Battle of The Teutoburg Forest - Portrayal in Fiction

Portrayal in Fiction

Die Hermannsschlacht is an 1808 drama by Heinrich von Kleist based on the events of the battle.

The battle and its aftermath are featured in both the novel and television series I, Claudius. In the novel, Cassius Chaerea is portrayed as being one of the few Roman survivors of the battle.

The battle, or more specifically, a Jewish student's report about the battle, is a central aspect of Die Geschwister Oppermann (The Oppermanns), a 1933 novel by Lion Feuchtwanger.

A movie named Die Hermannsschlacht / The Hermann Battle was released between 1993 and 1995. The first public screening of this work took place in Düsseldorf in May 1995. In 1996 it was honoured by an international jury in Kiel, where it was presented during an archaeological film festival. The Hermann Battle was successfully shown in arthouse-cinemas throughout Germany. The actors speak German and Latin, with German subtitles. Famous English artist Tony Cragg has a brief role as a Roman citizen in the palace of Augustus.

The Battle of Teutoburg Forest is also a historical battle that can be played in the video game Rome: Total War. However, it is not an entirely accurate depiction of the historical battle. The scenario is difficult because the Roman troops are heavily outnumbered, not due to the superior position of Germanic Forces.

A 1955 novel, The Lost Eagles, written by Ralph Graves, gave a fictitious account of a Varus relation, Severus Varus, working to recover the lost eagles of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, as well as the family's honor. The story follows the historical recovery of the Eagles in the campaigns of Germanicus.

The 1992 detective novel (with a 2007 radio play adaptation), The Iron Hand of Mars by English historical novelist Lindsey Davis, uses the battle and its aftermath as extensive backstory to her character, Marcus Didius Falco's adventures on the Limes Germanicus in 71 CE. The battle, its consequences to Rome and to the local tribes and the ongoing local trade in "memorabilia" from the disaster are all used as plot devices.

The 2009 novel Give Me Back My Legions! by Harry Turtledove covers the battle as well as the events leading up to it.

In the same year another historico-fictional novel, Arminius; a German romance, was published by English historic novelist Lorna Pearson. This covers events from the approach to the battle until Arminius' death twelve years later, using subsequent German myth from Siegfried to the Thousand Year Reich as a filter.

Die Sendung mit der Maus, a re-enactment for children's television, using Playmobil toys to represent the Roman legions