He massacred as many of the indigenous people as he could in retribution for the Roman defeat and recovered two of the three Standards lost in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Historians since have agreed that Germanicus' campaign was driven by revenge, his desire to rally the troops around him and, as a symbol of their personal loyalty to him and to Rome, the retrieval of the Standards. Augustus was dead by then and Tiberius ruled Rome but, still, the previous boundary stood. 16 CE the Roman general Germanicus (15 BCE-19 CE) led his troops into Germania, in defiance of Augustus' dictate that the Rhine should be the boundary of Rome, to retrieve the Standards lost by Varas' defeat. The legions were massacred on the third day of their march and all three Standards were lost to Rome. Arminius choreographed an elaborate plan by which the Roman legions would have to march through the Teutoburg Forest, where their tactics and training could little help them, and then ambushed them. This upset many of the populace, but especially a young German named Arminius who was a trusted member of Varus' staff. In 9 CE, the Roman general Quinctilius Varas was assigned the governorship of Germania, even though it was not conquered, and set about trying to collect taxes and tribute. Since the people of Germania were tribal, and there was no united front to wage war against, the armies of Rome could gain no foothold in the region. Under the reign of Augustus, in 12 BCE, the Roman legions were ordered into the region of Germania where they tried to accomplish what Julius Caesar had toyed with doing some forty years earlier: the subjugation of the land. The story of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest (9 CE) and the Roman response to that defeat emphasizes the importance of the Standard to Rome. The Standard was important as a rallying point, symbol of pride and, more practically, as a means of communication in battle. The Standard, then, represented not only the legion or cohort which carried it but the citizens of Rome, and the policies the army represented. In the time of the Roman Republic the Standards were imprinted with the letters SPQR which was an abbreviation for Senatus Populus que Romanus (Senate and People of Rome). So important was the Standard to the armies of Rome that battles were fought for their return. The Standard bearer would lower, raise, wave, or make some other motion with the Standard to indicate what the next move was for the troops or to change some tactic or formation. A trumpet blast would draw the attention of the troops to the Standard which would then direct which action should be taken on the field. The most famous of these is the eagle ( Aquila) but there were also legions identified by the boar, the wolf, the horse, and minotaur. The Standard of a cavalry unit was emblazoned with the symbol of the serpent ( Draconarius) while a legion of infantry was represented by a totemic animal.
The Roman Standard (Latin: Signum or Signa Romanum) was a pennant, flag, or banner, suspended or attached to a staff or pole, which identified a Roman legion (infantry) or Equites (cavalry).
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