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[German version] (Οὐέσσονες/ Ouéssones, Ptol. 2,9,11). People in Gallia Belgica in the particularly fertile modern Soissonais (departement of Aisne/Oise). With the Remi to the east, the S. formed a cultural identity, linked by the same law, the same magistrates and a unified commander-in-chief (Caes. B Gall. 2,3,4 f.). In about 80 BC, Diviciacus [1] gained supremacy as far as the southeast of Britain. When Caesar invaded in 58/7 BC, the state unity of the S. and the pro-Roman Remi disintegrated. Th…

[German version] Small town between the Seltzbach and the Sauer, at the mouth of these two rivers as they flow into the Rhine (today one of the Rhine arms), present-day Sel(t)z (Département Bas-Rhin southeast of Wissembourg). S. was situated on the border of the civitates of the Triboci and the Nemetes and was classified as belonging to them at least in late antiquity. The roads Mogontiacum-Argentorate and Saravus-Vosegus-Agri Decumates crossed here (It. Ant. 354,6; Tab. Peut. 3,3). There are traces of settlements dating to the Bronze Age; a Celtic oppidum from the pre-Roman era is …

This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Caesar | Christianity | | Gallia/Gaul | Celts | Oppidum | Rome (Vesontine, Bisontii, Besantio, Οὐεσόντιον/ Ouesóntion, modern Besançon, Dép. du Doubs), civitas metropolis of the Sequani. [German version] I. Beginnings Thanks to its outstanding topographical location (Caes. B Gall. 1,38,4; Julian. Ep. 26; Ptol. 2,9,21) in an almost circular oxbow of the Dubis (modern Doubs; radius 600 m), with the isthmus blocked in the southeast by a natural rise (Colline de la Citadelle), the site …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Christianity | | Limes | Batavian Revolt The chief town of the Gallo-Roman civitas of the Mediomatrici, now Metz, on a long ridge between the Moselle and the Seille before their confluence (Ptol. 2,9,7). A Hallstatt oppidum destroyed in the 6th cent. BC was succeeded by a La Tène age camp taken in the war against Caesar. When the Augustan settlement fell victim to a conflagration under Tiberius, the new town was given a typical Roman ‘grid pattern’, whose main coordinates were formed by the roads between Lyons and Trier (  cardo …

[German version] (Τούλλιον/ Toúllion). Civitas capital of the Leuci in Gallia Belgica on the left bank of the Moselle River (Mosella) on an elevation surrounded by branches of the Ingressin brook, before its confluence with the Moselle; modern Toul ( département of Meurthe et Moselle). An important hub for water and land routes (It. Ant. 365,4; 385,10; AE 1975, 634). Despite good geographical conditions for transport, T. was overshadowed by other cities and civitas capitals. Only in the 5th cent. was it of particular significance (Notitia Galliarum 5,4; Geogr. Rav 4,26). Apart from the c…

[German version] A people in Gallia Belgica; their territory encompassed parts of the modern Belgian provinces of Hainault, Brabant and East Flanders and the French Département Nord. The northwestern and western border with the Menapii and Atrebates [1] followed the Scaldis (Scheldt) from its estuary to its source; the southern border with the Remi ran from there in a direct line, probably identical with the contour of the Thiérache forest, to the source of the Isara [2]. The eastern border with t…

[German version] (Σηκοανοί/ Sēkoanoí, Σηκουανοί/ Sēkouanoí). A Celtic people, ethnically and culturally related to the north and east Gallic tribes, who in the Prehistoric Period presumably lived on the Sequana [1] (Seine) first, later in present-day Franche-Comté. In the mid 1st cent. BC, the rule of king Catamantaloedes was succeeded by an aristocratic regime (Caes. B Gall. 1,3,4). The S. called the Germani into their country against the Haedui and were forced to cede to them large parts of their t…

[German version] People of Gallia Belgica, mentioned only in Caes. B Gall. 5,39,1 in the context of the events of the winter of 54/3 BC, who were in a relationship of dependence on their immediate neighbours the Nervii. Their homelands were probably in Brabant or in the Belgian province of Namur. Schön, Franz (Regensburg)

[German version] Tribe in Gallia Belgica that settled in the Aisne, Vesle and Suippe valleys, with a heavy concentration in the middle Aisne valley, i.e. in the present-day départements of Marne and Ardennes, and in parts of Aisne and Meuse [1. 127 f.]. Encircled by forests, the territory of the R. nowhere bordered on neighbouring tribes. When the R. had become settled in this region, they drifted so far from their original 'nomadic mind-set' that they identified their concept of the boundless world around them now with th…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: | Gallia/Gaul | Commerce | Batavian Revolt Harbour city of the Morini in Gallia Belgica, modern Boulogne-sur-mer, also attested as Bononia. Both names, which were used contemporaneously (Flor. Epit. 2,30), actually refer only to parts of the site. According to the traditional view, G. is the lower part of the city, while Bononia is the upper part (contrary [1. 63]). During his stay in AD 4, Tiberius called the place Bononia (ILS 9463); thereafter, unt…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: | Gallia/Gaul Principal town of the civitas of the Ambiani, Late Antique Ambianis, modern Amiens (Dépt. Somme) at a crossing ( -briva) over the Samara (Caes. B Gall. 5,24,1; 47,2; 53,3; Cic. Fam. 7,11,2; 12,1,16; Tab. Peut. 2,3; CIL XIII 3490; Notae Tironianae 73 Zangenmeister; Honorius, Cosmographia 36 B1 Riese; in Ptol. 2,9,4 alternatively: Σαμαρόβριγα/ Samaróbriga; ILS 5839; It. Ant. 379,9 f.; 380,1: Samarabriva). No evidence of a preceding Celtic settlement has been found [1]. Its geographical charact…

[German version] Region (Amm. Marc. 17,8,3) in the modern provinces of Noord-Brabant, Antwerpen and Limburg, in the Middle Ages the earldom of Teisterbant. The population (Texuandri: Plin. HN 4,106; ILS 2556; CIL III, 6239; 14214) consisted of different groups, among them Germanic peoples which gathered in the former settlement area of the Eburones. The Salii [1], who settled in T. in Late Antiquity, were defeated in AD 358 by Iulianus [11], but may have remained in the country and made T. the starting point for their expansion in the 4th and 5th cents. Schön, Franz (Regensburg) Bibliograp…

[German version] Wooded mountains in  Gallia; exact location and extent unclear even in antiquity (Str. 4,3,5; Tac. Ann. 3,42). They centred on the modern Eifel and Ardennes, but evidently extended to the north-west over the hills of Artois to the territory of the  Atrebates and  Morini on the English Channel. Schön, Franz (Regensburg)

[German version] (Τοῦγγροι/ Toûngroi). A tribe in Gallia Belgica (It. Ant. 358,15; Ptol. 2,9,9) that had not yet appeared at the time of Caesar's capture of Gallia. At the time, the Germani [2] Cisrhenani were settling between the Scaldis (Schelde) and the Rhenus [2] (Rhine) under the hegemony of the Eburones. After the defeat inflicted upon the latter by Caesar (Caes. B Gall. 6,5; 6,29-34; 8,24 f.), the entire political structure of the Germani Cisrhenani was dissolved in accordance with Roman policy. In the Augustan Period, the civitas of the T. was founded in the western area …

[German version] Roman station on the Turnacum-Bagacum road at a bridge over the river Scaldis, which formed the boundary between the Menapii and the Nervii (It. Ant. 376,8; Tab. Peut. 2,3). Cf. the modern place name Escau(t)pont (in the département du Nord). Schön, Franz (Regensburg)

[German version] Tribe in Gallia Belgica; capital of their civitas was Divodurum (modern Metz). Their territory in modern Lorraine comprised the upper basins of the rivers Maas, Moselle and Saar (Str. 4,3,4; Ptol. 2,9,7), and originally extended eastwards as far as the Rhine (Caes. B Gall. 4,10,3; Str. l.c.). It is unlikely they participated in the Gallic War ( Caesar). In 52 BC they sent 5000 men to support Vercingetorix who was besieged in Alesia (Caes. B Gall. 7,75,3); they had to cede their territori…

[German version] [1] River in Gallia Belgica River in Gallia Belgica, mentioned in ancient saints' legends (e.g., MGH Scriptorum rerum Merovingiorum 5,634,12; 5,643,12; details in [1. 1338]), modern Sambre, rising on the western edge of the Ardennes and flowing into the Mosa [1] (Meuse/Maas) near Namur. Identification with the Sabis [1] (Caes. B Gall. 2,16,1; 2,18) is uncertain. Schön, Franz (Regensburg) Bibliography 1 Holder. [German version] [2] Modern Somme Besides the modern Sambre (= S. [1]), the Samara was also called the S.  (cf. Not. Dign. Occ. 38,8). T…

[German version] A people of Gallia Belgica, Northern France, settled in the region of Picardie on the so-called 'sill of Vermandois', on the upper courses of the Samara (the modern Somme) and Isar(a) [2] (the modern Oise; Liv. Per. 104; Plin. HN 106; Ptol. 2,9,11; Oros. 6,7). In part surrounded by dense forests, the V. had as neighbours to the north and north-east the Nervii and Atrebates [1], to the west the Ambiani and Bellovaci, and to the south the Suessiones. During Caesar’s Gallic War, they…

[German version] River in Picardy (France), modern Somme, rises north-east of St. Quentin and flows into the mare Britannicum (English Channel) at Abbeville. The form S. itself is not attested but reconstructed from the name of the city Samarobriva. Other forms of the name: Sambra (Not. Dign. Occ. 38,8: classis Sambrica), Somena (Ven. Fort. 7,4,15), Sumena (Greg. Tur. Franc. 2,9), Sumina, Sumna, Summana ( cf. [1. 1335 f.]). In Not. Dign. Occ. loc. cit., the modern Somme is referred to as Sambra [2]; in Ptol. 2,9,2, the river is called Φροῦδις/ Phroûdis. Schön, Franz (Regensburg) Bibliog…

[German version] Main site of the Atrebates, modern Arras (Dép. Pas de Calais), on a summit at the confluence of the Scarpe and the Crinchon; swamps in the south and east and a steep drop to the north gave it natural protection. N. is probably identical with Nemetocenna, Antonius' [I 9] camp, which acted as Caesar's winter quarters in 51/0 BC (Caes. B Gall. 8,46,6; 52,1 [Hirtius]). There is evidence of a pre-urban La Tène period settlement and there was an Atrebatic oppidum (42 ha.) 5 km away near Etrun at the confluence of the Scarpe and the Gy. N. was an Augustan foundation…