Ariovistus was a leader of the
Suebi and other allied
Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in
Gaul, assisting the
Arverni and
Sequani to defeat their rivals the
Aedui, after which they settled in large numbers in conquered Gallic territory in the
Alsace region. They were defeated, however, in the
Battle of Vosges and driven back over the
Rhine in 58 BC by
Julius Caesar.