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Home , Ausetani, Bellovesus, Bergistani, Catalauni, Laietani, Leuci

Belerion Cassiterides? Hercynian Forest (‘Tin Islands’) Sequana (Seine) Sanctuary of Hercules (Deneuvre) Ister Finistère ()

Alesia 1

. The Road from the Ends of theEarth . TheRoad from theEndsof Oceanus Arar Solis columna Occidentalis (Saône) (‘Pillar of the Sun’) (Western Ocean) Lugdunum Bay (Lyon) Battle of of Ticinus Biscay 4 Matrona () Garumna Pass (Rhone) 3

Rhodanus (Garonne) Nemausos 2 ETRUSCANS (Nîmes) Adriatic Sea Druentia Narbo 1 ()LIGURIANS (Narbonne) Massalia Agatha (Marseille) (Agde) Fisterra

Andorra Col de Panissars

Arse (Sagunto) Mediterranean Sea New Carthage (Cartagena)

Sacred Promontory Gades 1. Plain of the Crau Carthage (Sagres) Portus (Cadiz) 2. Roquemaure (Rhone crossing) Hannibalis 3. Serre-la-Croix (Alvor) Pillars of Hercules 4. Brigantium (Briançon) 200 kms system suggests a general direction of migration ratherthananexacttrajectory. migration system suggestsageneraldirection of 750metres). cases(onaverage, InItaly,in twelve further beyond ,the centre intwenty-fi ve casesandwithin line –sometimesmorethrough thanone–passesdirectly aGaulishtribal to . tribeswhomigrated Asolar The namesinboxes are thoseof

Loon-Plage Cassel Bonn Mons Namur Aduatuci La Chaussée- Chipilly- Tirancourt Méricourt Dumnonium ? 4 Promontorium 1 Vieux-Laon Donnersberg (Bibrax) . Tribal toItaly centres andthemigration Caput Caleti Luxembourg Pîtres Bailleul Speyer Reims Nemetes Évreux Châlons Col de Mont (Mont Jovis) Le Haut du Valérien Saverne Château Boviolles Arvii Sées (Mont Châtel) Fossé des Sagii Pandours Huelgoat Heidengraben Osismi Villeneuve/ Vindelici? (Camp du Château) Île de Sein Rennes Châteauneuf- Rediones sur-Loire Vendôme Auerberg ? Carnac Vannes Cenomani? Vindelici? Biberg Belle-Île Zürich Ambisontes (Camp De César) Besançon Veneti Mormont Rhone Magdalensberg Poitiers Châteaumeillant Lausanne source Norici? 1 Bituriges Helvetii 000 metres of thesite’s perimeter 000 metres of Sion Châtillon-en- Michaille Ambarri? Poenina Puy-de- ? Arona Mediomatrici? Gergovia Libui & Salluvii Angoulême Dôme Ticinus Mezzomerico Agesinates Milan Verona Ivrea Cenomani Salassi Briançon Cremona Matrona Cenomani Bordeaux Mont-Milan Brigiani Pass Bituriges (Langogne) Serre-la- Vivisci ? Croix Modena Bazas Avantici? Bologna Vasates Boii Dentelles de Col de Sos Montmirail Tende Rimini Albi Vieille- Nîmes Marduel Lingones Plan de Tarascon Senigallia La Crau Herrebouc Heraklea? Senones Ancona Narbonne Avatici St-Martory Elisyci Massalia St-Lizier Convenae Olbia Chiusi Consoranni (Senones) Axat Atacini? Tribal centre Andorra Tribal centre more than Andosini 1000 m. from a line Berga Vic Rome Other sites 100 Kms Mountain pass Montjuich () Paths of the Gods 155

The legend is entirely plausible, except in one respect: the god- given itinerary looks very odd indeed. Unless and his followers mistook the lacy ridge of the Dentelles de Montmirail for a range of mountains, the territory of the is a strange place from which to contemplate the distant Alps. Either they ignored the direction assigned to them by the , or the gods’ instruc- tions were exceedingly complicated: south-south-east, a deviation towards Massalia, then north-east, and fi nally south-east to New Mediolanum (fi g. 40). This all sounds like a post facto justifi cation of military conquest, a boastful bardic tale designed to make the events fi t a spurious divine plan. Yet , like most ancient historians, accepted the divinatory basis of the expedition. Justinus, too, in describing the Celtic coloni- zation of Italy and later migrations to the east, said – presuming that

Several minor oppida on the lines have been omitted (e.g. Les Baux-de- Provence, Mondeville by Caen, Malaucène, Vézénobres, etc.), as have tribes whose names or capitals are unknown (e.g. the Budenicenses and the inhabitants of Marduel and Tarusco). Some tribes or tribal names may diff er from those of the fourth century bc. Speculative journeys along the lines will reveal many other likely sites for which there is, at the time of writing, insuffi cient archaeological evidence (e.g. Dôle, Jouarre, Luxembourg, Montpellier, Najac, Treviso). Bearings – taken where possible from the nodal points of Mediolanum Biturigum and Alesia – are those provided by the tangent ratio of 11:7 (57.53°, 122.47°, etc.), with the exception of the Alesia–Bibracte–Gergovia line, which, for geographical reasons, is 28.2° from north rather than 28.8° (see pp. 197–8). The creation of a settlement obviously depended in part on topography, and so some leeway was presumably allowed. With a slightly broader margin, several more tribes could join the total of thirty-seven. Major oppida occurring more than 1000 metres from a line are indicated on the map: Arvii (1.5 km), Cenomani (1.5), Remi (at Bibrax) (1.7), Bergistani (2.4), Laietani (2.4), Atacini (3.1), Seduni (3.5), Ruteni (3.6), Consoranni (4.0), (4.1), (4.1), Nervii (4.1), Sagii (4.4), Ausetani (4.8), Osismi (4.8), Sequani (5.0), Veragri (5.0), Aduatuci (5.3). In retracing ancient surveys, especially over such long distances, common sense calls for certain adjustments. Future explorers of the system should feel free to experiment. via the capital of the Helvetii and the sources of theRhoneandRhine. theHelvetii andthesources of via thecapitalof Balaton) by dueeastalongtheequinoctiallinefrom travelling MediolanumBiturigum, The Hercuniates reached mighthave home(the theirnew 1. Harz 2. Westerwald 3. Thuringer Wald 43. 4. Erzgebirge Elbe 5. Odenwald Oppida 6. Black Forest

Mediolanum 7. Bohemian Forest 8. Bakony Forest 1

east of and remnants of theHercynianForest Gaulandremnants of eastof 9. Carpathians Tectosages Silva Carbonaria 2 3 4 Boii? Arduenna Závist Silva Staré 5 Hradisko 9 Speyer Nemetes Seine Sylva Arguenneis Porta 7 Boii? Hercyniae Danube 6 Manching Mediolanum Zemplin Bratislava Loire Alesia Budapest Boii Helvetii Boii? 8 Rhine Magdalensberg Hercuniates Regöly Mediolanum Szalacska Biturigum Mediolanum 9 (Milan)

Garonne Belgrade Danube Rhone Boii Boii Tectosages Mediolanum

Sofia

Rome oppida

Tectosages Ankara

Ballihisar

around Lake Tolistobogii / Boii? Trocmii Delphi

Oppidum Mediolanum Other Location 200 kms Forest Brown Caterthun

Medionemeton Traprain Law Din () Trimontium Rubers Law

Luguvalium (Carlisle)

Aberffraw Dinas Deva Emrys (Chester) Mediolanum (Whitchurch) Caister-on-Sea Tripontium Peterborough (nr Rugby) Wardy Hill Pendinas Ixworth Worcester Alauna (Alcester) Ickworth Bury St Sutton Edmunds Walls Magiovinium (Fenny Stratford) Bagendon Oxford Piercefield Verlamion Caesaromagus fort (St Albans) (Chelmsford) Wanborough Reading Durobrivae Glastonbury Leucomagus (Rochester) To r (East Anton) Lindinis Salisbury Venta Place referred to in the text Isca (Ilchester) (Winchester) (Topsham) Noviomagus Hæstingaceaster (Chichester) (Hastings) Abbotsbury Tamari Castle Ostia 100 kms (Plymouth)

62. The British network The network so far. All bearings are exact (tan ratio 4:3). 244 THE ANCIENT PATHS

Leeds

Chester Lincoln Dinas Emrys 1 Dinas Oleu Wardy Hill Pendinas Bury St 2 Edmunds Worcester 3 Gloucester Welwyn Oxford Cirencester St Albans

4 Silchester Salisbury Chichester

Exeter 50 kms

1. Fosse Way 36.87° Solstice lines 2. Watling Street tan ratio 4:3 3. Icknield Way 53.13° 4. Ermin Street

64. The Four Royal Roads and the Roman road system All these survey lines have a tan ratio of 4:3. The Exeter–Lincoln line (the Fosse Way) implies a survey tolerance (acceptable deviation from the survey line) of 0.59°. The southern terminus of the Roman Fosse Way was probably Ilchester, which lies on the Whitchurch meridian: this Roman road has a tan ratio of 3:5 (bearing 30.96°, with a survey tolerance of 0.44°.)

Watling Street; Ermin Street is the winter solstice line, bisected by the Fosse Way.*

* Ermine Street, which ran approximately north from London, shows no obviously signifi cant bearing, whereas Ermin Street (north-west from Silchester) follows the British solstice bearing. Medieval scholars chose what they believed to be the more important ‘Ermyngestrete’, though in some versions of the legend (e.g. Robert of Gloucester’s thirteenth-century Chronicle), ‘Eningestret’ is paired with ‘Ikenildestrete’, as it is on the map above: ‘Lyne me clepeth eke thulke wey, he goth thorgh Glouceter, / And thorgh Circetre [Cirencester] euene also’. Oceanus Hyperboreus 18’24”

Baile Dhubhthaich (Tain) Craig Phadraig (Inverness) Culloden

Lumphanan

Brown Caterthun Dunalastair 1 17’54” 2 3 Dunollie Dundurn Oceanus Septentrionalis Dunadd 4 5 Traprain Law / Dunpelder Nemthur Din Eidyn (Edinburgh) (Dumbarton) Trimontium Din Guardi (Eildon Hill) (Bamburgh) Rubers Law Yeavering Bell

Trusty’s Hill Luguvalium (Carlisle) 17’24” Brocavum (Eamont) Stanwick

to Dinas Emrys and to Mediolanum Petuaria 50 kms Oceanus Pendinas (Whitchurch) Parisorum (Brough) Humber Hibernicus Estuary Probable Celtic tribal capital Post-Roman, Dark Age capital or ‘royal site’ (unconfirmed) (sanctuary) Centres of Tripoint 1. Taigh nan Teud Other place 2. Schiehallion / Maiden Pap 3. Tigh Neimhidh (Duneaves, Fortingall) Hadrian’s Wall 4. Gartincaber Tower near Doune Modern English–Scottish border 5. Medionemeton

74. Centres of Scotland and the Caledonian meridians Some capitals of Dark Age kingdoms founded after the departure of the Romans were probably the successors of Iron Age capitals. The only plausible solstice diagonal in Caledonia is the trajectory of the ‘Royal Road’ along which Boudica marched from Wardy Hill to Camulodunum. This is the longest diagonal that can be drawn through Britain. It passes to the west of the tribal capital of the Carvetii tribe, Luguvalium (Carlisle), through Brocavum (Eamont), Blatobulgium and several other Roman forts, and along the route of the A74 via Gretna Green to the site of the Glasgow Necropolis. It is shown as a dotted line in fi gure 79. ‘Royal Roads’ and solstice lines from the Oxford omphalos Lines of latitude and longitude 1 Solstice lines implied by the system 4 Early Christian sites 2 3 Monasteries and cathedrals

5 6

11 12 9 10 7 8 14 13

15

B A 18 17

16 19 21 22 24 20 23 D 25 26 27 28

29 30 31 C E

32 33 34 44 35 36 40 43 K O 37 38 39 J N 42 70 41 L M 49 45 69 48 F 55 60 I 46 47 52 62 68 50 54 56 71 G H 61 66 67 57 59 63 64 65 51 58 74 53 77 S 73 75 76 78 72 T 83 84 R 91 85 86 87 90 92 88 Q 89

P 79 82 81 50 kms 80 79. Christianity and the solar network The early Christian sites (fi rst foundation, up to the mid-seventh century) are plotted without prior reference to solstice lines. For exact coordinates, see www.panmacmillan.com/theancientpaths. In Wales, pre-eighth-century monas- teries are shown. Hoards containing Christian artefacts are omitted because provenances are uncertain (Mildenhall, Traprain Law, Water Newton, etc.), as are Christian embellishments and private chapels in Roman villas. Later monasteries and cathedrals (c. 974–1248) are selected for their association with the system (e.g. those on the ‘Royal Road’ between Salisbury and Bury St Edmunds: p. 239).

Key: Early Christian sites (list of coordinates at www.panmacmillan.com/theancientpaths): 1. Iona. 2. Dumbarton. 3. Glasgow (Govan). 4. Dunfermline. 5. Mailros (Melrose). 6. . 7. Kirkmadrine. 8. Whithorn. 9. Ardwall Isle. 10. Carlisle. 11. Bewcastle. 12. Jarrow. 13. Eamont. 14. Hartlepool. 15. Whitby. 16. Manchester. 17. Leeds. 18. York. 19. Caergybi. 20. Aberff raw. 21. Penmon. 22. St Asaph. 23. Chester. 24. Lincoln (St Paul in the Bail). 25. Clynnog Fawr. 26. Dinas Emrys. 27. Bangor on Dee. 28. Ancaster. 29. Bardsey. 30. St Tudwal’s Island East. 31. Meifod. 32. Llanbadarn Fawr. 33. Ashton. 34. Ely. 35. Soham. 36. Icklingham. 37. Llanarth. 38. Llanddewi Brefi . 39. Glascwm. 40. Leominster. 14 . Hereford. 42. Malvern (St Ann’s Well). 43. Worcester. 44. Bannaventa. 45. St Davids. 46. St Brides. 47. Coygan Camp. 48. Carmarthen. 49. Llanarthney. 50. Llangyfelach. 51. Bishopston. 52. Merthyr Tydfi l. 53. Llantwit Major. 54. Raglan. 55. Dixton. 56. Llandogo. 57. Caerleon. 58. Caerwent. 59. Mathern (St Tewdric’s Well). 60. Gloucester (Churchdown Hill). 61. Uley. 62. Bagendon (church in oppidum). 63. Dragon Hill, Uffi ngton (chapel). 64. Abingdon. 65. Dorchester-on-Thames. 66. Cholesbury. 67. St Albans. 68. Witham. 69. Colchester. 70. Sutton Hoo (?). 71. Bradwell (Othona). 72. Silchester. 73. Chertsey. 74. Westminster. 75. Rochester. 76. Canterbury. 77. Reculver. 78. Richborough. 79. St Ives (St Ia’s). 80. St Michael’s Mount. 81. Phillack. 82. Perranporth (St Piran’s Oratory). 83. Carhampton. 84. Glastonbury Tor (St Michael’s). 85. Bradley Hill. 86. Muchelney. 87. Ilchester. 88. Sherborne. 89. Poundbury (Dorchester). 90. Winchester. 91. Lyminge. 92. Folkestone (St Eanswythe). Monasteries and cathedrals (selected): A. Bolton Priory. B. Fountains . C. Haughmond Abbey. D. Haverholme Priory. E. Croyland Abbey. F. Monmouth Priory. G. Tintern Abbey. H. Chepstow Priory. I. Osney Abbey. J. Newnham Priory (Bedford). K. Priory. L. Walden Abbey (Saff ron Walden). M. Clare Priory. N. . O. Ixworth Priory. P. Plympton Priory. Q. Exeter Abbey. R. Salisbury Cathedral. S. . T. Waverley Abbey.