The Eburones were the largest of the so-called Germani cisrhenani peoples during the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar in the years 58-50 BC, or in other words one of the several Germanic peoples dwelling west of the Rhine, in part of Gallia Belgica. The Eburones, along with some of the neighbouring peoples, resisted the Roman invasion led by Caesar. However, despite some notable success, they eventually lost, and they do not appear in historical records after this, at least under the same name.
Scholars debate the exact extent of their country, but they lived in a region west of the Rhine, north of the Ardennes and Eifel forests, and near the Meuse. In modern terms they therefore lived somewhere in the area corresponding to the southeastern Netherlands, northeastern Belgium and the northern part of the German Rhineland.
Caesar claimed that the name of the Eburones was wiped out after their failed revolt against his forces during the Gallic Wars, and that the tribe was largely annihilated. It is however considered likely that a under Roman rule a significant part of the population lived on under new tribal names such as the Tungri, Sunuci and Batavi, in populations that probably included significant numbers of new settlers from elsewhere.
Name
Attestations There are only a small number of mentions of the Eburones in classical texts, which spell their name in similar ways. In Latin they were mentioned as Eburones by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC) and much later by Orosius in the early 5th century AD.Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico (BG). 2:4; Orosius. Historiae Adversus Paganos, 6:7. In Greek they were called the Eboúrōnes (Ἐβούρωνες) by Strabo in the early 1st century AD.Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:3:5. And much later they were called the Ebourōnoí (Ἐβουρωνοί) by Cassius Dio in the 3rd century AD.Cassius Dio. Rhōmaïkḕ Historía, 60.5., s.v. Eburones.
Etymology Most scholars derive the ethnonym Eburones from the Gaulish word for 'yew-tree', ,; ; ; itself stemming from Proto-Celtic ('yew'), related to Old Irish ibar ('yew'), medieval Breton euor ('alder buck-thorn'), and Middle Welsh efwr (European 'cow parsnip', also known as 'hog-weed', Heracleum sphondylium). This interpretation is supported by the story, as told by Julius Caesar, of how the Eburonean king Catuvolcus killed himself with poisonous yew in a ritualistic suicide.
An alternative Germanic etymology from *eburaz ('boar'; cf. ON jofurr, Ger. Eber) has also been proposed. Xavier Delamarre points out that coins of the Aulerci Eburovices, in Normandy, show the head of a wild boar, and argues that there might have been, further northeast, a "semantic contamination, in the mixed Germano-Celtic Rhenish areas, of the Gaulish eburos by the Germanic quasi-homonym *eburaz." Joseph Vendryes saw a Celtic 'boar-god' *epro behind the name of the yew, and it has been noted that the boar and the yew are both associated with concepts of lordship and longevity in the Germanic and—to a lesser extent—Celtic traditions, which may have provided a reason for such a "contamination".
The second part of the ethnonym, -ones, is commonly found in both Celtic (Lingones, Senones, etc.) and Germanic (Ingvaeones, Semnones, etc.) tribal names in the Roman era.
Maurits Gysseling has suggested that place names such as Averbode and Avernas (Hannut) might be derived from the Eburones.
Geography
Territory The Eburones lived in an area broadly situated between the Ardennes and Eifel region in the south, and the Rhine-Meuse delta in the north. Their territory lay east of the Atuatuci (themselves east of the Nervii), south of the Menapii, and north of the Segni and Condrusi (themselves north of the Treveri).; ; ; See Caesar, BG, II.29–II.30, V.38, VI.32, VI.33. To the east, the Sugambri and Ubii were their neighbours on the opposite bank of the Rhine.. See Caesar, BG, VI.35 When the Germanic Tencteri and Usipetes crossed the Rhine from Germania in 55 BC, they first fell on the Menapii and advanced into the territories of the Eburones and Condrusi, who were both "under the protection of" the Treveri to the south.Caesar, BG, IV.5–6 According to a description given by Caesar (mid-1st century BC), the greatest part of the Eburones lived between the Meuse and Rhine rivers.Caesar, BG, V.24. However, Caesar also notes that their land bordered on that of the coastal Menapii in the north, and that those among the Eburones "who were nearest the ocean" managed to hide in islands after their defeat against the Romans.Caesar, BG, VI.31, VI.33 This apparent geographical situation, near both the Condroz region and the Rhine–Meuse delta, has suggested to many scholars that a significant part of their territory stretched west of the Meuse rather than between the Meuse and the Rhine. For instance, Johannes Heinrichs contended that a territory stretching from the Rhine to the North Sea would be "unrealistically large", especially since they were portrayed as clients of the neighbouring Atuatuci until 57 BC. Since archaeological findings suggest that the Eburonean territory did not extend substantially east of the Meuse in the direction of the Rhine, Heinrichs argues that their territory was rather principally centred in an area located west of the Meuse.
They have been identified by Belgian archaeologists with a material culture in northern Limburg and the Campine region. According to Edith Wightman, "this would certainly account for the propinquity of Eburones and Menapii mentioned by Caesar; the distribution of war-time staters attributed to the Eburones (a mixture of transrhenine and Treveran elements) also corresponds with this group." Based on the concentrations of coins, Nico Roymans has proposed that the eastern half of the Rhine–Meuse delta should be seen as part of the Eburonean polity. During later Roman times this area was inhabited by the Batavians, who likely assimilated the local Eburones according to this scenario.
Another part of the Eburones also fled to a remote area of the Ardennes, where Ambiorix himself is said to have gone with some cavalry. Caesar also portrays the Scheldt river (Scaldis) as flowing into the Meuse, apparently confusing this river with the Sambre.Caesar, BG, VI.33 This has led scholars to argue that Caesar or later copyists sometimes confused river names or used them differently than later writers did. Some scholars have argued for a location in the northern Eifel region, but this is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the Condrusi, who gave their name to the Condroz region, are described by Caesar as dwelling between the Treveri and Eburones. Wightman further notes that "no cultural groupings can be isolated to suit the Eburones in the north Eifel".
Settlements
Caesar describes Atuatuca as a castellum ('fort, stronghold, shelter') located in the middle of the Eburonean territory, which has sometimes been taken to imply that it was between the Meuse and the Rhine rivers where, in another passage, Caesar locates the greatest part of the Eburonean population., . Cf. "...impedimenta omnium legionum Aduatucam contulit. Id castelli nomen est. Hoc fere est in mediis Eburonum finibus...", and , "pars maxima est inter Mosam ac Rhenum". The exact location of their stronghold remains uncertain; it is almost certainly not the same as the later Atuatuca Tungrorum, which appears to have been erected ex-nihilo as a Roman military base in about 10 BC. In the words of Wightman, "changes which took place after Caesar, involving new folk from across the Rhine and reorganization of existing peoples, make localization difficult".
Atuatuca played an important role in the revolt of Ambiorix against Rome in the winter of 54–53 BC, and in Caesar's subsequent attempts to annihilate the tribe in 53 and 51 BC. Willy Vanvinckenroye (2001) has suggested that the Eburones did not have their own strongholds and used instead the fortress of the neighbouring Atuatuci to house troops, since they were tributary to them. This would provide an explanation for the place name. The tribal name is linguistically related to the fort name, although the settlement cannot be historically linked to the tribe with certainty.
History during Roman invasion
Battle of the Sabis (57 BC) During the Battle of the Sabis, Caesar's forces clashed with an alliance of Belgic tribes in 57 BC. Before that event, information from the Remi, a tribe allied with Rome, reported that the Germani (the Condrusi, Eburones, Caeraesi, and Paemani) had collectively promised to send around 40,000 men. These were to join 60,000 Bellovaci, 50,000 Suessiones, 50,000 Nervii, 15,000 Atrebates, 10,000 Ambiani, 25,000 Morini, 9,000 Menapii, 10,000 Caleti, 10,000 Velocasses, 10,000 Viromandui, and 19,000 Aduatuci. The whole force was led by Galba, king of the Suessiones.Caesar, BG, II.4. However, the alliance did not work. The Suessiones and Bellovaci surrendered after the Romans defended the Remi and then moved towards their lands. And after this the Ambiani offered no further resistance and the Nervii, along with the Atrebates and Viromandui, formed the most important force on the day of the battle. The Eburones are not mentioned specifically in the description of the battle itself, but after the defeat the Eburones became important as one of the tribes continuing to resist Roman overlordship.
Siege of Atuatuca (54 BC) In 54 BC, Caesar's forces were still in Belgic territory, having just returned from their second expedition to Britain, and needed to be wintered. Crops had not been good, due to a drought, and this imposition upon the communities led to new conflict. This insurrection started only 15 days after a legion and five cohorts (one and a half legions) under the command of Caesar's legates, Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta arrived in their winter quarters in the country of the Eburones. The Eburones, encouraged by messages from the Treveran king Indutiomarus, and headed by their two kings, Ambiorix and Cativolcus, attacked the Roman camp; and after inducing the Romans to leave their stronghold on the promise of a safe passage, massacred nearly all of them (approximately 6000 men).Caesar, BG, V.24-V.37. Encouraged by this victory, Ambiorix rode personally first to the Aduatuci and then to the Nervi, arguing for a new attack on the Romans wintering in Nervian territory under the command by Quintus Tullius Cicero, brother of the famous orator.Caesar, BG, V.38. The Nervii agreed and summoned forces quickly from several tribes under their government, Centrones, Grudii, Levaci, Pleumoxii, and Geiduni.Caesar, BG, V.39. Caesar reported that this was thwarted by his timely intervention, and the Belgic allies dispersed, Caesar "fearing to pursue them very far, because woods and morasses intervened, and also [because] he saw that they suffered no small loss in abandoning their position".Caesar, BG, V.40 and V.52.