Gallia Aquitania

Location of the province of Gallia Aquitania in the Roman Empire

Gallia Aquitania was in Gaul located province of the Roman Empire , the end of the 1st century BC. Was founded by the emperor Augustus . It reached in its maximum extent from the Atlantic and the Pyrenees to the Loire . In the north and northeast it was neighboring with the Gallia Lugdunensis , in the east with the Gallia Narbonensis and in the south with the Hispania Tarraconensis .

history

Most of Gaul was conquered by Gaius Iulius Caesar during the Gallic War (58-51 / 50 BC), as was the later province of Aquitania. As an administrative unit, however, this only emerged as part of the reorganization of the Roman provinces by Augustus, according to the traditional view in the year 27 BC. BC, but probably not until 16-13 BC. Chr.

Gallia Aquitania was administered as an imperial province by a legatus Augusti pro praetore ; the capital was originally in Mediolanum (today Saintes ), later in Burdigala (today Bordeaux ). The province was affected by a rapid Romanization , which was accompanied by a planned development by a road network and intensive urbanization (still recognizable today in numerous archaeological monuments from ancient times).

Around the year 300 - probably a little later - Gallia Aquitania was named under the Roman emperor Diocletian in the smaller provinces Aquitania prima , Aquitania secunda (both north of the Garonne river ) and Aquitania Tertia (also Novempopulana , literally "nine peoples (-land)") , located south of the Garonne). These belonged to the Dioecesis Galliae , which in turn was added to the sphere of influence of the Praefectus praetorio Galliarum a little before the middle of the 4th century . Shortly thereafter, Aquitania prima and Aquitania secunda were combined to form a province with the capital Burdigala , but separated again in 369 at the latest. During the 4th century the area was completely Christianized.

After the Rhine crossing in 406 , the previously relatively safe province of Aquitania was increasingly affected by the migration of peoples . In 418, the future co-emperor Constantius settled the Visigoths as federates on the Atlantic coast of Aquitaine. In the course of the following decades they conquered large parts of Gaul and Hispania and took over, among other things, the entire province of Gallia Aquitania. However, many social and administrative structures from Roman times were preserved. This continuity was largely interrupted only during the Frankish period .

Roman provinces and Celtic tribes in Gaul

Celtic tribes

As part of the reorganization of the Roman provinces, the settlement areas of several Gallic tribes were combined, whose names are given differently by the ancient authors Strabo , Pliny the Elder and Claudius Ptolemy . All three writers name the Arverner , Kadurker , Gabalier , Lemoviken , Rutener , Nitiobigen , Petrocorier , Piktonen , Santonen and the two tribes of the Biturigen . The Datii are also mentioned for Ptolemy, the Vellavier for Ptolemy and Strabo ; Instead of these, Pliny names the Aquitaine , who gave the province its name, as well as the Ambilatri and Anagnutes .

literature

• Edmond Frézouls: Aquitania. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , column 940 f.
• Alain Bouet: Aquitaine in Roman times. Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-8053-4857-7 .

Web links

Commons : Gallia Aquitania  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Gallia Aquitania - Info

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alain Bouet: Aquitaine in Roman times. Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-8053-4857-7 , p. 17.
2. ↑ Alain Bouet: Aquitaine in Roman times. Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-8053-4857-7 , p. 20 f. with a brief discussion of the research situation.
3. ^ Alan Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Averil Cameron: The Cambridge Ancient History , Volume 12: The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2005, pp. 706 f. ( online ).
4. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus , Res gestae 15,11,13. In addition Alain Bouet: Aquitaine in Roman times. Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-8053-4857-7 , p. 128.
5. ↑ Alain Bouet: Aquitaine in Roman times. Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-8053-4857-7 , p. 130.
6. ↑ Strabon, Geographika 4,190 f.
7. ↑ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia 4,108 f.
8. ^ Claudius Ptolemy, Geographike Hyphegesis 2.7.
9. ↑ Max Ihm : Aquitania . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 335-337, here Col. 335.