The Revolt of Saturninus in Upper Germany, A.D. 89

31 THE REVOLT OF SATURNINUS IN UPPER GERMANY, A.D. 89 The career of L. Antonius Saturninus has recently been examined in some detail by Sir Ronald Syme, the scholar who, in 1936, in Volume XI of the Cambridge Ancient History, produced what is today the standard account in English of the revolt at Moguntiacum in Upper Germany, which Saturninus headed early in A.D. 89. Professor Syme1s recent paper says little about this episode beyond what was said almost fifty years ago, and his conclusion on the revolt is uncharacteristically bleak: "No plot emerges, no premeditation ... Let the emphasis repose on ignorance - and accident is safer to invoke than design. 111 In this paper I shall consider closely the scanty sources which survive for this episode and I shall attempt to construct a practicable chronology for the events of early 89; this will lead to a point-bypoint refutation of the most recent detailed account of the revolt; finally, I shall advance a tentative hypothesis concerning the background to the revolt, with suggestions about possible allies who encouraged and then, in the event, betrayed Saturninus. There are undoubtedly similarities between the revolt of Saturninus in 89 and the revolt of Vitellius in 69: both took place at approximately the same time of year; on both occasions the armies in Germany, or at least substantial parts of them, were seriously disaffected; and the problems involved in communications between Germany and Rome and in moving armed forces across the Alps were l R . Syme, "Antonius Saturninus," JRS 68 (1978) 12-21; for the conclusion cited, see 20, 21; ct. CAH XI1I2-174. 32 C. L. MURISON almost identical. However, our evidence for the events of 69 is much more copious than for the attempt in 89. For this reason our starting point for the revolt of Saturninus in Upper Germany in 89 will be the revolt of Vitellius in Lower Germany in 69. In a recent paper I attempted to demonstrate that the account of this earlier revolt preserved in the Histories of Tacitus must ultimately be based on Vitellian propagan~ main reason for saying this was that events occurred far too rapidly for them to have been genuinely spontaneous. Since it will be relevant to part of this present discussion, a very brief outline of a section of my earlier argument is perhaps in order. Vitellius was hailed as Emperor in Lower Germany on 2nd January, 69. On the following day the troops at Moguntiacum in Upper Germany, who had revolted against Galba on 1st January, came over to Vitellius, and within a few days the governors and the military units in Gallia Belgica, Gallia Lugdunensis, Britain and Raetia had also joined the rebellion. The result was that Vitellius was soon able to send off towards Italy from Colonia Agrippinensis a major invasion force, but the surprising and most important thing is that we can calculate that it left Colonia on about 12-13th January! If the outbreak at the beginning of January had been completely spontaneous, it would be necessary for us to suppose that all the consultations with provincial governors (initial soundings, bargaining. promises and conclusions) took place within ten days: Vitellius could not, for example, have sent off a major part of his armed strength towards Italy until he was quite sure that the legions of Britain were with him. Accordingly, I concluded that the revolt of Vitellius had been carefully prepared in advance. However, there were also major differences between 69 and 89: in 89, of course, Domitian, the last of the Flavians, was in power and 2C . L. Murison, "Some Vitellian Dates: An Exercise in Methodology," TAPA 109 (1979) 187-197, esp.190-194. REVOLT OF SATURNINUS IN UPPER GERMANY, A.D. 89 33 his austere, arrogant and autocratic personality, his disdain for the traditional governing elements in Roman society, and his avidity perhaps excessive - for military glory, all played a part in the outcome of events. 3 It is instructive here to compare Domitian with Claudius, another Emperor who had little or no practical experience when he came to power: just as Claudius, who became Emperor in 41, consolidated his regime and then in...