Bellovaker

Map of Gaul in the first century BC With the geographical allocation of the tribal areas

The Bellovaci ( Latin Bellovaci ) were a Belgian tribe in northern Gaul , of the entire Oise lived in what is now France.

The Bellovacians are first mentioned in writing by the Roman general and author Julius Caesar in De Bello Gallico , his report on his wars in Gaul . He reports that they were born in 57 BC. BC withdrew to their city of Bratuspantium before his advancing troops . The location of this city has not yet been clearly clarified. Some historians suggest that based on the etymology , it could be Grattepanche in the Somme department . 51 BC The chief Correus led the last Gallic revolt against Caesar together with the Atrebaten king Commius , but eventually fell.

After their defeat by Caesar, Caesaromagus , today's Beauvais , became the capital of the Bellovacians . The name Beauvais comes from the Latin name Bellovacensis pagus . The traditional assumption that Caesaromagus is to be equated with the Bratuspantium named by Caesar can not be confirmed by modern archeology , since no archaeological traces of a pre-Roman fortification or settlement were found in Beauvais.

In the year 54 BC The winter camp of the Roman legion of Quaestor Marcus Licinius Crassus was located in the settlement area of ​​the Bellovacians, 25 Roman miles (37 km) from Samarobriva , today's Amiens .

After their subjugation by Rome, the settlement area of ​​the 'Belovacians' became part of the region of the Roman Empire called Gaul. With the provincial reform of the Roman emperor Augustus , the Bellovacians were integrated into the province of Gallia Belgica .

literature

• Cornelia Catlin Coulter: Caesar's Clemency . In: The Classical Journal 26, 7, April 1931, pp. 513-524.
• Henry O. Forbes: The Topography of Caesar's Last Campaign against the Bellovaci . In: The Geographical Journal 59, March 3, 1922, pp. 195-206.
• T. Rice Holmes: The Topography of Caesar's Campaign against the Bellovaci (51 BC) . In: The Geographical Journal 61, January 1, 1931, pp. 44-48.
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , p. 42.
• Maximilian Ihm : Bellovaci . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 1, Stuttgart 1897, Col. 257.
• Josephine H. Ross: In Behalf of Caesar's Enemies . In: The Classical Journal 34, 8 May 1939, pp. 449-460.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Caesar, De bello Gallico 2.4 ff. And 2.13.
2. ↑ Aulus Hirtius , De bello Gallico 8, 17ff.
3. ^ Ferdinand Lot : La Gaule. Les fondements ethniques, sociaux et politiques de la nation française. Librairie Arthème Fayard, Paris, 1947 (CHAPITRE III, E: La Belgium)
4. ^ Joseph Justus Scaliger , Thesaurus temporum , Leiden 1606
5. ^ Caesar : De Bello Gallico Book V, 46