Statue of a Barbarian prisoner, so-called Thusnelda 2nd C. CE

January 06, 2020

Statue of a Barbarian prisoner, so-called Thusnelda 2nd C. CE

"In the next two years Germanicus and his eight legions fought the Germanic Alliance led by Irmin. In May 15 AD Germanicus captured Irmin’s wife Thusnelda with the assistance of her father, she was taken to Rome and paraded as a war trophy on May 26, 17 AD, she would never be returned to Germania, nor is she ever mentioned further in history, in all likeliness she ended up a slave or murdered. Her son was born in captivity and named Thumelicus, he was trained by the Romans as a gladiator and likely was killed in the arena in Ravenna at the age of 15 or 16. In the same year Germanicus eliminated any form of resistance as now most Germanic peoples fled when the Roman legions came in sight. Performing the raids accomplished the goal of Rome by removing rebel resistance to the Roman colonization of Germania by the end of 15 AD.

Thunselda was the daughter of the Cheruscan prince Segestes. Segestes planned on her marriage to someone other then Irmin; whom eloped and married Thunselda against the will of Segestes. This began the feud between Irmin and Segestes, who favored the Romans. Segestes met with Varus to warn Varus of the ambush that awaited in Teutoburg Forest, but Varus ignored him. When Germanicus invaded in 15 AD Segestes openly turned on the Cherusci, handing over his daughter to Germanicus, he was an honoured guest of Rome as his daughter was paraded in Rome as a war trophy."

-taken from Voluspa link below