Talk:Battle of Vercellae

The Vercellae article
Currently Vercellae redirects here, which is easily explained—it used to be an article on the battle—, but seems a little odd. Unless and until someone starts an article on the Roman town, it strikes me that it would be better as a disambiguation page, or as a redirect to Vercelli. (That article has no coverage of the town’s ancient history at the moment.) Any thoughts? —Ian Spackman 21:40, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Number of barbarians involved in the battle
Roman history is plagued by fantastic exaggerations when describing the number of enemies (heroically defeated). More recent research has tended to reduce these claimed numbers very significantly - often/generally by at least an order of magnitude. Please see my longer posting in the article on the battle of Aquae Sextae. HagenFranziska 15:44, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Survivors involved in Spartacus' revolt?
I think this needs better sourcing, and without very solid sourcng, I don't think this belongs in the intro. First, the ref leads to Strauss's book. Checking the index, for Cimbri and Teutones, I can't find the claim. Maybe with page numbers, it'd be easier to check. Second, these events are almost thirty years apart. What was the life expectancy for Roman slaves, especially the field slaves who were the backbone of the rebellion, let alone gladiators? Ananiujitha (talk) 04:38, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Germanic?
I don't see any consensus that the Cimbri were Germanic in the modern [linguistic] sense, or are to be identified with the Cimbri in Scandinavia. Ananiujitha (talk) 04:38, 4 November 2013 (UTC)
 * What else were they? There aren't exactly many options. Bataaf van Oranje (talk) 18:37, 11 July 2015 (UTC)
 * It is thought the Cimbri migrated to Gaul from the Jutland area. The tribe does in fact most likely have origins in northern Europe. Pariah24  ┃ ☏ 18:57, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

File:Tiepolo Vercellae.jpg to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Tiepolo Vercellae.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on July 27, 2018. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2018-07-30. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 01:37, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

Fighting dogs
What about the fighting dogs used by the Roman enemies? I recall that the Romans were so impressed by them that they started to breed war dogs themselves. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.150.92.130 (talk) 18:43, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Do you have a source for the “fighting dogs”? If so, and if it is a reliable source, you can expand the article with a section about them.LuciusHistoricus (talk) 08:44, 27 October 2019 (UTC)
 * The Wikipedia page attack dog states this:
 * Ancient Romans first adopted the use of dogs as a weapon after hordes of dogs delayed their victory in the Battle of Vercellae. The Romans not only trained them to attack, but also bred their attack dogs for ferocity. The effect of this was documented by Roman naturalist and writer Pliny the Elder, who wrote that the animals would not back down, even when confronted by swords. The Roman attack dogs were given metal armour covered in razor-sharp spikes, designed to force the enemy out of formation.
 * After reading this, i clicked on Battle of Vercellae to read more, but this page does not mention anything about dogs at all. It would be very interesting if anyone knew more and could add it. // 158.174.186.54 (talk) 13:49, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

Nothing about the mass suicide?
It is commonly said that a bunch of the Germanic women committed suicide after this battle rather than become enslaved. Why isn't this included?ItsRainingCatsAndDogsAndMen (talk) 14:41, 9 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Do you have a source? LuciusHistoricus (talk) 18:43, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
 * "The lengthy account of Roman history features a particularly harrowing example of women taking to the battlefield. In 101 BC, at the Battle of Vercellae, the Romans led by Gaius Marius put an end to the Cimbrian War (113-101 BC) with a crushing victory over three Germanic tribes, the Teutones, the Ambrones and the Cimbri. In the midst of battle, the Cimbrian women, rather than being enslaved by the Romans, construct a makeshift fort out of wagons and chariots, and fight valiantly against their opponents. When they begin to realise that they have little hope of victory, they perform a mass suicide, either by sword or noose, taking their children with them." ItsRainingCatsAndDogsAndMen (talk) 13:40, 11 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Why don't you add this to the Wikipedia page? LuciusHistoricus (talk) 18:48, 11 May 2024 (UTC)