HERMANN, or IIEumm, a name that first appears in Germany in the 0th c. after Christ, but is now It has been erroneously transferred to that prince or chief of the Cherusei, called by Roman writers Arminius, and by the Greeks Arme nios. This personage was the sou of Sigitner, and was born 16 Ka The period in which the youth of Hermann was cast was fraught with the greatest peril to Germany. To secure the frontiers of the empire against the attacks of the Germanic tribes, the Romans had been forced to advance into the more turbulent districts, and to build a series of forts to overawe the inhabitants. In this manner, not only had most of the Celtic tribes, from the Alps to the Danube, been subdued, but in the years from 9 B.c. to 4 A.D., Drusus and Tiberius had penetrated into the n.w. of Germany as far as the Elbe, laid out a number of military roads, erected fortresses in the country, and reduced the different tribes to such dependence upon Rome, as virtually amounted to complete sub jugation. With so much prudence and caution had Tiberius proceeded, that the Ger mans continued to all appearance on the best terms with the Romans, gradually adopted Roman habits, and frequently and readily took service in the Roman armies. Thins Hermann and his brother Flavius had enrolled themselves under the Roman standards. and as leaders of Cheruscan auxiliaries, had not only obtained Roman citizenship and the rank of knighthood in the country of the Danube, but had likewise acquired a knowledge of the Latin language, and a deep insight into the arts of war and policy, as practiced by the Romans. Enriched with these experiences, when Herthann, after the expiration of some years, returned home, he found the state of affairs considerably changed for the worse, through the unskillful despotism of the Roman viceroy, Quin thins Yarns. Hermann now conceived the plan of delivering his country from its oppressors. All the tri bes and leaders as far as the Elbe were secretly summoned; Yarns was lulled into security, and induced to dispatch portions of his army to different points, and with the portion, which was just on the point of leaving the country of the cierasei for the Rhine, to quit the highway. He was thus lured into the impassable districts of the Teutoburg forest (either in the upper valley of the Lippe, or the adjoining Prussian territory); an engagement took place, which lasted for three days. The result was the annihilation of the whole Roman army (9 A.D.). When intel
ligence of this defeat reached Rome, it excited the greatest consternation and anxiety. The Germans, however. who had only their own liberation in view, prosecuted their victory no further; and for a few years both parties, so to speak, hung fire. When Germanicus (q.v.), however (14 A.D.), assumed the command on the lower Rhine, he resolved to crush the barbarians. in two successive campaigns, 14 A.D. and 16 A.D., he reduced Hermann to great straits; but he being recalled to Rome by the emperor Tibe rius, 17 A.D., the results of his victorious activity were lost. From this time no Roman army ever ventured to penetrate from the Rhine into the interior of Germany, and this circumstance, which decided the future fate of Germany, must be ascribed chiefly to Hermann. Nevertheless, no sooner was the foreign enemy expelled, than the internal feuds broke out with more violence than ever. In the course of these, Hermann was slain by his own relatives, in the 37th year of his age and 12th of his leadership. Taci tus says of him: "He was, without doubt, the deliverer of Germany; and unlike other kings and generals, he attacked the Roman people, not at the commencement, but in the fullness of their power; in battles, he was not always successful, but he was invin cible in war. He still lives in the songs of the barbarians, though unknown to the annals of the Greeks, who admire only what belongs to themselves; by the Romans, he is not estimated according to his merits, because in our admiration for the past, we neglect the present."—Compare Wietersheim, Der ?eklzug des Germanicus (Leip. 1850); 31assmann, Amanita Cheruscorum Dux ac Decus, Liberator Germanise (1839); BOttger, Hermann, der Cheruskerrost (Han. 1874).—A colossal statue of Hermann, placed on a hill near the town of Detmold. was publicly unveiled on Aug. 16, 1873. The work, intended to be a national monument, is by the sculptor Bandel, who devoted to its completion a large portion of his life.