DOCSLIB.ORG

Reims/Durocortorum, Cité Des Rèmes: Les Principales Étapes De La

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Reims/Durocortorum, Cité Des Rèmes: Les Principales Étapes De La Reims/Durocortorum, cité des Rèmes : les principales étapes de la formation urbaine Robert Neiss, François Berthelot, Jean-Marc Doyen, Philippe Rolet To cite this version: Robert Neiss, François Berthelot, Jean-Marc Doyen, Philippe Rolet. Reims/Durocortorum, cité des Rèmes : les principales étapes de la formation urbaine. Gallia - Archéologie des Gaules, CNRS Édi- tions, 2015, Dossier : La naissance des capitales de cités en Gaule Chevelue, 72 (1), pp.161-176. 10.4000/gallia.1485. hal-01924956 HAL Id: hal-01924956 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01924956 Submitted on 14 Jan 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives| 4.0 International License Reims/Durocortorum, cité des Rèmes Les principales étapes de la formation urbaine Robert NEISS, François BERTHELOT, Jean-Marc DOYEN et Philippe ROLLET Mots-clés. Cité fédérée, chef-lieu de cité, capitale de province, Keywords. Federated city, chief-town, provincial capital, sanctuaire protohistorique, oppidum, projet urbain, enceinte protohistoric sanctuary, oppidum, urban project, Augustan city augustéenne, forum, carroyage urbain, autel aux princes de la wall, forum, urban grid, altar to the Youth Princes, currency jeunesse, émissions monétaires. issues. Résumé. Longtemps Reims n’était entré dans l’histoire qu’avec César et Abstract. For a long time, Reims’ history only began with Caesar la guerre des Gaules. Il est vrai que, malgré une mythologie ancienne and the Gallic Wars. Despite an ancient mythology claiming an revendiquant une origine au moins aussi lointaine que celle de Rome, origin as ancient as Rome’s, previous archaeological pieces of les témoignages archéologiques antérieurs étaient peu consistants evidence weren’t reliable and were mainly ignored. Preventive mais surtout ignorés. L’archéologie préventive a progressivement archaeology gradually gathered data attesting to a settlement accumulé des données attestant une occupation pouvant remonter founded at least around the 2nd c. BC. The inventory of old finds au moins au IIe s. av. J.-C. Le recensement des découvertes anciennes even allows us to speculate on an earlier origin and to make out permet même d’imaginer des origines plus lointaines et de distinguer an evolution through large successive stages, resulting in the une évolution par grandes étapes successives qui ont abouti à la ville Augustan city and showing themselves in tangible changes in augustéenne et qui se matérialisent dans des interventions concrètes the city shape. Documents dating back to La Tene match the sur la forme urbaine. Des documents remontant à La Tène ancienne birth of Reims site to the organization of Remi’s territory. A vast associent la naissance du site de Reims à celui de l’organisation space of an unknown function developed very early under the du territoire des Rèmes. Un vaste espace, voué à une fonction aegis of a sanctuary overlooking the site. Then, in the 2nd c. BC., indéfinie, a pu se développer très tôt sous l’égide d’un sanctuaire settlements multiplied in the centre of the basin shaping the siting surplombant le site. Au IIe s. av. J.-C., les occupations se multiplient of the future town. Shortly before the Conquest, an oppidum au centre de la cuvette formant l’assiette de la future ville. Vers la fin precisely delineated the settlement’s boundaries, and the latter de l’Indépendance, un oppidum circonscrit précisément les limites de quickly grew later on. Then, the rise of the town to the position l’agglomération qui connut un rapide développement au lendemain of provincial capital coincided with an ambitious new founding de la Conquête. Puis l’accession de la ville au statut de capitale de initiative which created an urban area of 500 ha, surrounded by a province coïncide avec une entreprise de refondation ambitieuse gigantic city wall of which the layout seems to recall the ancient qui dessine une agglomération d’environ 500 ha, entourée d’une founding of the site and shows a remarkable continuity in the land enceinte gigantesque dont le tracé semble rappeler l’ancienneté de settling and in the general plan. la fondation du site, et illustre, par la même occasion, une continuité Translation : Cécile TUARZE remarquable de l’implantation foncière et des tracés directeurs. La recherche des origines d’un peuple, d’une cité ou d’une est située à la fin du vie s., repris par Flodoard, suggèrent que ville est une très ancienne quête dont nous pouvons retrouver la revendication de l’origine commune de Reims et de Rome quelques témoignages à Reims dès l’Antiquité. Au xe s., Flodoard remonterait à l’Antiquité, lorsque l’on représenta sur la porte de l’exprime explicitement en précisant que la tradition lui est bien Mars, ce monument emblématique de Reims, les deux jumeaux antérieure (Histoire de l’Église de Reims, I, 1 ; Sot, 1993, allaités par la louve. Cette écriture de l’histoire est restée vivace p. 357-364). Selon cette tradition, la naissance de Reims serait jusqu’à la veille de l’époque moderne ; elle se fonde peut-être intimement liée à Rome, non pas à l’occasion de la conquête sur la réinterprétation, éventuellement déjà d’époque impériale, césarienne, mais dès les origines puisqu’elle serait contempo- de la monnaie rème aux trois bustes, très fréquente à Reims, raine de la fondation même de Rome, lorsque Remus, le frère dont le revers plagie les deniers républicains et où la légende de Romulus – ou certains de ses compagnons survivants –, ROMA est remplacée par REMO. Le phénomène de création aurait donné son nom à la cité dans laquelle il se serait réfugié. de mythes fondateurs de villes à partir de la réinterprétation 161-176 p. 2015, , 72-1, Les Actes des saints Sixte et Sinice, dont la date de rédaction d’images monétaires est connu dans l’Antiquité. Gallia 161 09_REIMS.indd 161 12/11/15 14:33 ROBERT NEISS ET AL. On a par la suite imaginé d’autres possibilités, plus lointaines LES ORIGINES et plus inventives encore, à la faveur du développement des études bibliques et de l’intérêt pour les langues orientales. Le peuple- ment du monde ayant commencé après le déluge, la descendance ÉTAT DES SOURCES ARCHÉOLOGIQUES de Noé, par la lignée du premier fils, Japhet, aurait été à l’origine des rois des Gaules et en particulier du vingt-troisième, Namnès, Le xixe s., et plus précisément sa seconde moitié, a vu se père du fondateur de la ville, un certain Remus, distinct toutefois développer l’intérêt archéologique pour les Gaulois avec le du frère de Romulus. On trouve des parallèles dans bien d’autres début des recherches sur le terrain. En 1846, Narcisse Brunette, villes. Ainsi le roi Lugdus aurait-il fondé Lyon et Paris, la ville architecte de la ville, a mis à profit ses observations faites à du même nom. l’occasion des travaux qu’il a menés à Reims pour dessiner un Au début du xviie s., Nicolas Bergier (1635), le plus ancien plan de la ville antique où apparaissent les premiers éléments archéologue rémois, malgré sa pratique de terrain, n’a pas attribués à l’époque gauloise, en l’occurrence un fossé d’en- échappé à ces élucubrations d’érudits découvrant, avec une ceinte (Brunette, 1846). Les relations de ces découvertes, faites certaine ingénuité, l’immense champ de la recherche historique à partir de 1842, se réduisent à quelques lignes peu détail- ancienne. Il est, sur ce plan, suivi par ses contemporains, Jean lées (Brunette, 1861, p. 2 et 1885, p. 6). Quelques décennies Rogier et Pierre Coquault tout comme Dom Guillaume Marlot plus tard, Henri Demitra, agent voyer de la ville, eut à son (1843-1846, I, p. 88-93). tour la perspicacité de profiter des divers travaux de voirie À la fin du xviiie s. et surtout au xixe s., cette mythologie est effectués en ville pour enrichir les connaissances sur cette oubliée au profit d’une nouvelle construction de l’histoire, centrée même époque. Son plan de la ville et sa publication de 1910 cette fois sur les origines césariennes de la ville. La question (Demitra, 1910), rassemblent l’essentiel des informations dont des antécédents gaulois est sous-jacente, explorée surtout par on disposait avant les récentes fouilles préventives du dernier les archéologues locaux de l’époque, mais reste étrangère aux tiers du xxe s. Les spéculations mythiques et mythologiques principales préoccupations des recherches classiques qui se déve- sont délaissées par ces hommes de terrain qui s’intéressent loppent parallèlement. On imagine alors que l’agglomération de désormais aux objets, et plus particulièrement aux monnaies Reims n’existe réellement qu’à partir de l’arrivée des Romains. dont la plupart proviennent alors de dépôts funéraires. C’est Cette thèse est toujours répandue parmi les historiens classiques ainsi que H. Demitra nous informe de la mise au jour de nom- et même parmi les protohistoriens. La difficulté de faire émerger breuses tombes gauloises regroupées dans les seuls ensembles des données archéologiques sur le territoire propre de la ville funéraires connus pour la période de l’Indépendance. Bien explique ce scepticisme récurrent. Il est en effet peu commode de que la description circonstanciée des découvertes fasse défaut, s’aventurer sur des terrains où les documents littéraires ou épigra- la seule mention d’armes et de torques suffit à authentifier la phiques sont rares, voire inexistants, et où souvent les documents datation gauloise ancienne de ces nécropoles.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Expansion of Christianity: a Gazetteer of Its First Three Centuries
    THE EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY SUPPLEMENTS TO VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE Formerly Philosophia Patrum TEXTS AND STUDIES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE AND LANGUAGE EDITORS J. DEN BOEFT — J. VAN OORT — W.L. PETERSEN D.T. RUNIA — C. SCHOLTEN — J.C.M. VAN WINDEN VOLUME LXIX THE EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY A GAZETTEER OF ITS FIRST THREE CENTURIES BY RODERIC L. MULLEN BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2004 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mullen, Roderic L. The expansion of Christianity : a gazetteer of its first three centuries / Roderic L. Mullen. p. cm. — (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, ISSN 0920-623X ; v. 69) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 90-04-13135-3 (alk. paper) 1. Church history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600. I. Title. II. Series. BR165.M96 2003 270.1—dc22 2003065171 ISSN 0920-623X ISBN 90 04 13135 3 © Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands For Anya This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Preface ........................................................................................ ix Introduction ................................................................................ 1 PART ONE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN ASIA BEFORE 325 C.E. Palestine .....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Memory and Identity in Flodoard of Reims: His Use of the Roman Past
    E MMA B E DDO E Memory and identity in Flodoard of Reims: his use of the Roman past The Historia Remensis ecclesiae of Flodoard of Reims is a history of that church and diocese from its mythical foundations until Flodoard’s own time, around the mid tenth century. His role as archivist of the church of Reims must have given him complete access to its records, and a unique understanding of the history of his city and church. The various sources were utilised by Flodoard for what they could tell him about this past, which he then reformed in his own fashion when he wrote the account of it. It is only by working backwards from his text that it is possible to unravel the smooth finished result and uncover the sometimes disparate sources and evidence which he used to create this polished narrative. This process of assessment and adjustment is more easily uncovered in his first few chapters in which he dealt with the distant foundation of Reims, and its Roman past, than in his later books. In these first chapters, not only did he state which sources he was using, but his classical sources are also mostly extant, so allowing for a detailed examination of his text and of the way he used his sources. In addition to the written sources available, the contemporary oral tra- ditions and the evidence from the physical remains in the landscape around him also influenced his portrayal of this distant past of Reims. Both the collective memories of his contemporaries in Reims and the historical memories of Reims which he read in the classical sources were adapted by Flodoard when writing what he felt was the appropriate history of his town and church.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476)
    Impact of Empire 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd i 5-4-2007 8:35:52 Impact of Empire Editorial Board of the series Impact of Empire (= Management Team of the Network Impact of Empire) Lukas de Blois, Angelos Chaniotis Ségolène Demougin, Olivier Hekster, Gerda de Kleijn Luuk de Ligt, Elio Lo Cascio, Michael Peachin John Rich, and Christian Witschel Executive Secretariat of the Series and the Network Lukas de Blois, Olivier Hekster Gerda de Kleijn and John Rich Radboud University of Nijmegen, Erasmusplein 1, P.O. Box 9103, 6500 HD Nijmegen, The Netherlands E-mail addresses: O.Hekster@let.ru.nl and G.deKleijn@let.ru.nl Academic Board of the International Network Impact of Empire geza alföldy – stéphane benoist – anthony birley christer bruun – john drinkwater – werner eck – peter funke andrea giardina – johannes hahn – fik meijer – onno van nijf marie-thérèse raepsaet-charlier – john richardson bert van der spek – richard talbert – willem zwalve VOLUME 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd ii 5-4-2007 8:35:52 The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476) Economic, Social, Political, Religious and Cultural Aspects Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Roman Empire, 200 B.C. – A.D. 476) Capri, March 29 – April 2, 2005 Edited by Lukas de Blois & Elio Lo Cascio With the Aid of Olivier Hekster & Gerda de Kleijn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
    [Show full text]
  • The Commentaries of Caesar, by Anthony Trollope
    Project Gutenberg's The Commentaries of Caesar, by Anthony Trollope This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license Title: The Commentaries of Caesar Author: Anthony Trollope Release Date: November 9, 2017 [EBook #55926] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMMENTARIES OF CAESAR *** Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.) Ancient Classics for English Readers EDITED BY THE REV. W. LUCAS COLLINS, M.A. C Æ S A R The Volumes published of this Series contain HOMER: THE ILIAD, BY THE EDITOR. HOMER: THE ODYSSEY, BY THE SAME. HERODOTUS, BY GEORGE C. SWAYNE, M.A. Late Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The following Authors, by various Contributors, are in preparation:— VIRGIL. HORACE. ÆSCHYLUS. SOPHOCLES. ARISTOPHANES. CICERO. JUVENAL. XENOPHON. OTHERS WILL FOLLOW. A Volume will be published on the 1st of every alternate Month, price 2s. 6d. T H E C O M M E N T A R I E S OF C Æ S A R BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXX CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. INTRODUCTION, 1 FIRST BOOK OF THE WAR IN GAUL.—CÆSAR DRIVES FIRST THE SWISS AND II. 28 THEN THE GERMANS OUT OF GAUL.—B.C.
    [Show full text]
  • FOCUS Le Cryptoportique Reims
    FOCUS Le cryptoportique Reims Galerie du cryptoportique ©Ville de Reims L’effervescence culturelle Enfilade des piliers centraux 2 ©Alain Hatat Les Rèmes, alliés de Rome Au Ier siècle avant J.-C., les Rèmes, peuple belge, contrôlent un territoire allant de la Marne à la source de l’Oise, des bords du Tardenois à l’Argonne et aux Ardennes. Des oppida (centres d’artisanat et d’échanges) ponctuent ce territoire dont Durocorter (Reims) situé au croisement de voies. Au cours de la guerre des Gaules, les peuples belges décident de s’allier aux Romains. Seuls les Rèmes conservent leur position jusqu’à la fin du conflit. En reconnaissance de cette alliance, César élève leur cité au rang de cité fédérée (indépendante). Durocortorum est choisie à la fin du Ier s. avant notre ère comme capitale de la Gaule Belgique. UNE CITÉ GALLO-ROMAINE Sous l’empereur Auguste, la ville est redessinée, adoptant un plan en damier pour les rues. Cette nouvelle capitale, conçue tant sous la pression démographique et économique que pour des raisons de prestige, atteint les dimensions impressionnantes de 600 ha, ce qui en superficie en fait l’une des plus importantes du monde romain. Aux quartiers artisanaux ou résidentiels répondent tous les attributs d’une ville romaine : forum, thermes, aqueduc, amphithéâtre, sanctuaires, arcs (porte de Mars)… 1. Carte des cités et des provinces de la Gaule au 1 2 haut-Empire ©D’après Argentomagus, un nouveau regard sur la ville antique, 2002 2. Proposition de restitution du forum de Durocortorum ©Grand Reims, INRAP, Ville de Reims, réalisation Maxence Poirier et Xavier Briand 3 X=723.
    [Show full text]
  • Caesar 57 Bc
    CAESAR 57 BC INTRODUCTION Caesar 57 BC, the Second Campaign of Caesar in Gaul against the valiant Belgae. The Romans must crush all the hostile tribes before end of the game, or lose it. The Belgian player must prevent the Roman goals using all its forces and opportunities. Caesar 57 BC lasts 14 turns, each of 2 weeks, between March and October 57 BC. One of the two players controls the mighty legions of Julius Caesar attacking the Belgian tribes in northern Gaul. His opponent controls the ‘bravest’ tribes - according to Caesar himself - who are putting up a fight. • The Roman side is homogeneous and with an exceptional leader. • The Belgian tribes are more numerous but harder to make collaborate with each other because of their internal dissensions which fluctuate with victories and defeats. The game’s event cards allow full replay ability thanks to the numerous various situations that they create on the diplomatic, military, political or economical fields Average Duration: 1h30 Favored Side: Roman DURATION Most Difficult Side to Play: Belgian Caesar 57 BC lasts 14 turns, each of 2 weeks, between March and October 57 BC. TheRoman player always moves first, followed by the Belgian player. FORCES The Roman player controls the Roman (red), Aeduan (magenta) and Remii (tan) units. The Belgian player controls the Belgian (green), Germano-Celtic (pale green) and Armorican tribal (water blue) units. MAPBOARD The map cover Gallia Belgica (Belgian Gaul). Terrain effects are described in the game. The board is divided into 2 theaters: the southern one, Gaul under Roman influence, and the northern one, Belgian Tribes territory.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cult of Sabazios.The Cult of a Gallo-Roman God on a Relief From
    Anistoriton, vol. 12 (2010), Essays no 2 1 The Cult of Sabazios The Cult of a Gallo-Roman God on a Relief from Arlon/Aarlen (Belgium)? The Luxembourg Museum in Arlon (in Belgium) gathers the unique Gallo-Roman sculptured monuments which were discovered in some tombstones and civilian buildings of the ancient vicus in Orolaunum (today Arlon, Aarlen). One of these sculptured stones represents a very interesting scene of a man with his hands raised up while a huge horned snake is twisting around his hands and his body. The scene was shortly described by L. Lefébvre in the official Catalogue of the Luxembourg Museum in Arlon. He mentioned some different opinions on this representation which was once explained as a snake charmer, another time as an allusion to the cult of a Celtic god and finally as a symbol of the cult of Sabazios. Lefébvre supposes that M.E. Marien came with the most valuable interpretation of this scene. He associated a horned snake on this scene with the cult of the Phrygian-Thracian god of vegetation - Sabazios. Lefébvre´s positive standpoint to the idea of Marien was based on a supposition that Sabazios could be worshipped in Orolaunum because the cults of the Oriental mysteries were formally established in Orolaunum in the period of the Roman emperor Claudius (41-54 AD). A scene of a man encircled by a horned snake, relief, Luxembourg Museum Arlon Firstly, I also excepted that Sabazios´cult could be symbolized on this relief scene from Arlon. But I changed my opinion after some period of making the iconographical comparisons on this theme.
    [Show full text]
  • Guillaume De Machaut and Reims
    Anne Walters Robertson Guillaume de Machaut and Reims Context and meaning in his musical works published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb22ru,UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org C Cambridge University Press 2002 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2002 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface FF Scala 9.5/13 System LATEX2ε [tb] A catalogue record for this book is available fromthe British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data isbn 0 521 41876 3 hardcover Contents List of illustrations page xiii Acknowledgments xvi Abbreviations and conventions xviii Prologue Context and meaning in Guillaume de Machaut’s musical works 1 Machaut and Reims 2 Context and function, meaning and Scens in Machaut’s musical works 4 Part I Reims and its music: cathedral, city, archdiocese 1 Guillaume de Machaut in Reims 11 Reims: Rome of the West 15 Christianity in Reims, Christianity in France 17 Growth of Reims and the fourteenth-century laicization 20 Reims
    [Show full text]
  • Attila the Hun and the Christian Apocalypse
    The End is Upon Us: Attila the Hun and the Christian Apocalypse By Nathan Landrum A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Liberty University 2020 Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: Traditional Roman Paganism and Christianity 11 Chapter Two: The Christianization of the Roman Empire 33 Chapter Three: Late Antique Christian Apocalyptism 54 Chapter Four: The Arrival of the Huns 73 Chapter Five: The Campaigns of Attila the Hun 96 Conclusion 125 Bibliography 128 Introduction: Following a successful, albeit rather brief, campaign into northern Italy in A.D. 452, Attila the Hun returned to his court somewhere in the vast Great Hungarian Plain (the actual location remains unknown). Throughout the course of making preparations for a renewed campaign against the Eastern and Western Roman Empire, Attila decided to take another wife in early 453, adding to his many marriages. Once the wedding festivities were over, both Attila and his new bride, Ildico, retired to their bridal chamber. However, when Attila did not appear the following morning, Hunnic guards stormed the room to discover Ildico weeping over her husband’s lifeless body. Perhaps celebrating too hard, Attila appeared to have hemorrhaged through his nose during the night as no wounds were discovered on his body. Despite Ildico’s suspicion of murder, Attila’s death was generally accepted by the Hunnic populace as an accident and great periods of mourning immediately ensued. According to the sixth century Gothic historian Jordanes, “Thus did drunkenness put a disgraceful end to a king renowned in war.”1 Therefore, Attila the Hun, the man who terrorized the Roman world and came to symbolize the very essence of barbarism, died an inglorious death.
    [Show full text]
  • ALESIA 52 BC the Final Struggle for Gaul
    ALESIA 52 BC The final struggle for Gaul NIC FIELDS ILLUSTRATED BY PETER DENNIS © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CAMPAIGN 269 ALESIA 52 BC The final struggle for Gaul NIC FIELDS ILLUSTRATED BY PETER DENNIS Series editor Marcus Cowper © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 A clash of cultures CHRONOLOGY 13 OPPOSING COMMANDERS 17 Vercingetorix Caesar OPPOSING ARMIES 22 Vercingetorix’s army Caesar’s army OPPOSING PLANS 33 Vercingetorix’s plan Caesar’s plan THE CAMPAIGN 37 The siege of Avaricum A close-run thing: Gergovia Noviodunum The final act: Alesia AFTERMATH 82 Counting the cost Vercingetorix’s legacy THE BATTLEFIELD TODAY 87 Alesia alternatives A parallel in history GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS 91 Glossary Abbreviations BIBLIOGRAPHY 93 INDEX 95 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com The Roman Empire at the time of Caesar’s firstconsulship The RomanEmpireatthetimeofCaesar’s N OCEANUS ATLANTICUS Pontus Euxinus GALLIA GALLIA CISALPINA BITHYNIA ILLYRICUM TRANSALPINA ET PONTUS Mare HISPANIA ITALIA Adriaticum Galatia CITERIOR SARDINIA Roma Cappadocia ET MACEDONIA CORSICA Mare ASIA HISPANIA Mare Aegaeum CILICIA SYRIA ULTERIOR Tyrrhenum Mare Ionium SICILIA Numidia AFRICA CRETA Mauretania Mare Internum CYRENE Egypt Sinus Arabicus Approximate provincial boundaries SYRIA Roman province Egypt Principal ‘client’ kingdoms 0 500 miles 0 500km © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com INTRODUCTION The desire by political and military leaders to be known to the generations to come and, naturally, to cast him or herself in a good light, is no recent phenomenon. Such memoirs are by nature subjective and complete adherence to the truth should not be expected, especially if the author had written memoranda with at least one eye on the future record.
    [Show full text]
  • Julius Caesar. the Colossus of Rome
    JULIUS CAESAR: THE COLOSSUS OF ROME Julius Caesar offers a lively, engaging, and thoroughly up-to-date account of Caesar’s life and times. Richard Billows’ dynamic and fast-paced narrative offers an imaginative recounting of actions and events, providing the ideal introduction to Julius Caesar for general readers and students of classics and ancient history. The book is not just a biography of Caesar, but a historical account and explanation of the decline and fall of the Roman Republican governing system, in which Caesar played a crucial part. To understand Caesar’s life and role, it is necessary to grasp the political, social, and economic problems Rome was grap- pling with, and the deep divisions within Roman society that came from them. Caesar has been seen variously as a mere opportunist, a power-hungry autocrat, an arrogant aristocrat disdaining rivals, a traditional Roman noble politician who stumbled into civil war and autocracy thanks to being misunderstood by his rivals, and even as the ideal man and pattern of all virtues. Billows argues that such portrayals fail to consider adequately the universal testimony of our ancient sources that Roman political life was divided in Caesar’s time into two great political tendencies, called ‘optimates’ and ‘populares’ in the sources, of which Caesar came to be the leader of one: the ‘popularis’ faction. Billows suggests that it is only when we see Caesar as the leader of a great political and social movement, that had been struggling with its rival move- ment for decades and had been several times violently repressed in the course of that struggle, that we can understand how and why Caesar came to fight and win a civil war, and bring the traditional governing system of Rome to an end.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconstructing the Chronology of Caesar's Gallic Wars
    Histos 11 (2017) 1–74 RECONSTRUCTING THE CHRONOLOGY OF CAESAR’S GALLIC WARS1 Abstract: Caesar dates only the beginning of his first campaign and rarely mentions routes, distances, and times consumed. No detailed timelines for Caesar’s Gallic Wars exist. This gap can be filled by exploiting available clues in Caesar’s text (e.g., astronomical and sea- sonal events) and Cicero’s letters, and by determining the routes Caesar is likely to have chosen, average traveling and marching speeds (based on data in Caesar’s works and those of other authors), and the days required to cover the distances involved. Modern, digital maps based upon a GIS interface make it possible to measure distances with unprecedented precision. The resulting chronology, though often still speculative, is much more reliable than anything suggested previously. Keywords: Caesar, Gallic wars, chronology, speed of army movements, application of digital maps Introduction: General Assumptions, Principles, and Data2 In the middle of the nineteenth century, German scholars wrote monumental commentaries on Caesar’s Gallic War and Civil War. Those works, published 1 The reconstruction presented here is the result of work we originally did for the The Landmark Julius Caesar (Raaflaub (2017)). Planned as an appendix, it proved too large to be in included in that volume. A much condensed version will be placed on the website of the publisher (Pantheon). We thank Robert Strassler, the editor of the Landmark series, and Edward Kastenmeier at Pantheon for the permission to publish the full version in Histos, and the journal’s editor, Christopher Krebs, for accepting our submission on short notice.
    [Show full text]