Oppidum (Celts)

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Celtic oppidum, 1st century BC Chr.

An oppidum (Latin: oppidum fortification, fortification, fixed place; plural: oppida ) is a fortified, urban-like settlement from the La Tène period (late Iron Age).

Definition

The name goes back to Caesar 's De Bello Gallico (From the Gallic War), in which he described Gallic fortifications. Oppida were common all over Western and Central Europe. Characteristic are the fortifications made of wood, the so-called Murus Gallicus, filled with earth or stones . However, Manching is the easternmost oppidum with a Murus Gallicus, further east so-called post slit walls are proven as fortifications.

The term is also used for settlements in late antiquity, for example Salzburg is spoken of as oppidum Iuvavum . An oppidum in this sense is simply a settlement that does not (yet) have city ​​rights .

Oppida are often referred to as an early city-like settlement, but little is known about their infrastructure. As excavations in Manching near Ingolstadt , on the Titelberg in Luxembourg and in Bibracte in France show, at least some of them show a dense and regular interior development. Concentrations of Mediterranean imports prove the importance of these settlements in the commercial network of the La Tène period. Often the oppida are also associated with sanctuaries. The so-called (Celtic) Oppida culture in the late Latène period is characterized above all by the fact that city-like structures were built in these mostly large settlements, that diverse trade relationships existed and that there is an increasing specialization and differentiation of the local work areas (crafts, administration) .

Research history

Many oppida had long been the focus of local scholars because of the features of the terrain. The first scientific excavations, however, took place in the second half of the 19th century. The excavations of:

  • E. Castagne in Murcens 1868,
  • E. Stoffel from 1862 to 1864 in Alesia and Gergovia ,
  • O. Vauville in 1886 and 1887 in Pommiers , Picardy .
  • J. Finck 1892 and 1893 in Manching
  • JL Pič published his excavation in Stradonice (Czech Republic) in 1903 .

The excavations by Jacques Gabriel Bulliot and later by his nephew Joseph Déchelette (1862–1914) between 1867 and 1907 on Mont Beuvray were the breakthrough. Around 1900 it was clear that similar settlements in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. From the British Isles to East Central Europe. Due to the cultural match at the end of the Iron Age , Déchelette, curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie in Roanne , developed his theory of the “oppida civilization” at the beginning of the 20th century. The early death of Déchelette brought oppida research to a standstill. 25 years later it was revived in Germany by Joachim Werner's essay “The importance of urban development for the cultural development of early Celtic times”. He put the urban aspect of the fortifications in the foreground.

Major oppida

Germany

England

France

Italy

Luxembourg

Austria

Hungary

Switzerland

Spain

Czech Republic

Slovakia

  • Oppidum Bratislava
  • Oppidum Thebes
  • Oppidum Pohanská

literature

Overviews

  • Bettina Arnold, Blair Gibson (Eds.): Celtic chiefdom, Celtic state: the evolution of complex social systems in prehistoric Europe , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1995, ISBN 0-521-46469-2
  • Françoise Audouze, Olivier Buchsenschutz (ed.): Villes, villages et campagnes de l'Europe celtique du début du IIe millénaire à la fin du Ie siècle avant J.-C. , Hachette, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-01-005629-9
    • engl. Transl .: Towns, villages and countryside of Celtic Europe: from the beginning of the second millennium to the end of the first century BC , Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1992, ISBN 0-253-31082-2
  • Olivier Buchsenschutz: Structures d'habitats et fortifications de l'âge du fer en France septentrionale , Société préhistorique française, Mémoires de la Société préhistorique française 18, Paris 1984
  • John Collis: Oppida: earliest towns north of the Alps , University of Sheffield, Dept. of Prehistory and Archeology, Sheffield 1984, ISBN 0-906090-19-9
  • Barry Cunliffe, Trevor Rowley (eds.): Oppida, the beginnings of urbanization in Barbarian Europe , congress document presented at a congress in Oxford, October 1975, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford 1976, ISBN 0-904531-46-5
  • Stephan Fichtl: La ville celtique. Les Oppida de 150 av. JC.a 15 ap. JC. , Ed. Errance, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-87772-183-3
  • Sabine Rieckhoff & Stephan Fichtl: Celtic cities from the air Stuttgart 2011 ISBN 978-3-8062-2242-5

Single oppida

  • Olivier Buchsenschutz, Hervé Richard: L'environnement du Mont Beuvray , Collection "Bibracte" 1, Center Archéologique Européen, Glux-en-Glenne 1996, ISBN 2-909668-10-X
  • Ferdinand Maier [et al.]: Results of the excavations 1984-1987 in Manching , The excavations in Manching 15, Steiner, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-515-05807-9
  • Susanne Sievers : Manching : Guide to archaeological monuments in Bavaria, Upper Bavaria , Vol. 3, Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1765-3 .
  • Susanne Sievers: Manching: die Keltenstadt , Archäologische Staatssammlung, Munich 2003, 2nd updated edition, Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1765-0
  • Karla Motyková, Petr Drda, Alena Rybová: Závist. Keltské hradiště ve středních Čechách , Památníky naší minulosti 9, Academia, Prague 1978 (German summary under the title: Závist, a Celtic rampart in Central Bohemia )
  • Miloš Čižmář: Keltské Oppidum Staré Hradisko , Vlastivědné Muzeum v Olomouci, Olomouc 2002, ISBN 80-85037-32-7 (summary in English)

Web links

Commons : Oppidum  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: oppidum  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Oppidum  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Caesar, de bello Gallico 2.13
  2. ↑ Caesar, de bello Gallico 7.3
  3. ↑ Caesar, de bello Gallico 2.12