The coalition's precise origins and route remain uncertain. By Arausio it had already defeated Rome at Noreia in 113 BC and had moved through the region for years without a Roman army stopping it. Wagons, families, and allied peoples accompanied a heavily armed search for viable land and grain. The coalition's diplomacy shows that it pursued settlement and supplies rather than mindless destruction. The later request of captured high-status women to serve in Roman temples rather than become concubines or slaves also implies detailed knowledge of Roman religious and legal options. Information was circulating through a society far more capable and interconnected than the label 'barbarian' implies.
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The Cimbri and Teutones as an armed migration
The Cimbri and Teutones pursued land and grain, and their dealings with Rome suggest knowledge of its institutions; their precise origins and migration route remain uncertain.