The so-called Angrivarian Wall (German: Angrivarierwall) was mentioned by the Roman historian, Tacitus (Annals II, 19–21), in connection with the campaign by the Roman general Germanicus in 16 AD, which included the Battle of the Angrivarian Wall. It was here that the legions of Germanicus and the army of Arminius had their final conflict.
The "wall" refers in this case to a defensive bank of earth or rampart, Wall being German for an embankment, not a wall.
The relevant text in the Annals (II, 19) records:
At last they chose a spot closed in by a river and by forests, within which was a narrow swampy plain. The woods too were surrounded by a bottomless morass, only on one side of it the Angrivarii had raised a broad earthwork, as a boundary between themselves and the Cherusci.
There are conflicting views today about the purpose of this earthwork. One theory is that it was an early historical border fortification between the Angrivarii and the Cherusci. Similar structures from this period have been found in Denmark, for example the Olgerdige (31 A.D.)[1][circular reference]. It is also conceivable that the Angrivarian Wall was just built during the campaign of Germanicus in order to fulfil a strategic function as part of Arminius' tactics.
- ^ "Olgerdige". de.Wikipedia.org (in German).