Chariomerus (fl. 1st century) is the last recorded chieftain of the Germanic people Cherusci Germanic tribes.
Life
Chariomerus appears only in the
Roman History of
Cassius Dio. Chariomerus succeeded Italicus as chieftain of the Cherusci sometime in the mid-1st century and was presumably his son, the rest of the dynasty having died out by the time of Italicus's ascension in AD47. This would make him the grandnephew of
Arminius, the Cherusci leader who defeated the
Roman Empire Roman army in Teutonburg Forest in AD9 but—like Italicus and Italicus's father Flavus—Chariomerus seems to have been a close
Roman ally of Rome. Defeated by the
Chatti sometime around AD88, Chariomerus was deposed by his own people for his Roman ties. He turned to the
Roman emperor Domitian for assistance recovering his rule. Domitian offered financial support but not soldiers. By the end of the 1st century, the Cherusci people had disappeared from treatments of
ancient Germany.
