After a headless horseman is directed back to Roman lines, under the watch of Maximus Decimus Meridius and his (still at that point) friend and colleague Quintus, a large barbarian warrior (played by Chick Allen) steps out from forest and exclaims...
“Ihr seid verfluchte Hunde!”
“You are damned dogs!”
...a proclamation he punctuates by throwing the severed head of the Roman diplomat to the ground before him. A total rejection of whatever terms the Romans had offered, leading to what Gladiator refers to as the Battle of Vindobona in which that barbarian warrior perishes.
But who was he? Many of the main characters of Gladiator were based on real people - Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Lucilla. Even the aforementioned Maximus and Quintus, while not strictly real, may be based on a conglomeration of several historical characters.
So why not our brash but ultimately doomed barbarian warrior?
In the cast list, the character Chick Allen played is merely called ‘German Leader’. This may narrow down the options in terms of nationality, but this ‘Battle of Vindobona’ is not an historical battle, the chronology is a little skew-whiff and, of course, it is a film, one that does not profess to be historically accurate.
With that, the battle is presented as being at the culmination of the Marcomannic Wars (166-180), with the death of Marcus Aurelius happening soon after (17 March 180), so perhaps the most obvious candidates to start with would be any Marcomanni chieftains recorded in the historical sources.
And there is one.
Ballomar
Appearing first in Dio 71.3.1, when he goes as one of eleven barbarian representatives to meet with Iallius Bassus, governor of Pannonia, Ballomar is listed as ‘king of the Marcomanni’. Somewhat strangely, his name appears to be of Celtic rather than Germanic origin, which could highlight the multi-national nature of what appears a straightforward German tribe. Indeed, the multinational nature of the trouble along the Danube is summed up by HA Marcus 22.7 which states that the Marcomanni Wars should have been called the “war of many nations”
Ballomar appears to mean ‘great limb’, which would likely reflect his size. If he was a big baby then ‘Ballomar’ may well be his actual given age, but if it was something of a nickname obtained as he grew in stature, then it might not be his actual name. It was not unusual for Roman sources to mistake titles, offices or nicknames for the actual name of an opponent.
Ballomar seemingly was a leader of the great invasion of Roman territory in 167-170 (“the events ... are nowhere fully recorded and any account must be in great part hypothetical” Birley in van Ackeren (2012) 224), with his column of Marcomanni, Quadi and likely other tribes crossing the Danube. It then squared up to a Roman force near Carnuntum, inflicting a major defeat on it – “a matter of twenty thousand were wiped out at a blow” (Lucian, Alexander 48).
This may have been serious enough to allow Ballomar a free run at northern Italy, or he managed to evade any other Roman forces in the field at the time. However they managed it, the tribal coalition was able to attack, capture and sack Opitergium (modern Oderzo in northern Italy) and then besiege Aquileia, which had a “narrow escape from capture” (Lucian, Alexander 48).
It could be that rather than defeat them in battle, Marcus Aurelius orchestrated a strengthening of the Danube frontier. He himself encamped at Carnuntum in 171, while one of us generals, Marcus Valerius Maximianus, was charged with leading a combined force of marines from various fleets to supply the Pannonian provinces and surely also to help challenge crossings of the Danube. These preparations seem to have worked as the barbarian invaders were trapped against the river, losing much of their loot, which Marcus Aurelius returned to the provincials.
The Romans did not have it all their own way once they had repulsed the Marcomanni-led invasion. It is possible that the Marcomanni defeated and killed two successive the praetorian prefects during this period, Titus Furius Victorinus and Marcus Macrinius Vindex (possible the former was killed by plague).
Marcus Aurelius had taken the title Germanicus by late 172, and with there being a Quadi peace treaty, any such victory would likely have been over the Marcomanni. It is even possible that it is Ballomar who is depicted surrendering to the emperor on the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
It would be my contention that any thought of connecting the Gladiator ‘German Leader’ to an historical character by the film-makers would make Ballomar the most likely candidate due to him being ‘king of the Marcomanni’ and Marcus Aurelius fighting the Marcomanni Wars.
However, the dates involved with Ballomar RL and the fictional ‘Battle of Vindobona’, which takes place at the end of Marcus Aurelius’ life and reign, means there could be other candidates. Ballomar was an antagonist in what would be considered the First Marcomanni War, which largely ended in 172 with the Romans crossing the Danube and subjugating the Marcomanni (and other tribes such as the Naristi and Cotini, with the chief of the former, Valao, reputedly killed in person by Maximianus, possibly in single combat). This victory was reflected not just Marcus Aurelius’ Germanicus victory title but also by having Germania capta inscribed on his coins.
As already intimated, the Marcomanni Wars were not just against the eponymous tribe and their subjects – the Marcomanni’s eastern neighbours along the Danube, the Quadi, were also a major part of the conflict. It was against the Quadi that the incident known as the ‘Miracle of the Rain’ took place, which is also depicted on the Column of Marcus Aurelius – the XII Fulminata legion was saved from thirst by a sudden rainfall (divine intervention brought on by an Egyptian magician praying to Mercury or Christian prayer depending on the source - Dio vs Tertullian et al.)
We know of at least two Quadi rulers during the period of the Marcomanni Wars.
Furtius
Furtius was a Quadi leader who signed a peace treaty with the Romans, possibly that of 171 in Dio 72.11, only to then be expelled by the Quadi (due to his peace negotiations?) and replaced with...
Ariogaesus
This removal of his ally, on top of various instances of the Quadi not fulfilling their treaty obligations - fought alongside both Marcomanni and lazyges against Rome, took in fugitives from both, refusing to give up prisoners of war, general untrustworthiness - saw Marcus Aurelius take a particularly dim view of Ariogaesus and the Quadi (Dio 72.13-14).
Ariogaesus asked for a renewal of Furtius’ treaty, even offering to send 50,000 hostages to Rome. Marcus Aurelius not only rejected this offer, he refused to recognise Ariogaesus as ‘king of the Quadi’ and “wished to annihilate them utterly” (Dio 72.13). The emperor went as far as to put a bounty on Ariogaesus’ head - 1,000 gold pieces for him to be delivered alive, 500 to anyone who killed him and brought in his head. This seems out of character for Marcus Aurelius, but when the Quadi king was captured and brought to him, he only exiled him to Alexandria (Dio 72.14).
That Ariogaesus was captured and exiled deviates from the fate of the ‘German Leader’ at Vindobona, who was quite clearly killed in battle (of course, this was also different from the last appearance of Ballomar in our source material). This conflict with the Quadi of Ariogaesus comes under the umbrella of the First Marcomanni War, which was over by 174 (Marcus Aurelius celebrated a triumph in 176).
However, in 177, the Quadi rebelled, rousing their Marcomanni and lazyges neighbours too. This constituted the Second Marcomanni War, with Marcus Aurelius first defeating the rebelling Marcomanni (no mention of Ballomar, although had he been around to rebel and then been defeated, he would have faced exile or execution) and then turning on the Quadi. They were defeated likely in a series of battles culminating in the Battle of Laugaricio in 179 where Maximianus won the final victory of that conflict.
In terms of historical context - soon before the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 and being the culmination of a conflict - the Battle of Vindobona in Gladiator has some similarities to Laugaricio, which had Maximianus in command; however, there is no record of anyone who could be the ‘German Leader’, even if the exact date of Ariogaesus’ capture is unknown. His exile would seem unlikely if he had rebelled against the Romans, rather than merely resisted or attacked them.
There are other tribal chieftains recorded by name from the period of the Marcomanni Wars beyond Ballomar, Ariogaesus and Valao: they are called Banadaspus and Zanticus. However, neither of these men were German; both were kings of the Sarmatian lazyges, a tribe who were also prominent Roman opponents during the Marcomanni Wars. Banadaspus had been lazyges leader during the first Marcomanni War, fighting a battle against the Romans on the frozen Danube. He had attempted to make peace with Rome in 174, only for Marcus Aurelius to reject this and for the lazyges themselves to then overthrow Banadaspus and replace him with Zanticus (possible that Marcus Aurelius had captured Banadaspus instead). The Iazyges surrendered a year later, and they faced a harsh treaty.
It seems then that if there was any historical influence on Maximus’ victory at Vindobona in Gladiator, the most likely combination is Ballomar of the Marcomanni as the inspiration for the ‘German Leader’ and Maximianus’ victory over the Quadi at Laugaricio in 179.
Of course, a cabal of the screenwriters, film-makers and historical construction could very quickly say “we incorporated nothing of Ballomar, Ariogaesus, Laugaricio etc. into the ‘German Leader’ or our Vindobona”.
Bibliography
Birley, A.R. ‘The Wars and Revolts’, in van Ackeren, M. (ed.) A Companion to Marcus Aurelius. Chicester (2012) 217-233
McLynn, F. Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor. London (2009).
Winkler, M. (ed.) Gladiator: Film and History. Oxford (2004).
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