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[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…

[German version] (It. Ant. 252; 350; Ἔλκηβος; Élkēbos, Ptol. 2,9,18). Previously often equated with  Helellum (Tab. Peut. 3,4) or Alaea (Geogr. Rav. 26) and already confused with this in It. Ant. 354, but its location should not be pinpointed as near Ehl in the Alsace but as being on the right bank of the Rhine on the Mons Brisiacus-Argentoratus route near modern Riegel, district of Emmendingen [1]. Forts from the Claudian and Vespasian periods, which as a continuation of the series of forts on the Upper Danube secured the link with the Rhine. After the conquest of the   Decumates agri …

[German version] Far from any significant roads on the inhospitable high plateau between Marne and Maas (Mosa) (Dept. Vosges), G. owed its existence to a forest sanctuary of the Leuci of interregional importance. After the Roman conquest, the healing god  Grannus, who had been absorbed by the Apollo cult (Claudius Marius Victor, Alethia 3,204-209), gave his name to the new vicus (AE 1937, 55). Laid out orthogonally, G. was enclosed by a circular pomerium (‘sacred city boundary’), today voie close; inside, there is an 18-ha. precinct surrounded by an irregular, six-sided en…

[German version] Territory in Gallia ripariensis. The earliest evidence (Amm. Marc. 15,11,17) is corrupt and cannot be used to support localisation in modern Savoy. Further evidence: Not. Dign. Occ. 42,15 ( praefectus barbaricorum Ebruduni, modern Yverdon-les-Bains on Lake Neuchâtel, Sapaudiae) and 42,179 ( tribunus cohortis Flaviae Sapaudi[ c] ae Calarone). In AD 443, the Burgundiones escaping from their annihilation at the hands of the Hunni were settled here by Aetius [2] (Chron. min. 1, 660,128). Ground studies suggest that S. was in the Swiss highlands north of lacus Lemanus …

[German version] A people of Gallia Belgica mentioned only in Caes. B Gall. 5,39,1 as being subject to the Nervii. Their home in Flanders cannot be located with certainty. Schön, Franz (Regensburg)

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre Civitas, main centre of the  Bellovaci on a loop of the river Thérain, modern Beauvais (Oise). There is no archaeological evidence of a preceding Celtic settlement in this location ( Bratuspantium), nor for the assumption -- derived from the name C. -- that it was founded by either Caesar or Augustus. The beginnings of Gallo-Roman urbanism probably lay in the early 1st cent. AD, more significant traces of building structures point to the …

[German version] People in Gallia Belgica, the most important one amongst the Germani Cisrhenani (Caes. B Gall. 2,4); they were clients of the Treveri in the south; in between the two were the lands of the Germanic  Condrusi and Segni (Caes. B Gall. 4,6; 6,32). In the north, the E. shared a border with the coastal people of the Menapii (Caes. B Gall. 6,5). The core of their areas of settlement between Maas and Rhine (Caes. B Gall. 5,24) comprised the northern Ardennes, the Eiffel and the plains ex…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Celts Vicus near Wederath (Bernkastel-Wittlich district) on the Roman road Augusta Treverorum--Mogontiacum (Tab. Peut.; CIL XIII 7555a). The burial ground belonging to it shows continuous use from the 4th cent. BC to the 4th cent. AD. The beginnings of the vicus, however, did not occur until the 1st cent. AD. A preliminary settlement of Latène or early Roman times could not yet be documented. After the turmoil of AD 275/6, B. remained inhabited until the 4th cent. due to its location and its significance for traffic. Schön, Fran…

[German version] (Celtic for ‘sea people’). A people in Gallia Belgica in the modern Pas de Calais, whose territory in the north and west stretched to the sea. Their northeastern border with the neighbouring Menapii followed the Aa upstream to east of Saint Omer, southwards to meet the Leie, and a little upstream along this, where at Merville it met the one-time territory of the Atrebates [1]. From here it probably reached the old boundary of the bishopric of Arras in a southern direction to the s…

[German version] I. Geography A tribe living in Gallia Belgica between the Meuse in the west and the Middle Rhine in the east, their territory bordered in the north by the Ardennes, the Luxembourg Eisling and the Middle Eifel; the southern boundary ran along the southern edge of Belgian Lorraine and Luxembourg, through the north of the Saarland and along the Nahe. Between the mountainous, densely wooded and rather settlement-hostile border areas in both north and south (Hunsrück) lay fertile hilly terrain, river valleys and bays with ideal conditions for settlement. Schön, Franz (Rege…

[German version] [1] River in northern Gaul River in northern Gaul (Caes. B Gall. 2,16,1; 2,18), where in 57 BC Caesar fought against the Nervii and their allies, the Atrebates [1] and Viromandui ( ibid. 2,16-27), on his way from Samarobriva. The river's identification and location are contested. Older scholarship identified the S. with the Sambra [1] (modern Sambre), suggesting that the battle took place 6 km outside of Maubeuge near Hautmont-Boussières [1; 2]. Recently these claims have been countered by topological, historica…

[German version] Originally, B. is the settlement area of the  Belgae (Caes. B Gall. 2,4) as designated by Caesar in his division of Gallia into three parts (Caes. B Gall. 1,1). It was governed uniformly until Augustus established the imperial province of B. in 16/13 BC in the course of reorganizing the Tres Galliae. Based on records by Plin. HN 4,105 and Ptol. 2,9 about the tribes of B., the boundaries of the province can be approximately determined, but they differ strongly from Caesar's division. The boundary in the north was formed by the Nort…

[German version] Present-day Arlon-Arel (Belgium, province of Luxembourg), vicus of the civitas of the Treveri, probably the main town of one of their pagi . It was built by the sources of the Semois at the crossing point of the important major roads from Durocortorum to Augusta [6] Treverorum (Itin. Anton. 366,2; [1]) and from Divodurum to Aduatuca. In view of the threat from barbarians the settlement was transferred to the northern hill town (present-day St. Donat) at the end of the 3rd/beginning o…

[German version] In Caes. B Gall. 5,39,1 a people of Gallia Belgica - mentioned in the context of the events of the winter of 54/53 BC - who were immediate neighbours of the Nervii, with whom they had a relationship of dependence; cannot be localized more precisely. Schön, Franz (Regensburg)

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: | Limes Modern Bavai, capital ( civitas) of the  Nervii, in the French Département Nord not far off the Belgian border. The Celtic place name as well as some scanty finds from the Latène period hint at the possibility that a modest pre-Roman settlement existed. However, B. is a Roman foundation, and has to be seen in the context of Agrippa's road building programme for the reorganization of Gaul (20/19 BC). At this junction of the links with Durocort…

[German version] People in Gallia Belgica between Matrona and Mosella, north-west of the Sequani, south-west of the Mediomatrici; their territory extended in the east and the south-east up to the Vosges (Caes. B Gall. 2,14; Tac. Hist. 1,64; Ptol. 2,9,13; Plin. HN 4,106; Luc. 1,242); civitas/capital was Tullum. A spring and healing cult has been attested with the L. - either in the form of Apollo worship (Graux, Malaincourt) or the Celtic Apollo Grannus (Tullum, Nasium, Grand) [1] or a nameless deity (Laneuveville) [2]. According to Claudi…