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The '''Cimbri''' lived on the a bay near
Heligoland and near
Elbe.
The Cimbri gone after a flood some 2000 years ago. There is debate as to whether they were a
Celtic or
Germanic people. More than 100 years before the birth of Christ, many of the Cimbri, as well as the
Teutoni, migrated south and west to the
Danube valley, where they encountered the expanding
Roman Empire. Another group of Cimbri may have migrated from Jutland along the
Baltic Sea further east to what later become
Prussia.
In
113 BC, the Cimbri and Teutoni invaded the lands of one of Rome's allies, the
Taurisci, where they defeated a Roman army sent to defend the Taurisci. Continuing their migration southward and westward, some of the Cimbri passed through
Gaul and into
Spain, while others moved towards
Italy. On their way, they picked up other allies among the resident Germanic and Celtic peoples. They came into frequent conflict with the
Romans, who usually came out the losers. One of the greatest defeats the Romans suffered at the hands of the Cimbri and their allies was in
103 BC, when
the proconsul
Caepio and the consul
Gn. Mallius Maximus lost as many as 20,000 men.
By
102 BC, those Cimbri who had been in Spain had returned to join with their former comrades in a movement towards Italy. The consul
Marius led the campaigns against the Cimbri, whom his troops eventually destroyed at
Vercellae.
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