Ambrones

The origin of the name Ambrones poses a great difficulty in explanation, since the root Ambr- and its variants are found in many areas of the European continent: the Ombrones of the upper Vistula; the *Ymbre (dat.

[2] According to Hans Kuhn and Reinhard Wenskus, the Ambrones may have originated in Jutland, around the island of Amrum or Fehmarn, from which they accompanied the Teutons in their southward march in the late 2nd century BC.

Mentions of the *Ymbre in the Old English Widsith, along with British sources calling the Ambrones Saxons, may also suggest that a number of them remained near their homeland in the north.

A Roman source reports that "The Cimbri, Teutones and Tigurini, fugitives from the extreme parts of Gaul, since the Ocean had inundated their territories, began to seek new settlement throughout the world.

Plutarch gives the numbers advancing on Italy as 300,000 armed fighting men, and much larger hordes of women and children.

The Barbarians divided themselves into two bands, and it fell to the lot of the Cimbri to proceed through Noricum in the interior of the country against Catulus, and of a passage there, while the Teutons and Ambrones were to march through Liguria along the sea-coast against the consul Gaius Marius, who had set up camp on the Rhône.

Plutarch tells us that Ambrones alone numbered more than 30,000 and were the most warlike division of the enemy, who had earlier defeated the Romans under Gnaeus Mallius Maximus and Quintus Servilius Caepio.