The wig Ovid suggests is from German prisoners from some Roman triumph or other. The question is, which/when? The Amores are thought to have been published some time 19 B.C. and 8 B.C., but are not full of easily verified date references. Potentially, this poem gives the reader something to grab hold of. Zetsel (1996) says the poem appears to contain the latest datable allusion in all the Amores. He says Alan Cameron (1968) dates it to 16 B.C. Ten years later, Syme said the reference to the Sygambri as triumphatae gentis might refer to a triumph of Tiberius in 7 B.C., but it might not mean a specific one and the Sygambri were mentioned as far back as Caesar, in his Gallic Wars:
Gallic Wars Book 4 Chapter 18 [55 B.C.]"Caesar, leaving a strong guard at each end of the bridge, hastens into the territories of the Sigambri. In the mean time, ambassadors from several nations come to him, whom, on their suing for peace and alliance, he answers in a courteous manner, and orders hostages to be brought to him. But the Sigambri, at the very time the bridge was begun to be built, made preparations for a flight (by the advice of such of the Tenchtheri and Usipetes as they had among them), and quitted their territories, and conveyed away all their possessions, and concealed themselves in deserts and woods."
This suggests that while we can't assign a specific date to Ovid Amores 1.14, we don't have to worry inordinately about a conflict between the accepted timeline of Ovid's poems and the dates of German battles fought under Augustus.
Reference: "Poetic Baldness and Its Cure," by James E. G. Zetzel; Materiali e discussioni per l'analisi dei testi classici, (1996)
