Trebeta

1559 painting depicting Trebeta, destroyed in World War II.

Trebeta was the legendary founder of Trier according to the Gesta Treverorum. He was said to be the son of Ninus, King of Assyria, by a wife prior to his marriage to Queen Semiramis. His stepmother Semiramis despised him, and when she took over the kingdom after the death of his father Ninus, Trebeta left Assyria and went to Europe. After wandering for a time, he led a group of colonizers to settle at Trier in what is now Germany around 2000 BC. Upon his death, his body was said to be cremated on Petrisberg by the people of Trier.

The German historian Johannes Aventinus disputed that Trebeta (whom he called Trever or Treiber) was the son of Ninus, claiming that he was in fact a son of Ninus' contemporary Mannus, who was supposedly the second king of Germany. Aventinus also credited Trever with building settlements at Metz, Mainz, Basel, Strasbourg, Speyer and Worms.

References

Ilse Haari-Oberg (1994) Die Wirkungsgeschichte der Trierer Gründungssage vom 10. bis 15. Jahrhundert (The Received History of the Saga of the Founding of Treves from the 11th to the 16th Century)
Wolfgang Binsfeld (1984) Die Gründungslegende. (The Founding Legend) in: Trier - Augustusstadt der Treverer., Mainz, ISBN 3-8053-0792-6

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