Western Oregon University Digital Commons@WOU Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) Department of History 2007 The Lost Legions of Augustus Craig Lockhart Western Oregon University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Lockhart, Craig, "The Lost Legions of Augustus" (2007). Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History). 173. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his/173 This Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at Digital Commons@WOU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@WOU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Lost Legions of Augustus By Craig Lockhart Senior Seminar: Hst. 499 Professor Bau-Hwa Hsieh Western Oregon University June 10, 2007 Readers Professor Benedict Lowe Professor Sil Narasingha Copyright Craig Lockhart, 2007 Augustus was the greatest Emperor of Ancient Rome, but the biggest defeat to his legend, was his lost legions from the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest in 9 A.D. Augustus and the Roman legions were the ultimate sign of Roman invincibility as quoted by Suetonius, “Behold them, conquerors of the world, all clad in Roman gowns”1. The landscape of Germany had been left relatively untouched by Julius Caesar after his conquest of Gaul in 58 B.C., until 16 B.C., when Augustus’ thirst to expand and secure the frontier of Germany would be a huge mistake. His choice of Quinctilius Varus to lead his legions would be one that he would forever regret.