Arminius (18/17 BC – AD 21) was a chieftain of the
Germanic Cherusci who defeated a
Roman army in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Arminius's influence held an allied coalition of Germanic tribes together in opposition to the Romans, but after defeats by the Roman general
Germanicus, nephew of the Emperor
Tiberius, his influence waned, and Arminius was assassinated on the orders of rival Germanic chiefs.