Here is video shot of us making the film...........
Orbis Romanus...is a film which depicts the backstory to the Battle...or really the Ambush of the Romans at Tutenburg Forest..It's not really talked about much in the US...but that was likely the decisive point in Roman history...at least in their attempts to conquer the Germanic tribes....
Three Legions...and the support people...about 20,000 men were lured into a movement which took them thru an unknown ...little used passage thru Tutenburg Forest...Arminius..the premiere German tribal leader ...and an ally of Rome...convinced the General in charge of the three Legions...that there was an uprising near Osnabruck ....and ...before returning to Rome with the Legions...that if the General would swing over thru that area...the uprising in the area could be put down....Meanwhile Arminius...who knew the Roman ways as he had been raised as a child "hostage" in Rome...then returned to his position as the new Prince of the Tribe...as was the Roman P.R. practice at the time....was in fact planning an elaborate plot..in league with numerous other German tribes...an Ambush was at hand....And the Roman General in charge of the 3 Legions...General Quinctillius Varus...took the bait...and marched right into it...it was the single greatest defeat...and loss of life ever seen by Rome...before ...or ..after...and changed forever the mind of Augustus...then Caesar...in his further pursuits regarding the conquest of Germania...Germans stayed German...their language was not Latinized like the other conquered peoples in Europe...and Arminius..known as Hermann...to the German people became the national hero...and the focal point for nationalism in Germany....The Romans did not Romanize the Germans...they stayed fiercely German.....
Over 20,000 Roman soldiers and their support troops died over a three day period as the Roman lines...extended to 11 miles...and not able to move into battle formations in the narrow forest passageway...were caught completely by surprize ...
It had been raining for days and the mud did not help matters....no prisoners were taken...all were killed on the spot...except for any Roman officers ...which were captured...they had the glory of being offered to the German Gods in sacrifice...Arminius wanted to make an example of the Romans at Tutenburg Forest...one they would never forget...and he did...dead Romans were nailed to trees...thru the battle areas of the forest....not to be removed for a decade ...till a later expeditionary Roman force came there ...to remove the bones...and bury the whole spectre....
Arminus got into the collective Roman psyche....and it was remembered in Rome as the blackest of days...one never forgotten...
Three legions were slaughtered at Tutenburg Forest....the XVII the XVIII and the XIX their "Eagles"...their standards...were after this disaster retired....and their Legion numbers were retired....and never used again....the Legions jumped from the XVI th to the XX th....The Ambush was hence known as "The Varian Disaster"...named after the Roman General who led his troops that day, and was fooled by the German ...Arminius... General Quinctillius Varus.... The Varian Disaster was debated by Roman historians from that point till the end of the Empire.
Orbis Romanus...is an original story of two Roman advance re-con soldiers...Vespa the young idealistic soldier (David Cruz).....and Saturius....the older exploratore...(re-con scout)...about to retire from the leigon...and return to his family in Rome....they are from the XVIIth Leigon....
The story revolves around their attempt to sneak behind enemy lines on an un-sanctioned mission via a tip....to find out if the rumors of an ambush are true...in order to stop their General...who admires the German, Arminius...and trusts him blindly....from marching into disaster....along the way they meet a forest soothsayer...a witch in the pre-christian period that is the setting for the film...around 9 AD... the witch adds a new component to the gravity of the mission...she shows Saturius...one of the two Romans...and ...my character...the future of the Germanic tribes...should their General continue with his plans to March in 48 hours....Edward
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