Send Gift Baskets to Worms, Germany

Worms was once a Celtic city called Borbetomagus, which probably meant “water meadow.” In later times, it was conquered by the Germanic Vangiones. A small troop of infantry and cavalry was garrisoned there from 14 B.C. onwards under the command of Drusus. In honor of the then-emperor and the local tribe, the Romans renamed Augusta Vangionum. Despite this, the name did not catch on, and the German Worms and Latin Wormatia replaced Borbetomagus; the city’s name was still written Wormbs until the late modern era. As the garrison grew, it developed a Roman street plan, a forum, and temples dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, Minerva (whose temple later became the cathedral), and Mars.

Among the exhibits in the archaeological museum are Roman inscriptions, altars, and votive offerings, along with one of Europe’s largest collections of Roman glass. It was in the south quarter of the town that potters worked. Amphorae fragments contain olive oil from Hispania Baetica, likely transported by sea and then up the Rhine.

In 411–413 AD, Roman usurper Jovinus established himself as a puppet-emperor in Borbetomagus with the help of King Gunther of the Burgundians, who had settled in the area between the Rhine and Moselle some years earlier. Under Gunther (also known as Gundicar), the city became the capital of the Burgundian kingdom. Several artifacts from this early Burgundian kingdom have survived since it was destroyed in 436 by a combined Roman and Hun force (led by Attila). As a result of Burgundian raids against Roman settlements, the combined Romano-Hunnic army destroyed the Burgundian army at Worms (436), killing King Gunther. A total of 20,000 people are believed to have died. In modern-day Savoy, the Romans led the survivors southward to the Roman district of Sapaudia. The story of this war inspired Nibelungenlied. The city appears in the Peutinger Map dating from the fourth century.