Bentumersiel - A market place of history

Parts of the equipment of Roman legionaries were also brought to light. They can be seen today in the local museum of history in the town of Weener. The origin of the settlement of Bentumersiel goes back from the 1st  to 3rd  century B.C.. The Germanig Settlers built their houses in Bentumersiel and fortified the site with ditches and palisades. But when did the Romans come here? After the lost battle of Varus (9 A.D.) near the town or Kalkriese, the Roman commander Germanicus launched a vendetta against the Germanic tribes around 14 A.D.. 

As the historian Tacitus reports, it says that a fleet of a 1,000 ships penetrated his troups into the country via the Ems, in order to supply their troops and to trade with the local community. 

Bentumersiel was entered too and was kind of an outpost for the legionaries, who advanced from here further south to destroy Germanic troops. But the mission failed, and in the autumn of 16 A.D. the Romans began their troopwithdrawal. It is assumed that some of the troops boarded their ships and set off on their journey back home from Bentumersiel. It is said, that the return journey became an odyssey, for the ships were caught in a violent storm and some of them even capsized. Many legionaries travelled from Bentumersiel into their deaths.

But one thing is certain: the visit of the Romans was only a "brief visit" in the history of this settlement. A permanent Roman camp most probably did never exist in this area. The Germanic settlement of Bentumersiel existed until about the 3rd century A.D..