Gallo-Roman Relations under the Early Empire By Ryan Walsh A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2013 © Ryan Walsh 2013 1 Author's Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This paper examines the changing attitudes of Gallo-Romans from the time of Caesar's conquest in the 50s BCE to the start of Vespasian's reign in 70-71 CE and how Roman prejudice shaped those attitudes. I first examine the conflicted opinions of the Gauls in Caesar's time and how they eventually banded together against him but were defeated. Next, the activities of each Julio-Claudian emperor are examined to see how they impacted Gaul and what the Gallo-Roman response was. Throughout this period there is clear evidence of increased Romanisation amongst the Gauls and the prominence of the region is obvious in imperial policy. This changes with Nero's reign where Vindex's rebellion against the emperor highlights the prejudices still effecting Roman attitudes. This only becomes worse in the rebellion of Civilis the next year. After these revolts, the Gallo-Romans appear to retreat from imperial offices and stick to local affairs, likely as a direct response to Rome's rejection of them. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Altay Coskun, first and foremost for all his help in putting this paper together. I am greatly indebted to his advice, suggestions, and editing. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Shiela Ager and Dr. David Porreca for all their advice and editing prowess as well. The entire Classical Studies department at Waterloo has offered terrific support and suggestions so I would also like to thank them. Brigitte Schneebeli, the department secretary, helped with numerous forms and administrative tasks that I would not have been able to complete without her. Thank you very much Brigitte for all your hard work on my behalf. My fiancé, Andrea Barrales-Hall, has been nothing but supportive throughout my work on the thesis and I owe its success to her encouragement. My cat, Beatrix, and my dog, Ajax, helped me through those days when I just needed to relax. iv Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2 a. Purpose 2 b. Note on Sources 2 c. Origins of Roman Attitudes 3 2. Julius Caesar 8 a. Divitiacus and Dumnorix 9 b. Ambiorix 19 c. Vercingetorix 22 3. Augustus 27 4. Tiberius 35 a. Germanicus' Campaigns 35 b. Florus and Sacrovir 39 5. Caligula 47 6. Claudius 52 a. Invasion of Britain 52 b. Patron of Gaul 53 c. Gallo-Roman Senators 54 7. Nero 60 a. Great Fire 60 b. Vindex 63 8. Year of the Four Emperors 68 a. Galba and Vitellius 68 b. Civilis 69 9. Aftermath 73 10. The Druids 77 a. Before the Conquest 77 b. Changes in the 1st Century 80 11. Conclusion 85 12. Bibliography 89 v Introduction What were the Gallo-Roman attitudes towards the Romans and how did Roman prejudice shape the history of Roman Gaul? Those are the key question that this paper seeks to answer. Over the course of this paper, we will examine the interactions between Romans and Gauls during what may be roughly called the early empire: from Julius Caesar to the events immediately following Nero's death. Each Roman leader will have his own chapter and the events that are crucial for understanding Gallo-Roman attitudes will be examined for each of them. Under Julius Caesar these were the careers of Divitiacus and Dumnorix and the rebellions of Ambiorix and Vercingetorix; Augustus dealt with the administration and Romanization of the newly conquered Gallic provinces; Tiberius faced the unauthorized campaigns of Germanicus following the Rhine mutinies and the rebellion of Florus and Sacrovir; Caligula spent a year in Gaul, leading campaigns and selling imperial goods; Claudius launched his invasion of Britain from Gaul, acted as a grand patron of the province, and brought Gallo-Romans into the senate; Nero found Gaul tarred during the Great Fire and faced Vindex's revolt; the year of the four emperors saw chaos and the rebellion of Civilis. We then examine the aftermath of Nero's reign and the strife that followed and finish with an examination of the druids. Roman prejudice will be documented throughout as well as the Gallo-Roman response, where available. Gradual shifts are more apparent than immediate changes, as shall become clear as we get further into Gallo-Roman history. A note must be made on the sources for this paper. For most Roman and Greek authors, Gaul was not a priority so information must be gleaned wherever possible. Multiple sources, providing they exist, are used for any single event in order to provide an accurate picture of what occurred but in several cases other sources are unavailable or add nothing. For example, I use Caesar's account almost exclusively to document his activities in Gaul because he has the most detailed account and subsequent authors used him as their source. I have attempted to view these events with as much objectivity as possible, generally accepting the facts as portrayed but always questioning the motivations ascribed. 1 Again, as an example, Caesar was, of course, trying to legitimize his invasion of Gaul and had a vested interest in making himself look good. In some ways, the actual motivations do not necessarily matter, or at least they are not as important as the perceived motivations. The focus is, after all, on the attitudes of both the Gauls and the Romans toward each other. When a Roman (or Romanized Greek) author supplies a motivation that does not appear correct, that can say a great deal about what their outlook was towards the Gallo-Romans. The issues with the sources will be discussed as they occur throughout the paper and the flaws with the authors' accounts will be pointed out in the narrative. The relationship between the Gauls and Romans was always a rocky one. The first recorded interaction between these two peoples is a semi-mythologized Gallic attack on Rome that culminates in the sack of the city, the last time an invading force would manage that feat for over eight hundred years. Aside from this traumatic (for the Romans) event, the next few centuries saw Rome at war with various Gallic peoples more than peace or alliance with them. From the Gallic Wars in Italy to the Galatian War in Asia Minor, conflict was the most common way for the two cultures to cross paths. Not helping matters was the close, if also conflicted, relationship between Rome and Greece, which had its own troubled history with the Galatians from the looting of Delphi to the propaganda of victory against Galatians invoked by many Hellenistic monarchs. With this in mind, it is easy to see why the Romans would remain prejudiced towards the Gauls, even after they ceased to be a credible threat to the city or even Italy. Much has been said about this Roman outlook, summed up in the phrase terror Gallicus (or metus Gallicus), a fear and hatred of the Gauls which steered or sometimes outright poisoned Roman relations with their northern neighbours. Before we examine the events under Caesar and his heirs, I want to discuss a bit of the earlier attitudes of the Romans towards the Gauls before the conquest of Gaul. Both the Roman and Greek authors write about the Gauls after experiencing Gallic attacks. For the Romans, this was the sack of 390 2 BCE by Brennus and his Gauls. Livy, though writing well after the event and Caesar's conquest of Gaul, captures the terror and destruction of this attack.1 There are clear mythological elements to the account but what matters is that it had stuck with the Romans until at least Livy's time and still concerned them.2 The Greeks had a similarly traumatic experience with the attack of another Brennus and his Gauls on Greece in 279 BCE. Pausanias records the attack and describes a very similar reaction to the Gauls as what Livy writes later.3 The Greeks were defeated at Thermopylae and Delphi itself came under threat before the Gauls were defeated. The stories share a lot of elements: the terror caused by these invading barbarians, the destruction they left in their wake, the eventual victory bringing the community together, even the name of the Gallic leader. It is entirely possible that while a real attack on Rome by the Gauls took place, the tradition was strongly influenced by the Greek tradition stemming from the attack on Delphi. There is also the tradition of victory propaganda against the Galatians that was used by various Hellenistic monarchs.4 A splinter group of Galatians from the same army that had attacked Delphi had made their way into Asia minor as mercenaries. The Galatians soon struck out on their own and carved out a territory for themselves in the central plateaus of Asia Minor. From these bases they continued to act as bandits and mercenaries throughout the Hellenistic Age, sometimes allied with Hellenistic kings, other times at war with them but never taken over until Augustus' time.5 Victory over the Galatians became a way of legitimizing the rule of a Hellenistic monarch styled after the victory of the Aitolians at 1 Livy 5.38-55.