Italicus (chieftain)

Italicus was part of the royal family of the Cherusci tribe in ancient Germany, which was an ally of the early Roman Empire under Augustus.

Italicus's father Flavus was a Roman citizen, served in the Roman military, and appears to have remained loyal to Rome when Italicus's grandfather Segimer and uncle Arminius ambushed three legions under P. Quinctilius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9.

During Germanicus's reprisal campaigns, Flavus also personally defeated Arminius at the Weser River.

Nonetheless, in AD 47, the Cherusci requested that the emperor Claudius send him to rule them as the only surviving member of his dynasty.

[1] Familiar with both Germanic and Roman ways of waging war, Italicus successfully established himself over the Cherusci at first but was then driven into exile.