tribal confederation · Germany and Central Europe

Hermunduri

1 BCE – 300 CE (approx.)

A Germanic people of Thuringia and the upper Elbe, unusually friendly to Rome, who were allowed to trade freely inside the province of Raetia.

Origins

The Hermunduri were an Elbe Germanic people who, around 1 BCE, were resettled by the Roman commander Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus in lands vacated by the Marcomanni along the upper Main. Their territory came to stretch from the Danube near Raetia north into Thuringia and the Saale region.

Rule and society

Tacitus calls them faithful to Rome and notes that, alone among Germans, they could enter the colony of Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg) without guard to trade. In 19 their leader Vibilius helped overthrow Catualda, and in 50 he also brought down Vannius. In 58 they defeated the Chatti in a war over sacred salt springs.

Decline and legacy

The Hermunduri took part in the Marcomannic Wars against Rome in the 160s and 170s. They disappear from sources in the 3rd century, and most historians see them as one of the roots of the later Thuringians, whose name may derive from theirs.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

HermunduriKingdom of the Thuringians 400 CE – 531 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Hermunduri. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hermunduri
MLA
“Hermunduri.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hermunduri. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Hermunduri.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hermunduri.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Hermunduri’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/hermunduri (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻