note 2] They were described by the Roman geographer Strabo as a fierce people that frequently raided their neighbours and routinely put all male captives to death.

[39] For the 200 years between this stand-off and the time of Augustus, relations between Rome and the regnum Noricum were peaceful and marked by increasing cooperation in security and trade.

In response to a desperate appeal by the Norici, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo rushed an army to the Alps and attacked the Germans near Noreia (although, in the event, he was heavily defeated).

[41] After finally crushing the Teutones in 101 BC, the Romans established a major trading colony within the leading Noric oppidum on the Magdalensberg (Carinthia, Austria), which may have been the site of Noreia.

[44] Others suggest that the regnum Noricum was allowed to remain in existence for c. 60 years as a Roman client-state, as was the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace, until both were annexed under Claudius.

[56] During the early Julio-Claudian period (Augustus/Tiberius, 30 BC to AD 37), the available evidence suggests that auxiliary regiments were predominantly recruited from their original home province, maintaining the ethnic identity of the unit.

Against that, there is evidence that at least a few regiments maintained special links with their original home province and recruited preferentially from it into the 2nd century e.g. Batavi units stationed in Britain.