Gesoriacum
Gesoriacum (also Bononia ) was a Roman port city on the English Channel . It is today's Boulogne-sur-Mer , which was the port for ships to Britain until the High Middle Ages . The name Bononia may refer to a Celtic oppidum in which Tiberius stayed in the year 4 . The name Gesoriacum is already mentioned by Florus as the name of the city and was apparently the one in use in the early imperial period. The place is probably identical to the Portus Itius mentioned by Caesar .
history
Caligula stayed here to cross over to Britain. He also had a lighthouse built, which is known from ancient descriptions and the remains of which can still be seen in the 18th century. Since then, the place has also been the port for the Classis Britannica . In the middle of the 3rd century the unprotected city was devastated by invading Germans. The focus of the settlement shifted to the more easily defended hills. At the end of the 3rd century the place name Bononia became common. At the beginning of the fifth century the usurper Constantine landed here , coming from Britain. With the loss of the province, the city also lost its importance.
description
The place consisted of two parts. There was the port and an upper town on a hill. In the early imperial era , the city stretched mainly along the coast and was around 40 to 50 hectares in size. The upper town was only founded in the 4th century. There are remains of a city wall from this period, which was apparently only built in the 4th century for the upper town and enclosed an area of approx. 13 hectares (450 x 300 m). From here there were defensive works that reached into the lower town and were apparently also intended to protect the port.
Roman roads
Gesoriacum was connected to Lyon (Lugdunum) by the Via Agrippa and the later so-called Via Belgica to the Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ( Cologne ).
literature
- Charles Pietri : Gesoriacum Bononia (Boulogne) Nord, France . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 43 ' N , 1 ° 37' E