Ritual, Communication and Politics or: What Happened to the Head of Publius Quinctilius Varus?

Abstract

The article discusses the historical and archaeological evidence related to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, focusing on the fate of the severed head of the Roman commander Publius Quinctilius Varus. The authors analyze the logistics, transport routes, and travel duration of the messengers who carried this unusual diplomatic token from Arminius to King Marbod in Bohemia, and ultimately to Rome. On this basis, the text challenges Roman descriptions of Germania as a wild, inaccessible terrain and proves that the Germanic tribes of that time possessed a stable network of roads as well as a developed capacity for strategic and trans-regional thinking.