Ambiorix's revolt

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Ambiorix's revolt" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Ambiorix's revolt
Part of the Gallic Wars
Ambiorix attacking Roman soldiers, relief at the Liège Provincial Palace
Date 54 BC–53 BC Location Atuatuca Tungrorum (modern Tongeren, in Belgium), Result Roman victory
Belligerents
Roman Republic	Eburones
Commanders and leaders
Julius Caesar Aurunculeius Cotta † Quintus Sabinus † Quintus Tullius Cicero	Ambiorix
Strength
Initially: 9,000[1]	Initially: 9,000[1]
Casualties and losses
9,000 killed

Part of a series on the
History of Belgium
Prehistory Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes 4300–2200 BC
Ancient Belgae, Eburones & Treveri ~51 BC Gallic Wars 58–50 BC  • Ambiorix's revolt 54–53 BC Roman rule 51 BC–c.500 AD
Early Middle Ages Franks   Merovingians 481–751 Carolingians 751–987 Prince-Bishopric of Liège 980–1789
Middle Ages Franco-Flemish War 1297–1305 Burgundian rule 1384–1482  • Wars of Liège 1465–68 Habsburg rule 1482–1556
Early Modern Northern Renaissance 15th–16th century Spanish rule 1556–1714  • Seventeen Provinces 1549–81  • Dutch Revolt 1568–1648  • Southern Netherlands Austrian rule 1714–93  • Brabant Revolution 1789–90  • Liège Revolution 1789–91 French rule 1793–1815
19th century Dutch rule 1815–30 Belgian Revolution 1830–31 Reign of Leopold I 1831–65  • Treaty of London 1839 Reign of Leopold II 1865–1909  • School War 1879–84  • Congo Free State 1885–1908
20th and 21st centuries Belgian Congo 1908–60 Reign of Albert I 1909–34 World War I 1914–18  • Invasion 1914  • Atrocities 1914  • German occupation 1914–18 Ruanda-Urundi 1922–62 Reign of Leopold III 1934–51 World War II 1940–45  • Invasion 1940  • German occupation 1940–44  • Holocaust 1941–44 Royal Question 1944–50 Reign of Baudouin 1951–93 Reign of Albert II 1993–2013 Reign of Philippe 2013~
Timeline • Military • Jewish history • LGBT Belgium portal
v t e

Ambiorix's revolt was an episode during the Gallic Wars between 54 and 53 BC in which the Eburones tribe, under its leader, Ambiorix, rebelled against the Roman Republic.

Discontent among the subjugated Gauls prompted a major uprising amongst the Belgae against Julius Caesar in the winter of 54–53 BC, when the Eburones of north-eastern Gaul rose in rebellion under their leader Ambiorix. Fifteen Roman cohorts were wiped out at Atuatuca Tungrorum (modern Tongeren in Belgium) and a garrison commanded by Quintus Tullius Cicero narrowly survived after being relieved by Caesar in the nick of time. The rest of 53 BC was occupied with a punitive campaign against the Eburones and their allies, who were said to have been all but exterminated by the Romans.