Ambiorix
Leader of the Eburones, who rebelled against the Romans in 54 BC.
Ambiorix was king of the Eburones, a Gallic tribe that lived between the Meuse and Rhine rivers. In 57 Caesar liberated them from the yoke of the Aduatuci. After a failed grain harvest in 54 B. C. tensions rose between the Eburones and their Roman 'liberators'. Caesar had the Celtic leader Dumnorix murdered. The Treveri, a tribe from the Moselle valley, felt that the time was ripe for a large-scale Gallic uprising. They planned to use Ambiorix as a whipping-boy. One night the king of the Eburones attacked the Roman winter barracks of the 14th legion. This attack was a failure, at least so it seemed. Subsequently it turned out to be a set-up. The camp commanders, Cotta and Sabinus, asked Ambiorix what was motivating him. Why did he attack them? Were they not friends, after all? In any case, with his limited troops, what could he do against the great power of Rome? Ambiorix cunningly answered that he had no choice but to attack, because he felt obliged to co-operate with the Gallic plan for a large-scale offensive. The officers thanked Ambiorix for the warning and decided to link up with other Roman garrisons in the area for the sake of security. They broke camp and left. On the way, in a narrow valley, Ambiorix drew them into the trap. He attacked, and his guerilla tactics gave the Romans their greatest defeat in the whole 'Bello Gallico', or Gallic War. Ambiorix, together with the Nervii, the Aduatuci and the Menapii, then organised a raid on another Roman garrison in the Meuse valley. Julius Caesar wanted revenge against the 'Belgae', as he called the Celtic tribes in Northern Gaul. Caesar's revenge was extremely bloody, and some historians have even described it as genocide. The land was laid waste and women and children were taken off as booty. One of the few warriors who escaped death by strangulation, was Ambiorix. He crossed the Rhine and found a safe haven among the Germani.
Since 1866 the statue of Ambiorix has been standing in the Market Square in Tongeren, the oldest town in Belgium and home to the Gallo-Roman museum.
