Ager Gallicus

Map of Umbria and Picenum with the Ager Gallicus

Ager Gallicus (literally Gallic field , here in the sense of a state domain Gallic Mark ) is the Latin name of the settlement area annexed by the Roman Empire of the Celtic tribe of the Senones on the Adriatic coast .

location

The northern end of the ancient region was formed south of Ravenna by the Rubicon River (ancient name: Rubicon or Rubico , Italian: Rubicone ), which was viewed as the border river between the Roman province of Gallia cisalpina and the Roman heartland. Other sources give a river called "Utens" as the northern boundary line (this is probably the Montone , also near Ravenna). The southern dividing line to the Picenum was drawn on the Esino River (ancient name: Aesis ). To the east is the sea that the Romans called Mare Adriaticum . To the west there was no clear border to the neighboring territory inhabited by Umbrians . In modern Italy , the area is divided into the province of Ancona and the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region and the province of Rimini in Emilia-Romagna .

history

Events leading up to the Roman conquest

In the 5th century BC The Senones immigrated to Italy from Gaul and, after several battles against the Etruscans, settled in a strip of land on the coast between Rimini (Latin: Ariminum ) and Ancona , which was previously settled by Umbrian people .

In the year 387/386 BC They had invaded Rome , conquered the city with the exception of the Capitoline Hill and only withdrew against payment of a humiliating ransom . Their king, in the later tradition from the end of the 1st century BC. Chr. Brennus called, in this respect the saying "will Vae Victis! "(" Woe to the vanquished! "). The defeat established Rome's enmity with the Celts for centuries. In the later Samnite Wars and the Celtic War in Northern Italy , the Senones and their few survivors repeatedly sided with the opponents of the Roman Empire.

Conquest of Ager Gallicus

Another confrontation occurred in 283 BC. The Greek historian Polybios (approx. 200 to 120 BC) reports the siege of Arezzo, a friend of Rome (Arretium in Latin, Aritim in Etruscan) by unspecified Gauls and their victory against a Roman relief army. According to him, Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter , who is presumably proconsul, was killed in this battle , which makes dating possible. Denter's successor in the Praetur was Manius Curius Dentatus , the legate charged with negotiating the release of prisoners from the Gauls. The ambassadors were killed, however, which angered the Romans so much that they immediately deployed their troops towards the Gallic settlements. According to Polybius, the Roman units encountered an army of the Senones, which they defeated in an open field battle. Unfortunately, it is not possible to infer from his account which general commanded the Roman campaign or where the battlefield was. It is very likely that the clash between the two armed forces occurred in ager Gallicus, for Polybius writes that the Romans conquered the Senones' territory, "killed most of them and drove the rest of their land" [...] "founded a colony which they followed called 'Sena Gallica' after the name of the previous residents ”. The modern city of Senigallia emerged from this fortification.

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"Polybius mostly uses the generalizing term Gauls in his report, but it is questionable whether he also meant the Senones throughout, even if this assumption seems to emerge from the closer context." Who asks himself this and answers how? “Appian's traditions seem superficially more precise in this respect, but they are just as incomplete.” Who represents the thesis of superficial accuracy and assumes which lack of incompleteness on the basis of which premises? - Tusculum ( discussion ) 21:33, Jun. 4, 2018 (CEST)

Polybius mostly uses the generalizing term Gauls in his report, but it is questionable whether he also meant the Senones throughout, even if this assumption seems to emerge from the closer context. Appian’s traditions seem superficially more accurate in this regard, but they are just as incomplete. They also remain imprecise with regard to the location and, moreover, make no reference to the siege of Arretium. Appian accuses Britomaris (Greek Βριτόμαρις ), the war chief of the Senones , to be responsible for the death of the ambassadors. In addition, he names the consul Publius Cornelius Dolabella, the Roman commander who led a Roman campaign of revenge. After learning of the murder of the ambassadors, Cornelius advanced in forced marches through the land of the Sabines and Picentines to the cities of the Senones. There he destroyed and burned everything so that the Senones' homeland became uninhabitable. Based on the two testimonies, it cannot be determined with certainty whether they are about a single event or describe two different, but closely related, events. On the other hand, it can be considered reliable that the approach of the Romans led to the almost complete destruction of the Senonian tribal society, because both scriptures agree on this.

Appian writes that the consul Cornelius was on his way to Etruria to fight the Etruscans when he began the campaign against the Senones. As is also reported by Polybius in this context, the second battle on the Vadimonian Lake took place in the same year between the Romans under Cornelius and the Etruscans, who were allied with Boians and the Senones expelled from their tribal area. The Roman army remained victorious and thus sealed the final submission of the Etruscans.

Consolidation of Roman power

The armistice treaty with the Etruscans and the Celtic tribes, as well as the settlement and colonization in Umbria, Etruria and the Picenum, allowed the Romans to create a solid line of defense against threats from the north. After the Pyrrhic War against the King of Epirus , Rome began in the years 268-265 BC. With taking action against the remaining independent tribes and settlements in the adjacent Picenum and in Umbria. Several Roman consuls as Ogulnius , Fabius Pictor , Sempronius Sophus and not least Claudius Russus , the Picentes submitted, created with their campaigns the conditions for a coherent territory. Those parts of the population who opposed the rule of Rome were deported to the Samnium , the rest received limited Roman citizenship ( civitas sine suffragium ).

Continuation of the romanization

In order to control the coast and the population, the Romans established the colonies of Ariminum in ager Gallicus and Firmum Picenum, today's Fermo in Picenum , before the outbreak of the first Punic War . With this approach, the Romanization was continued and further outposts followed. The cities of Pesaro (Pisaurum) and Fano (Fanum Fortunae) also date back to this time. In addition, the Celtic population was expelled in the hinterland and the now ownerless lands were declared ager publicus (literally: "field belonging to the people"), that is, state property. From 232 BC The law lex Flaminia de agro Gallico et Piceno viritim dividundo, named after the tribune Gaius Flaminius , regulated the distribution of the confiscated goods ("Flaminian law on the distribution man for man of the ager Gallicus and Picenum"; also called lex Flaminia [agraria] for short )) Property among the plebeians . The beneficiaries retained their Roman citizenship due to the Viritanassignation , which was more attractive than the Latin law associated with the establishment of the colony . They were enrolled in the tribus Pollia . Polybius, who here follows his model, the historian Quintus Fabius Pictor , castigated the law as part of the demagoguery ( δηµαγωγία ), which he accused Flaminius. In his opinion, the procedure had led to a distortion ( διαστροφή ) of the people and the Gallic uprising of 225 BC. BC provoked. Modern historiography does not follow Polybius' representation that the law would have triggered the following armed conflicts, especially since ancient authors heavily exaggerated the image of Flaminius, not only because of his catastrophic defeat against the Carthaginians at the Battle of Lake Trasimeno .

What is certain is that many Celtic tribes in northern Italy feared total displacement and extermination and formed an alliance against the Romans. The Boier, the neighbors of the Senones before their extermination and expulsion, were one of the leading peoples. With the Battle of Telamon , hostilities escalated into the so-called Celtic War, which ran from 225 to 222 BC. Lasted. After the end of the war, Rome pursued the strategy that had been tried and tested in previous wars of building well-fortified colonies and thereby consolidating power. In 220 BC Flaminius gave the order to build the consular road Via Flaminia , which connects Rome to the present day as state road 3 with Fano and Rimini. Flaminius had several intentions in this building. In addition to the opening of a militarily usable advance route to northern Italy, the opportunity for troops to intervene quickly in the more coastal parts of Umbria should be created. Another important aspect is likely to have been that in this way he succeeded in implementing the settlement policy he had begun with the Agricultural Law from the year 232 BC. Subsequently underline and further promote. With the death of Flaminius in 217 BC His policy of land distribution in the region, which was implemented against the resistance of the Senate , was stripped of its foundation.

Later area administration

In the course of the reorganization of the administration of Italy and division into regions initiated under Augustus , the Ager Gallicus was united with Umbria and part of the "Regio VI Umbria et ager Gallicus". About 300 years later, Diocletian's administrative reform made the provinces smaller, which almost doubled their number. The Ager was separated from Umbria and connected with the Picenum to the "Province of Flaminia et Picenum". At the beginning of the 350s, the area was divided again under Emperor Theodosius I. The Ager and part of the Picenum were added to the province "Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium" of the administrative units Dioecesis Italiae Annonariae , while the rest of the Picenum was counted as the province "Picenum Suburbicarium" to the Dioecesis Italiae Suburbicariae .

Timeline

literature

• Maciej Piegdoń: Coloniam deducere. Colonization as an Instrument of the Roman Policy of Domination in Italy in the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BC, as Illustrated by Settlements in the Ager Gallicus and Picenum. In: Electrum. Volume 20, 2013, pp. 117–141 ( PDF; 332 kB ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Giovanni Brizzi: Ager Gallicus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , column 249 f.
2. ^ Strabo , Geography 5.1 ( English translation ).
3. ^ So Polybios 1.6; According to Livy 5:37:38 the battle of the Allia took place in 390 BC. Instead of.
4. ↑ Titus Livius 5,48,8 f. ( Latin ).
5. ↑ On the role of the Gauls catastrophe in the collective memory of Rome see Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg : The danger from the north - the traumatic consequences of the Gauls catastrophe. In: same: Roman Studies. Historical consciousness - age of the Gracchen - crisis of the republic (= contributions to antiquity. Volume 232). De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, pp. 132–146 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
6. ↑ Polybios, Historíai 2,19 ( English translation ).
7. ↑ For localization in the Ager Gallicus see Frank W. Walbank : A Historical Commentary on Polybius. Volume 1: Commentary on Books I – VI. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1957, p. 189.
8. ↑ Appian, ἐκ τῆς σαμνιτικησ 1, 7 ( Greek / English )
9. ↑ Polybios, Historíai 2.20 ( English translation ).
10. ↑ On the law, see Plinio Fraccaro: Lex Flaminia de agro Gallico et Piceno viritim dividundo. In: Athenaeum. Volume 7, 1919, pp. 73-93; Ella Hermon: La lex Flaminia de Agro Gallico Dividundo - modèle de romanisation au IIIe siècle avant J.-C. In: Collection de l'Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l'Antiquité. Volume 377, 1989, pp. 273-284 ( online ); Lothar Oebel: C. Flaminius and the beginnings of the Roman colonization in ager Gallicus. Lang, Frankfurt am Main / New York 1993.
11. ↑ First mentioned as Viritanassignation in the older Cato , Origines Fragment 43 P. from Varro , De re rustica 1,2,7.
12. ^ Lily Ross Taylor: The Voting Districts of the Roman Republic (= Papers and Monographs. Volume 20). American Academy in Rome, Rome 1960, pp. 90, 95; see also Theodora Hantos: The Roman alliance system in Italy (= Vestigia . Volume 34). CH Beck, Munich 1983, pp. 43-45.
13. ↑ Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg: The end of the class struggle. In: same: Roman Studies. Historical consciousness - age of the Gracchen - crisis of the republic (= contributions to antiquity. Volume 232). De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, pp. 147-169, here: pp. 153 f.
14. ↑ Polybios, Historíai 2.21 ( English translation ).
15. ↑ Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg: The end of the class struggle. In: same: Roman Studies. Historical consciousness - age of the Gracchen - crisis of the republic (= contributions to antiquity. Volume 232). De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, pp. 147-169, here: pp. 154 f.
16. ^ So Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg: The end of the class struggle. In: same: Roman Studies. Historical consciousness - age of the Gracchen - crisis of the republic (= contributions to antiquity. Volume 232). De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, pp. 147–169, here: p. 156.