<="" font="" face="Times New Roman"> Probus - Roman Emperor : 276-282  A.D. -
<="" font=""> VICTORY over GERMANIA
Bronze Antoninianus 21mm (3.49 grams) Rome mint: 280  A.D.
Reference: RIC 220
PROBVS P F AVG, Radiate and cuirassed bust right, slight  drapery on far shoulder.
VICTORIA GERM, trophy between two captives with hands  tied behind backs; R(thunderbolt)A in exergue.

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Germania was the Roman and Greek term for the  geographical region inhabited mainly by the Germanic people . It  bordered to west on the Rhine river, to the  south on the Danube river, to the  north on the Baltic Sea , and to the  east on the Vistula river.  According to Friedrich Engels in his  book The Origin of the Family, Private  Property and the State (first published  in 1884) Germania covered an area of 500,000 km²  or 190,000 sq mi and had a population of 5,000,000 in  the 1st century BC. The areas west of the Rhine were  mainly Celtic (specifically Gaulish ) and became  part of the Roman Empire in the  first century BC.

Map of the Roman Empire and Magna  Germania in the early 2nd century

Some Germani, perhaps the original people to  have been referred to by this name, had lived on the  west side of the Rhine. At least as early as the 2nd  century BC this area was considered to be in "Gaul",  and became part of the Roman empire in the course of the Gallic Wars (58-50 BC).  These so-called Germani cisrhenani   lived in the region of present-day eastern Belgium , the  southeastern Netherlands , and  stretching into Germany towards the  Rhine. During the period of the Roman empire, more  tribes settled in areas of the empire near the Rhine, in  territories controlled by the Roman Empire. Eventually  these areas came to be known as Lesser Germania,  while Greater Germania (Magna  Germania; it is also referred to by names  referring to its being outside Roman control: Germania libera,  "free Germania") formed the larger territory east of the  Rhine.

The Roman parts of Germania, "Lesser Germania",  eventually formed two provinces of the  empire, Germania Inferior ,  "Lower Germania" (which came to eventually include the  region of the original germani cisrhenani) and Germania Superior (in  modern terms comprising an area of western Switzerland , the French Jura and Alsace regions, and  southwestern Germany). Important cities in Lesser  Germania included Besançon (Besontio), Strasbourg (Argentoratum), Wiesbaden (Aquae  Mattiacae), and Mainz (Mogontiacum).

A trophy is a reward for a specific  achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of  merit.

A tropaion (Greek: τρόπαιον, Latin : tropaeum),  whence English "trophy"  is an ancient Greek and later Roman monument set up  to commemorate a victory over one's foes. Typically this  takes the shape of a tree, sometimes with a pair of  arm-like branches (or, in later times, a pair of stakes  set crosswise) upon which is hung the armour of a defeated  and dead foe. The tropaion is then dedicated to a god in thanksgiving for  the victory.

A Roman tropaeum from the Dacian Wars   (Trajan's  Column 113 CE, note the tree  trunk with arm-like branches)

Greece

In the Greek city-states of the Archaic period, the tropaion would be set up on the battlefield itself,  usually at the site of the "turning point" (Gk. tropê)  at which the routed enemy's phalanx broke, turned  and ran. It would be dressed in the typical hoplite panoply of the period,  including (at different times), a helmet , cuirass (either of bronze or linen ), and a number of shields ,etc, would be  piled about the base. It remained on the battlefield  until the following season's campaigns (since battles  were often fought in the same, relatively few plains  amid Greece's numerous mountains), where it might be  replaced with a new trophy.

In later eras in the Greek world, these tropaia  might be vowed at the battle-site, but in fact erected  at pan-Hellenic   sanctuaries such as Olympia or Delphi to further  increase the prestige of the victorious state.

The significance of the monument is a ritualistic  notification of "victory" to the defeated enemies. Since  warfare in the Greek world was largely a ritualistic  affair in the archaic hoplite-age (see Hanson , The Western  Way of War for further elaboration of this idea),  the monument is used to reinforce the symbolic capital of the  victory in the Greek community.

Ancient sources attest to the great deal of  significance that early Greek cities placed upon symbols  and ritual as linked to warfare--the story involving the  bones of Orestes , for example,  in Herodotus 1 which go  beyond the ritualistic properties to even magically  'guaranteeing' the Spartan victory,  displays the same sort of interest in objects and  symbols of power as they relate to military success or  failure.

Rome

The tropaeum in Rome, on the other hand, would  probably not be set up on the battle-site itself,  but rather displayed prominently in the city of Rome.  Romans were less concerned about impressing foreign  powers or military rivals than they were in using  military success to further their own political careers   inside the city, especially during the later years of  the Republic . A tropaeum  displayed on the battlefield does not win votes, but one  brought back and displayed as part of a triumph can impress the  citizens (who might then vote in future elections in  favor of the conqueror) or the nobles (with whom most  aristocratic Romans of the Republican period were in a  constant struggle for prestige).

The symbolism of the tropaeum became so well  known that in later eras, Romans began to simply display  images of them upon sculpted reliefs (see image and Tropaeum Traiani ), to  leave a permanent trace of the victory in question  rather than the temporary monument of the tropaeum  itself.

Originally the word trophy, derived from the Latin tropaion , referred  to arms, standards, other property, or human captives  and body parts (e.g. headhunting ) captured  in battle. These war trophies   commemorated the military victories of a state, army or  individual combatant. In modern warfare trophy taking is  discouraged, but this sense of the word is reflected in hunting trophies and human trophy collecting   by serial killers .

Trophies have marked victories since ancient times.  The word trophy coined in English in 1550, was  derived from the French trophée in 1513, "a prize  of war", from Old French trophee, from Latin trophaeum, monument to victory, variant of tropaeum, which in turn is the latinisation of the Greek τρόπαιον (tropaion),  the neuter of τροπαῖος (tropaios), "of defeat" or  "for defeat", but generally "of a turning" or "of a  change", from τροπή (tropē), "a turn, a change"  and that from the verb τρέπω (trepo), "to turn,  to alter".

In ancient Greece, trophies were made on the  battlefields of victorious battles, from captured arms  and standards, and were hung upon a tree or a large  stake made to resemble a warrior. Often, these ancient  trophies were inscribed with a story of the battle and  were dedicated to various gods. Trophies made about  naval victories sometimes consisted of entire ships (or  what remained of them) laid out on the beach. To destroy  a trophy was considered a sacrilege.

The ancient Romans kept their trophies closer to  home. The Romans built magnificent trophies in Rome,  including columns and arches atop a foundation. Most of  the stone trophies that once adorned huge stone  memorials in Rome have been long since stolen

Marcus  Aurelius Probus (c. August 19,  232–September/October, 282) was a Roman Emperor (276–282).

A native of Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica , Serbia ), in Pannonia , at an early age he entered the army, where  he distinguished himself under the Emperors Valerian , Aurelian and Tacitus . He was appointed governor of the East by  Tacitus, at whose death he was immediately proclaimed  his successor by the soldiers (276).

Florianus , who had claimed to succeed his  half-brother Tacitus, was put to death by his own troops  after an indecisive campaign. Probus moved to the West,  defeated the Goths acquiring the title of Gothicus  (280), and saw his position ratified by the Senate .

The reign of Probus was mainly spent  in successful wars by which he re-established the  security of all the frontiers. The most important of  these operations were directed to clearing Gaul of German invaders (Franks, Longiones , Alamanni and Burgundians ), allowing Probus to adopt the titles of Gothicus Maximus and Germanicus Maximus.  One of his principles was never to allow the soldiers to  be idle, and to employ them in time of peace on useful  works, such as the planting of vineyards in Gaul,  Pannonia and other districts, in order to restart the  economy in these devastated lands.

In 279–280, Probus was, according to Zosimus , in Raetia , Illyricum and Lycia , where he fought the Vandals . In the same years, Probus' generals  defeated the Blemmyes in Egypt ; Probus ordered the reconstruction of bridges  and canals along the Nile, where the production of grain  for the Empire was centered.

In 280–281, Probus had also put down  three usurpers, Julius Saturninus , Proculus and Bonosus . The extent of these revolts is not clear,  but there are clues that they were not just local  problems.  In 281, the emperor was in Rome, where he celebrated his triumph .

Probus was eager to start his eastern  campaign, delayed by the revolts in the west. He left  Rome in 282, moving first towards Sirmium, his birth  city, when the news that Marcus Aurelius Carus , commander of the Praetorian Guard , had been proclaimed emperor  reached him. Probus sent some troops against the new  usurper, but when those troops changed sides and  supported Carus, Probus's soldiers then assassinated him  (September/October 282).