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[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…

[German version] The uplands which extend over some 200 km in eastern France (Caes. B Gall. 4,10; Luc. 1,397; Plin. HN 16,197; Vibius Sequester 145,16 Riese; Vosagus: Tab. Peut. 3,2-4; Ven. Fort. 7,4; Greg. Tur. Franc. 10,10), modern Vosges Mountains, form in the east the western edge of the Upper Rhine lowlands and in the west cross into the Lorraine plateau and the Monts Faucilles, in the north continue in the Palatinate Forest and in the south descend towards the Burgundy Gate. The V. is considered to be the boundary…

[German version] Modern Tournai/Doornik in the Belgian province of Hainault. Gallo-Roman vicus on both banks of the Scaldis (Scheldt) in the border region between the Menapii and Nervii, a node on the route from Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-mer) to Bagacum (modern Bavai: Tab. Peut. 2,3;  It. Ant. 367,7), from which roads lead to Castellum (modern Cassel; It. Ant. 377,5) and Tervanna (ibid. 378,11). There is evidence of traces of settlement as early as the Iron Age, the Gallo-Roman presence i…

[German version] (Σηκοάνας/ Sēkoánas, Σηκουανός/ Sēkouanós), modern Seine. River in Gallia (Caes. B Gall. 1,1,2; Mela 3,2,20; Plin. HN 4,105; 109; Amm. Marc. 15,11,3; Str. 4,1,14; 3,2-5; 4,1; 5,2; Ptol. 2,8,2; 9,1; Cass. Dio 40,38,4) rising - contrary to Str. 4,3,2 - not in the Alps but on the plateau of Langres, then flowing through the Paris Basin and, meandering strongly from Iuliobona (present-day Lillebonne) and broadening into an estuary, arriving at the mare Britannicum (present-day English Channel). According to literary tradition, the S. formed an ethnic bord…

[German version] Roman vicus in Gallia Belgica in the territory of the Mediomatrici (It. Ant. 364,3; Not. Dign. Occ. 42,68; Not. Galliarum 5,4: Verodunum; various forms of the name in Greg. Tur. Franc. passim) on a spur between the Mosa [1] (Meuse) and its tributary, modern Scanne, at a crossing of the Durocortorum-Divodurum road with regional roads, modern Verdun in the département of Meuse. A Celtic oppidum cannot archaeologically be ascertained, the Imperial period topography is largely unknown ( macellum in Rue de Mazel?); already by the middle of th…

[German version] I. General In the religious and administrative theory of the land surveyors, the Latin word limes denoted the path marking the boundary between two pieces of land, while in military and political usage (Tac. Ann. 1,50; Frontin. Str. 1,3,10) it meant the border between Roman and non-Roman territory (SHA Hadr. 12). Over recent years, research has led the military connotation of the term limes, which has been used almost exclusively from the 19th cent., to be expanded to comprehend also the historico-geographical and socio-economic fields. Where the limites were origin…

[German version] Coastal people in  Gallia Belgica in modern Picardy, main town was  Samarobriva; participated in the Gallic coalitions against  Caesar of 57 and 52 BC, were finally subjugated in 51 BC (Caes. B Gall. 2,4,9; 7,75,1-3; 8,7,3-4). Their settlement areas between the  Bellovaci in the south and  Morini in the north (Ptol. 2,9,4) encompassed the Somme basin, bordered in the north by the Canche, in the north-east and south-east by the Somme watershed; the Catuslougi [1] documented on the southern border, the Bresle valley, were considered as   pagus of the A. Schön, Franz (Rege…

[German version] Oppidum of the  Bellovaci, mentioned in Caes. B Gall. 2,13, localization uncertain. It is a matter of dispute whether it was a settlement on the same location as -- and preceding -- the capital of the civitas  Caesaromagus, or whether is was a Celtic settlement in a completely different location (Bailleul sur Thérain, Breteuil sur Noye). Schön, Franz (Regensburg)

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: | Gallia/Gaul | Commerce | Legio | Legio | Limes | Limes | Raeti, Raetia Modern Strasbourg, epigraphically first mentioned at the time of Vespasian (CIL XIII 9082). A smaller military installation from the Augustan period was replaced by a legionary fortress following  Varus' defeat in AD 9, where the   legio II was garrisoned until  Claudius' invasion of Britain in AD 43. After use by detachments from other units, recent archaeological research points to A.'s use once again as a permanent garri…

[German version] [1] City of the Bituriges Vivisci in Aquitania The city of the Bituriges Vivisci (Βίτουργες Οὐβίσκοι/ Bítourges Oubískoi) in Aquitania mentioned in Ptol. 2,7,7 (Νουιόμαγος/ Nouiómagos) is generally identified with a Roman vicus near Brion (Saint-Germain-d'Esteuil) in the Médoc between Lesparre and Pauillac ( département of Gironde). This town with an ancient sanctuary of the Medulli had been inhabited from the 3rd cent. BC; urban development is recognisable from the time of Claudius (41-54 AD). It was in this period that the fanum (sanctuary) and the theatre we…

[German version] Civitas, capital of the Morini (Tab. Peut. 2,2;  It. Ant. 376; 378 f.: Tarvenna; Ptol. 2,9,8: Ταρουάννα/ Tarouánna), which developed at a ford across the Leie/Lys from a river island to the northern bank. Archaeological finds remain lacking, since the vieille ville was razed in 1553 at the behest of Charles V; the modern town of Thérouanne (in the département of Pas-de-Calais) is farther to the south. Schön, Franz (Regensburg) Bibliography R. Delmaire, Notes sur l'évolution urbaine de Thérouanne, in: Rev. archéologique de Picardie 1984, 223-228  Id. et al., Le Pa…

[German version] [1] River, present-day R. Maas River, modern name Maas, which rises in Germania superi…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Batavian Revolt Today's Bitburg, vicus located on a naturally elevated site along the Roman road Augusta Treverorum -- Colonia (It. Ant. 372,4), centre of the Treverian …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: | Gallia/Gaul | Limes | Limes | Rome | Batavian Revolt Capital of the Gallo-Roman civitas of the Remi; modern Reims, on the northern edge of Champagne (Ptol. 2,9,6; 8,5,6); whether it should be identified with the centre of the autonomous Remi (Caes. Gall. 6,44) remains an open question. After sporadic settlement since the end of the Hallstatt period it expanded during La Tène III. In the course of the 1st cent. BC an oppidum arose, c…

[German version] [1] Term used in family law Under Roman law of the Republican period, there was a difference between the matrona as the legal wife and the mater familias, the wife who was in the manus of her husband and thus belonged to his family (Gellius 18,6,8-9). This difference disappeared along with the marriage with manus ( Marriage), and since Augustus the terms matrona and mater familias are interchangeable in legal texts. In social terms, th…

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[German version] River in Gallia Belgica (Caes. B Gall. 6,33; Plin. HN 4,98; 105; Geogr. Rav. 263,6: Scaldea; Ptol. 2,9,3; 9: Ταβούλλα/ Taboúlla), modern Schelde (in French Escaut). It rises on Mont Saint Martin near Augusta Viromanduorum (modern Saint Quentin in the department of Oise), flows through Camaracum (modern Cambrai) and Turnacum (modern Tournai) and separates the civitates of the Atrebates [1] and the Menapii on its left bank from that of …

[German version] (‘Market on the Mosa’), present-day Mouzon (Dépt. Ardennes); town on the road from Durocortorum to Augusta [6] Treverorum, between the civitates of the Remi and the Treveri on an island between two arms of the Mosa [1]. It was a significant  trading centre especially from the 2nd cent. AD. A fortification dating from Late Antiquity has been archaeologically authenticated. Musmagenses under a magister equitum inter Gallias  are documented (Not. Dign. Occ. 7,105); Merovingian coins mention Mosomo castri. Schön, Franz (Regensburg) Bibliography J.-P. Levant, Mouzon, in: J.-P. Petit (ed.), Atlas des agglomérations secondaires de la Gaule Belgique et des Germanies, 1994, 217f.

[German version] Tribe in Gallia Belgica (Picardy region) south of the Ambiani in the Thérain valley (Ptol. 2,9,4; Str. 4,3,5). Beauvais ( Caesaromagus), once the capital of the civitas, and the surrounding Beauvaisis owe their names to the B. This mightiest tribe of the  Belgae was defeated by Caesar in 57 BC (Caes. B Gall. 2,4,5; 2,13-15). They were hesitant participants in the revolt led by  Vercingetorix in 52 BC (Caes. B Gall. 7,75), but in the following year, they organized resistance against Rome (Caes. B Gall. 8,6…

(Βελγικοί; Belgikoí: Cass. Dio 39,1; 40,42; Βέλγαι; Bélgai: Str. 4,1,1). [German version] A. Origins According to Caesar's division of Gallia into three population groups (Caes. B Gall. 1,1), the B. were the one settling between the Seine, Marne, North Sea and Rhine; their southern spread is not specified. Little can be said with certainty about the origins of the B. At the beginning of the 3rd cent. BC, tribal groups, presumably from Jutland and the Baltic region, invaded this region (M…

(Αὐγούστα, Αὐγοῦστα; Augoústa, Augoûsta). …

[German version] Roman bridge station, modern Scarponne near Dieulouard in the département of Meurthe et Meuse, on a route from the Rhodanus (Rhone) to the Rhenus (Rhine) between Divodurum (modern Metz) and Tullum (modern Toul), where the Roman road crossed the four branches of the Mosella on bridges (It. Ant. 365,5; Tab. Peut. 3,1; Geogr. Rav. 4,26: Scarbonna; CIL XIII 9050). The beginning of the Gallo-Roman …

[German version] (Caes. B Gall. 1,2,3; 1,6,1; 1,8,1; Iurensis, Iorensis, Sidon. Apoll. Epist. 4,25,5; Greg. Tur. vit. patr. 1; Iures, Plin. HN 3,31; 4,105; 16,197; Ἰόρας/ Ióras, Ἰουράσιος/ Iourásios, Str. 4,3,4; 4,6,11; Ἰουρασσός/ Iourassós, Ptol. 2,9,2; 2,9,10). Mountain chain, c. 250 km long and up to 70 km wide, stretching in an arch shape from the Rhône at the Lac du Bourget, in a northerly/north-easterly direction to Baden in Switzerland. According to Caesar and Strabo, …

(Μεδιολάν[ι]ον/ Mediolán[i]on). [German version] [1] Modern Milan This item can be f…

[German version] A tribal group of Gallia Belgica, who probably originally settled in the area of the Remi, in the modern Champagne. Its name and its capital of the same name, modern Châlon-sur-Marne, are only mentioned by later authors (Amm. Marc. 15,11,10; 27,2,4; Eutr. 9,13; Jer. Chron. AD 274; Not. Gall. 6,4; Durocatalauni: It. Ant. 361). The  Catuvellauni, who migrated to southern Britannia, are probably part of the same tribal group.…

[German version] Place in Gallia Belgica, modern Soulosse-sous-Saint-Élophe, on the road from the Rhodanus to the Rhenus between Andematunnum and Tullum (modern Toul) in the territory of the Leuci (It. Ant. 358,9; CIL XIII 4679); another name was Solimariaca, derived from a deity Solima or Solimara (It. Ant. 385,8; CIL XIII 4681; 4683). Inscriptions provide information on trade and industry (CIL XIII 4678-4703; [1. 4845-4890; 2]). In the 4th century AD a castrum was built on the Saint Élophe hill. In the Carolingian period S. was the main town of the Pagus Solocensis. Schön, Franz (Regensburg) Bibliography 1 Espérandieu, Rec. 6 …

[German version] [1] Town between Ar…

[German version] People of the North Sea coast of what is now Flanders, originally also north of the Rhine delta (Caes. B Gall. 4,4,2; Strab. 4,3,4). In 56/5 BC, the Germanic Usipetes and Tencteri crossed the Rhine, driving the M. out of their homelands on the right bank of the Rhine (Caes. B Gall. 4,4). The frontier of the C ivitas Menapiorum formed after their subjugation by Rome in 53 BC (stages of conquest 58 BC, Caes. B Gall. 2,4,9; 56 BC, Caes. B Gall. 3,9,10; 3,28f.; Cass. Dio 39,44; 55 BC, Caes. Gall. 4,22,5; 38,3; 53 BC, Caes. Gall. 6,5,6) ran al…

[German version] I. Ethnography of the Raeti The oldest, indirectly transmitted information about the R. comes from Cato [1], who praises Raetian wine (Serv. Georg. 2,95; Plin. HN 14,16; 67; Str. 4,6,8; Suet. Aug. 77); this was produced, as can be deduced from Plin. loc. cit., in the region of Verona. Ancient historiographers suggest repeatedly that the R. were in fact Etruscans who, having been driven out of Upper Italy by the invading Celts, had conquered the Alps under their eponymous ancestor Raetus and founded the race of the R. (Plin…

[German version] Celtic oppidum in the western area of the Treveri near Pétange (Luxembourg) on the southern edge of the Ardenne mountains, c. 100 m above the valley of the Chier (a side arm of the Meuse), situated on a rocky ledge which served as the settlement area (43 ha). From the 1st half of the 1st cent. BC, the area was secured along the edges of the cliff with a fortification wall (2700 m) and with a barrier in the shape of a murus Gallicus at the narrowest connection to the plateau behind it, later with a 'Belgian type' wall. Two gates connected by…

[German version] Promontory and port of the Morini in Gallia  Belgica, starting-point of Caesar's fleet for the expeditions to Britain (Caes. B Gall. 4,21-23; 5,2). Caesar only mentions I. in the context of his second expedition of 54 BC; τὸ Ἴτιον in Str. 4,5,2 refers to the operation of the preceding year. The promontory (Ἴτιον ἄκρον, Ptol. 2,9,1) is to be located near Cap Gris-Nez rather than near Cap d'Albrech. Of the numerous theories regarding the exact location of this port (e.g. in Flanders…

[German version] A palace complex was developed at Konz bei Trier, above the point where the Saar joins the Moselle, in the middle of the 4th cent. AD and used as a palace until the early 5th cent.; identified as the summer palace C. where Valentinianus I issued several decrees in AD 371 (Cod. Theod. 2,4,3; 4,6,4; 9,3,5; 11,1,17); Auson. Mos. in 369 probably also refers to C. Schön, Franz (Regensburg) Bibliography A. Neyses, Die spätröm. Kaiservilla von Konz, 1987.

[German version] [1] Left tributary of the Rhodanus Left tributary of the Rhodanus, modern Isère, has its source in the  Alpes Graiae as a mountain stream ( torrens: Plin. HN 3,33; maximum flumen: Cic. Fam. 10,15,3) and flows through the territory of the Allobroges. In 218 BC Hannibal marched upstream from the confluence of the I. and the Rhodanus (Pol. 3,49; Liv. 21,31). It was here that Q. Fabius Maximus beat the Arverni in 121 BC (Flor. Epit. 1,37,4). Further evidence: Str. 4,1,11; 2,3; 6,6; Ptol. 2,10,4; Cass. Dio 37,47. Lafond, Yves (Bochum) Bibliography P. Guichonnet (ed.), Histoir…

[German version] Roman vicus in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, possibly identical with Ricciacus (Tab. Peut.); Indications of a late La Tène period settlement ( c. 1st cent. BC). It was refounded as a road-station ( mansio) during the construction of the Metz-Trier road in the Augustan period [1]. After the uprising of the Treveri in AD 69/70 the town developed into the economic and particularly religious centre of the region (CIL 13,1,2 p. 635-638) [2; 3]; in the 2nd half of the 3rd cent. it was devastated by invasions of German…

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 …