14 Facts About Eburones

Eburones were a Gallic-Germanic tribe dwelling in the northeast of Gaul, in what is the southern Netherlands, eastern Belgium and the German Rhineland, in the period immediately preceding the Roman conquest of the region.

Eburones played a major role in Julius Caesar's account of his "Gallic Wars", as the most important tribe within the Germani cisrhenani group of tribes — Germani living west of the Rhine amongst the Belgae.

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.

Eburones lived in an area broadly situated between the Ardennes and Eifel region in the south, and the Rhine-Meuse delta in the north.

However, Caesar 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.

Related searches

Vanvinckenroye 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, which would explain the name.

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.

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 .

The country of the Eburones was difficult for the Romans, being woody and swampy in parts.

The plan to take advantage of the Sicambri backfired when the Eburones explained to the Sicambri that the Roman supplies and booty, not the refugees, were the most attractive target for plundering.

Caesar reports that he burnt every village and building that he could find in the territory of the Eburones, drove off all the cattle, and his men and beasts consumed all the corn that the weather of the autumnal season did not destroy.

Eburones left those who had hid themselves, if there were any, with the hope that they would all die of hunger in the winter.

At the time of the Roman conquest, the Eburones were clients of the Treveri, and Caesar mentions that the Eburonean king Ambiorix began his revolt against the Romans at the insistence of the Treveri.

Caesar reports that, during the conflict, the Eburones had some sort of alliance, organized via their allies the Treveri, with the Germanic tribes over the Rhine.