CIMBRI

a Germanic tribe whose military incursion into Roman Italy was thrust back in 101 BC. Forced out of what is now Denmark by overpopulation and the encroaching sea, the Cimbri pushed southward, eventually swelling in numbers by the addition of their allies the Teutoni and other tribes. They scored victories over the Romans in 113, 109, and 107. Following a particularly devastating Roman defeat in 105 at Arausio (Orange, Fr.), command of the Romans was assumed by Gaius Marius. In 102 Marius destroyed the Teutoni at Aquae Sextiae (Aix-en-Provence), and in 101 he combined forces with Quintus Lutatius Catulus to annihilate, at Campi Raudii near Vercellae (Vercelli), the entire Cimbri army.