500 BC to 12 BC

Celts and Germanic peoples

In the last centuries BC Celtic peoples held the south, with large fortified towns such as Manching in Bavaria, while Germanic tribes lived in the north. Around 113 BC the Cimbri and Teutones left the north and wandered south until Rome destroyed them in 102 and 101 BC. Julius Caesar, conqueror of Gaul, crossed the Rhine in 55 BC.