page_title: Military history of the Netherlands
section_title: Military units of the Batavi
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of the Netherlands / Ancient times / Military units of the Batavi
caption_attribution_description: English: Funerary stela of a Batavian member of the Corporis Custodes (imperial bodyguard) of Nero, from Museo Nazionale Romano - Terme di Diocleziano. The inscription (AE 1952, 0148) says: Indus, bodyguard of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus, twelfth group, Batavian nation, lived 36 years. His brother and heir Eumenes, from the collegium of the Germans, dedicated. Photo taken by Salvatore Falco, June 2005, Rome
context_page_description: The Netherlands, as a nation-state, dates to 1568, when the Dutch Revolt created the Dutch Empire. Previously, the Germanic tribes had no written language during the ancient and early medieval periods, so what we know about their early military history comes from accounts written in Latin and from archaeology. This causes significant gaps in the historic timeline. Germanic wars against the Romans are fairly well documented from the Roman perspective; however, Germanic wars against the early Celts remain mysterious because neither side recorded the events. Wars between the Germanic tribes in Northern Belgium and the present day Netherlands, and various Celtic tribes that bordered their lands, are likely due to their geographical proximity.
  Belgium, a country with a Dutch-speaking majority, became an independent state in 1830 when it seceded from the Netherlands. Despite the contemporary political boundaries, they share much of the same military history.
context_section_description: Later, Tacitus described the Batavians as the bravest of the tribes of the area, hardened in the Germanic border wars, with cohorts under their own noble commanders transferred to Britannia. He said they retained the honour of the ancient association with the Romans, not required to pay tribute or taxes and used by the Romans only for war: "They furnished to the Empire nothing but men and arms", Tacitus remarked. They were well regarded for their skills in horsemanship and swimming, for their men and horses could cross the Rhine without losing formation, according to Tacitus. Dio Cassius describes this surprise tactic employed by Aulus Plautius against the "barbarians" — the British Celts — at the battle of the River Medway, 43:
  The barbarians thought that Romans would not be able to cross it without a bridge, and consequently bivouacked in rather careless fashion on the opposite bank; but he sent across a detachment of Batavians, who were accustomed to swim easily in full armour across the most turbulent streams. [...] Thence the Britons retired to the river Thames at a point near where it empties into the ocean and at flood-tide forms a lake. This they easily crossed because they knew where the firm ground and the easy passages in this region were to be found; but the Romans in attempting to follow them were not so successful. However, the Batavians swam across again and some others got over by a bridge a little way up-stream, after which they assailed the barbarians from several sides at once and cut down many of them. (Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 60:20)
  The Batavians also provided a contingent for the Emperor's Imperial Horse Guard.
caption: Funerary stela of one of Nero's Corporis Custodes (imperial bodyguard). The bodyguard, Indus, was of the Batavian tribe.
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