1.
Autun
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Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Roman capital to the Gallic people Aedui, in Roman times the city may have been home to 30,000 to 100,000 people, according to different estimates. Augustodunum was founded during the reign of the first Roman emperor, Augustus and it was the civitas tribal capital of the Aedui, Continental Celts who had been allies and brothers of Rome since before Julius Caesars Gallic Wars. Augustodunum was a planned foundation replacing the original oppidum Bibracte, located some 25 km away, several elements of Roman architecture such as walls, gates, and a Roman theater are still visible in the town. In AD356, a force of Alemanni brought the siege of Autun, the disrepair of the walls left the city in danger of falling. Autun was saved by the arrival of the Emperor Julian in one of his military successes. In Late Antiquity, Autun became famous for its schools of rhetoric, a world map based on the Geography of Ptolemy was famous for its size and was displayed in the portico of one of the schools. It may have survived until modern times. In 725, the Umayyad general Anbasa ibn Suhaym Al-Kalbi marched up the Saône valley to Autun, on 22 August 725 he captured the town after defeating forces led by the local bishop, Émilien of Nantes, who was slain during the course of the battle. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe, however, the position was never retained, and Anbasa died soon after. The Umayyads are known to have raided the lower Rhone during the next decade, in 880, Count Richard of Autun was made the first duke of Burgundy. In 1788, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord became bishop of Autun and he was elected member of the clergy for the Estates-General of 1789. The High School plays an important role in the history of the city and even France since Napoleon and this school continues to operate today. The decorated wrought iron gates were erected in 1772, the subjects taught in the school are indicated by various representations of objects along the top of these grids. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the leader of the Army of the Vosges, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the city boasts two ancient Roman gates and other ruins dating to the time of Augustus. One of the most impressive remains is that of the ancient theatre, to the northwest of the city is the so-called Temple of Janus, only two walls of which remain. To the southeast is the mysterious Pierre de Couhard, a pyramid of uncertain function which may date to Roman times. Autun Cathedral, also known as St. Lazares cathedral, dates from the twelfth century and is a major example of Romanesque architecture
2.
Gaul
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It covered an area of 190,800 sq mi. According to the testimony of Julius Caesar, Gaul was divided into three parts, Gallia Celtica, Belgica and Aquitania, during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, Gaul fell under Roman rule, Gallia Cisalpina was conquered in 203 BC and Gallia Narbonensis in 123 BC. Gaul was invaded after 120 BC by the Cimbri and the Teutons, Gallia remains a name of France in modern Greek and modern Latin. The Greek and Latin names Galatia, and Gallia are ultimately derived from a Celtic ethnic term or clan Gal-to-. Galli of Gallia Celtica were reported to refer to themselves as Celtae by Caesar. Hellenistic folk etymology connected the name of the Galatians to the supposedly milk-white skin of the Gauls, modern researchers say it is related to Welsh gallu, Cornish galloes, capacity, power, thus meaning powerful people. The English Gaul is from French Gaule and is unrelated to Latin Gallia, as adjectives, English has the two variants, Gaulish and Gallic. The two adjectives are used synonymously, as pertaining to Gaul or the Gauls, although the Celtic language or languages spoken in Gaul is predominantly known as Gaulish. The Germanic w- is regularly rendered as gu- / g- in French, also unrelated in spite of superficial similarity is the name Gael. The Irish word gall did originally mean a Gaul, i. e. an inhabitant of Gaul, but its meaning was later widened to foreigner, to describe the Vikings, and later still the Normans. The dichotomic words gael and gall are sometimes used together for contrast, by 500 BC, there is strong Hallstatt influence throughout most of France. By the late 5th century BC, La Tène influence spreads rapidly across the territory of Gaul. The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, southwest Germany, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, farther north extended the contemporary pre-Roman Iron Age culture of northern Germany and Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the Romans described Gallia Transalpina as distinct from Gallia Cisalpina, while some scholars believe the Belgae south of the Somme were a mixture of Celtic and Germanic elements, their ethnic affiliations have not been definitively resolved. One of the reasons is political interference upon the French historical interpretation during the 19th century, in addition to the Gauls, there were other peoples living in Gaul, such as the Greeks and Phoenicians who had established outposts such as Massilia along the Mediterranean coast. Also, along the southeastern Mediterranean coast, the Ligures had merged with the Celts to form a Celto-Ligurian culture, the prosperity of Mediterranean Gaul encouraged Rome to respond to pleas for assistance from the inhabitants of Massilia, who were under attack by a coalition of Ligures and Gauls. The Romans intervened in Gaul in 154 BC and again in 125 BC, whereas on the first occasion they came and went, on the second they stayed. Massilia was allowed to keep its lands, but Rome added to its territories the lands of the conquered tribes. The direct result of conquests was that by now, Rome controlled an area extending from the Pyrenees to the lower Rhône river
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Oppidum
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An oppidum is a large fortified Iron Age settlement. They continued in use until the Romans began conquering Europe, north of the River Danube, where the population remained independent from Rome, oppida continued to be used into the 1st century AD. Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, enclosed space, possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age settlements he encountered in Gaul during the Gallic Wars in 58 to 52 BC as oppida. Although he did not explicitly define what features qualified a settlement to be called an oppidum and they were important economic sites, places where goods were produced, stored and traded, and sometimes Roman merchants had settled and the Roman legions could obtain supplies. They were also political centres, the seat of authorities taking decisions that affected large numbers of people, Most of the places that Caesar called oppida were city-sized fortified settlements. However, Geneva, for example, was referred to as an oppidum, Caesar also refers to 20 oppida of the Bituriges and 12 of the Helvetii, twice the number of fortified settlements of these groups known today. That implies that Caesar likely counted some unfortified settlements as oppida, a similar ambiguity is in evidence in writing by the Roman historian Livy, who also used the word for both fortified and unfortified settlements. In his work Geographia, Ptolemy listed the coordinates of many Celtic settlements, however, research has shown many of the localisations of Ptolemy to be erroneous, making the identification of any modern location with the names he listed highly uncertain and speculative. An exception to that is the oppidum of Brenodurum at Bern, in particular, Dehn suggested defining an oppidum by four criteria, Size, The settlement has to have a minimum size, defined by Dehn as 30 hectares. Topography, Most oppida are situated on heights, but some are located on areas of land. Fortification, The settlement is surrounded by a wall, usually consisting of three elements, a facade of stone, a construction and an earthen rampart at the back. Chronology, The settlement dates from the late Iron Age, the last two centuries BC and they could be referred to as the first cities north of the Alps. The period of 2nd and 1st centuries BC places them in the known as La Tène. A notional minimum size of 15 to 25 hectares has often been suggested, however, the term is not always rigorously used, and it has been used to refer to any hill fort or circular rampart dating from the La Tène period. One of the effects of the inconsistency in definitions is that it is uncertain how many oppida were built, in European archaeology, the term oppida is also used more widely to characterize any fortified prehistoric settlement. For example, significantly older hill-top structures like the one at Glauberg have been called oppida, the Spanish word castro, also used in English, means a walled settlement or hill fort, and this word is often used interchangeably with oppidum by archaeologists. According to prehistorian John Collis oppida extend as far east as the Hungarian plain where other settlement types take over, central Spain has sites similar to oppida, but while they share features such as size and defensive ramparts the interior was arranged differently
5.
Iron Age
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The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions, meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper, stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more common in lower-priced goods
6.
Aedui
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The Aedui, Haedui, or Hedui were a Gallic people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who inhabited the country between the Arar and Liger, in todays France. Their territory thus included the part of the modern departments of Saône-et-Loire, Côte-dOr. The country of the Aedui is defined by reports of them in ancient writings, the upper Loire formed their western border, separating them from the Bituriges. The Saône formed their eastern border, separating them from the Sequani, both statements are true, the first in the south, and the second to the north. Outside of the Roman province and prior to Roman rule, Independent Gaul was occupied by self-governing tribes divided into cantons, the Aedui, like other powerful tribes in the region, had replaced their monarchy with a council of magistrates called grand-judges. The grand-judges were under the authority of the senate, the senate was made up of the descendants of ancient royal families. Free men in the tribes were vassals to the heads of families in exchange for military. According to Livy, they part in the expedition of Bellovesus into Italy in the 6th century BC. Before Julius Caesars time, they had attached themselves to the Romans and were honoured with the title of brothers, on his arrival in Gaul, Caesar restored their independence. In spite of this, the Aedui joined the Gallic coalition against Caesar, augustus dismantled their native capital Bibracte on Mont Beuvray and substituted a new town with a half-Roman, half-Gaulish name, Augustodunum. In 21, during the reign of Tiberius, they revolted under Julius Sacrovir, and seized Augustodunum, the Aedui were the first of the Gauls to receive from the emperor Claudius the distinction of jus honorum, thus being the first Gauls permitted to become senators. The oration of Eumenius, in which he pleaded for the restoration of the schools of his native place Augustodunum, shows that the district was neglected. The chief magistrate of the Aedui in Caesars time was called Vergobretus, certain clientes, or small communities, were also dependent upon the Aedui. It is thought that other Celtic tribes, such as the Remi, list of peoples of Gaul Caesar, Julius. A. E. Desjardins, Geographie de la Gaule, ii, T. Rice Holmes, Caesars Conquest of Gaul
7.
Hillfort
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A hillfort or hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages, some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC, the terms hill fort, hill-fort and hillfort are all used in the archaeological literature. They all refer to a site with one or more ramparts made of earth, stone and/or wood. Many small early hill forts were abandoned, with the ones being redeveloped at a later date. Similar but smaller and less defendable earthworks are found on the sides of hills and these are known as hill-slope enclosures and may have been animal pens. It has been estimated that in about 5000 BC during the Neolithic between 2 million and 5 million lived in Europe, in the Late Iron Age it had an population of around 15 to 30 million. Outside Greece and Italy, which were densely populated, the vast majority of settlements in the Iron Age were small. Hill forts were the exception, and were the home of up to 1,000 people, with the emergence of oppida in the Late Iron Age, settlements could reach as large as 10,000 inhabitants. As the population increased so did the complexity of prehistoric societies, around 1100 BC hill forts emerged and in the following centuries spread through Europe. They served a range of purposes and were variously tribal centres, defended places, foci of ritual activity, during the Hallstatt C period, hill forts became the dominant settlement type in the west of Hungary. Julius Caesar described the large late Iron Age hill forts he encountered during his campaigns in Gaul as oppida, by this time the larger ones had become more like cities than fortresses and many were assimilated as Roman towns. Hill forts were occupied by conquering armies, but on other occasions the forts were destroyed, the local people forcibly evicted. For example, Solsbury Hill was sacked and deserted during the Belgic invasions of southern Britain in the 1st century BC. Excavations at hill forts in the first half of the 20th century focussed on the defenses, the exception to this trend began in the 1930s with a series of excavations undertaken by Mortimer Wheeler at Maiden Castle, Dorset. From 1960 onwards, archaeologists shifted their attention to the interior of hill forts, currently, post-processual archaeologists regard hill forts as symbols of wealth and power. Michael Avery has stated the view of hill forts by saying
8.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
9.
Archaeological culture
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An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on understanding and interpretation and does not necessarily relate to real groups of humans in the past. The concept of culture is fundamental to culture-historical archaeology. Different cultural groups have material culture items which differ both functionally and aesthetically due to varying cultural and social practices and this notion is observably true on the broadest scales. For example, the equipment associated with the brewing of tea varies greatly across the world, social relations to material culture often include notions of identity and status. The classic definition of this comes from Gordon Childe, We find certain types of remains - pots, implements, ornaments, burial rites. Such a complex of associated traits we shall call a group or just a culture. We assume that such a complex is the expression of what today we would call a people. The concept of a culture was crucial to linking the typological analysis of archaeological evidence to mechanisms that attempted to explain why they change through time. The key explanations favoured by culture-historians were the diffusion of forms from one group to another or the migration of the peoples themselves. Conversely, if one pottery-type suddenly replaces a great diversity of types in an entire region. Archaeological cultures were generally equated with separate peoples leading in some cases to distinct nationalist archaeologies, most archaeological cultures are named after either the type artifact or type site that defines the culture. For example, cultures may be named after pottery types such as Linear Pottery Culture or Funnelbeaker culture, more frequently, they are named after the site at which the culture was first defined such as the Halstatt culture or Clovis culture. Since the term culture has different meanings, scholars have also coined a more specific term paleo-culture or paleoculture. Works of Kulturgeschichte were produced by a number of German scholars, particularly Gustav Klemm, from 1780 onwards, the first use of culture in an archaeological context was in Christian Thomsens 1836 work Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed. It was not until the 20th century and the works of German prehistorian, Kossinna saw the archaeological record as a mosaic of clearly defined cultures that were strongly associated with race. The strongly racist character of Kossinnas work meant it had direct influence outside of Germany at the time. However, the general culture history approach to archaeology that he began did replace social evolutionism as the dominant paradigm for much of the 20th century
10.
Battle of Bibracte
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The Battle of Bibracte was fought between the Helvetii and six Roman legions, under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar. It was the major battle of the Gallic Wars. After following the migration of the Helvetii and defeating them, Caesar, around 20 June, moved towards Bibracte to obtain the supplies promised by his allies, dumnorix, an Aedui chieftain opposed to the Romans, had been delaying supplies from reaching Caesars army. Informed by deserters of Lucius Æmilius, commander of the cavalry, when Caesar observed this, he sent his cavalry to delay the attack. The baggage train was assembled near the summit, where it could be guarded by the forces present there. After having driven off Caesars cavalry and with their own baggage train secured, according to Caesar, his hill-top battle line easily threw back the Helvetii onslaught by using pila. The legions then counterattacked, driving the Helvetii back towards the hill where their baggage train sat. While the legions pursued the Helvetii across the plain in between the hills, the Boii and Tulingi arrived with fifteen men to assist the Helvetii. At that point the Helvetii returned to the battle in earnest, the battle lasted many hours into the night until the Romans finally took the Helvetic baggage train, capturing both a daughter and son of Orgetorix. According to Caesar,130,000 enemy personnel escaped into the night, unable to pursue on account of battle wounds and the time it took to bury the dead, Caesar rested three days before he followed the fleeing Helvetii. These, in turn, had managed to reach the territory of the Lingones within four days of the battle, Caesar warned the Lingones to not assist them, prompting the Helvetii and their allies to finally surrender. Caesar claimed that 130,000 of the Helvetii and her allies escaped yet only 110,000 returned home. Also according to Caesar the census totals of the tribes at the start of the war were, Battle of Bibracte in German, French, new Haven, Yale University Press,2007. Caesars Gallic War - direct translation from Latin
11.
Julius Caesar
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Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
12.
Helvetii
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The Helvetii were a Gallic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Julius Caesar, the Helvetians were divided into four subgroups or pagi, of these Caesar only names the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, while Posidonius mentions the Tigurini and the Tougeni. They feature prominently in the Commentaries on the Gallic War, with their failed attempt to southwestern Gaul serving as a catalyst for Caesars conquest of Gaul. The endonym Helvetii is mostly derived from a Gaulish elu-, meaning gain, prosperity or mulititude, cognate with Welsh elw and Old Irish prefix il-, meaning many or multiple. The second part of the name has sometimes been interpreted as *etu-, terrain, grassland, the earliest attestation of the name is found in a graffito on a vessel from Mantua, dated to c.300 BC. The inscription in Etruscan letters reads eluveitie, which has interpreted as the Etruscan form of the Celtic elu̯eti̯os. The name of the personification of Switzerland, Helvetia. The star 51 Pegasi was named Helvetios after them and this was the first main-sequence star found to have an exoplanet orbiting it. Of the four Helvetian pagi or sub-tribes, Caesar names only the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, Posidonius the Tigurini, there has been substantial debate in Swiss historiography on whether the Tougeni may or may not be identified with the Teutones mentioned by Titus Livius. According to Caesar, the territory abandoned by the Helvetii had comprised 400 villages and 12 oppida and his tally of the total population taken from captured Helvetian records written in Greek is 263,000 people, including fighting men, old men, women and children. However, the figures are generally dismissed as too high by modern scholars, like many other tribes, the Helvetii did not have kings at the time of their clash with Rome but instead seem to have been governed by a class of noblemen. When Orgetorix, one of their most prominent and ambitious noblemen, was making plans to himself as their king. Caesar does not explicitly name the tribal authorities prosecuting the case and gathering men to apprehend Orgetorix, in his Natural History, Pliny provides a foundation myth for the Celtic settlement of Cisalpine Gaul in which a Helvetian named Helico plays the role of culture hero. The Greek historian Posidonius, whose work is preserved only in fragments by other writers, offers the earliest historical record of the Helvetii. Posidonius described the Helvetians of the late 2nd century BC as rich in gold but peaceful and that the Helvetians originally lived in southern Germany is confirmed by the Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemaios, who tells us of an Ἐλουητίων ἔρημος north of the Rhine. Tacitus knows that the Helvetians once settled in the swath between Rhine, Main, and the Hercynian forest, at the later Vicus Turicum, probably in the first 1st century BC or even much earlier, the Celts settled at the Lindenhof Oppidium. In 1890, so-called Potin lumps were found, whose largest weights 59.2 kilograms at the Prehistoric pile dwelling settlement Alpenquai in Zürich, the pieces consist of a large number of fused Celtic coins, which are mixed with charcoal remnants. Some of the 18,000 coins originate from the Eastern Gaul, others are of the Zürich type, that were assigned to the local Helvetii, which date to around 100 BC
13.
Vercingetorix
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Vercingetorix was a king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe, he united the Gauls in a revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesars Gallic Wars. Vercingetorix came to power after his designation as chieftain of the Arverni at the oppidum Gergovia in 52 BC. He immediately established an alliance with other Gallic tribes, took command and combined all forces and he won the Battle of Gergovia against Julius Caesar in which several thousands Romans and allies died and Caesars Roman legions withdrew. However, Caesar had been able to exploit Gaulish internal division to easily subjugate the country, at the Battle of Alesia, the Romans besieged and defeated his forces. In order to save as many of his men as possible he gave himself to the Romans and he was held prisoner for five years. In 46 BC, as part of Caesars triumph, Vercingetorix was paraded through the streets of Rome, Vercingetorix is primarily known through Caesars Commentaries on the Gallic War. To this day, Vercingetorix is considered a hero in Auvergne. The generally accepted view is that Vercingetorix derives from the Gaulish ver-, cingeto-, in his Life of Caesar, Plutarch renders the name as Vergentorix. He made use of the factionalism among the Gallic elites, favoring certain noblemen over others with political support, the revolt that Vercingetorix came to lead began in early 52 BC while Caesar was raising troops in Cisalpine Gaul. Undeterred, Vercingetorix raised an army of the poor, took Gergovia and was hailed as king and he made alliances with other tribes, and having been unanimously given supreme command of their armies, imposed his authority through harsh discipline and the taking of hostages. He adopted the policy of retreating to natural fortifications, and undertook an early example of a scorched earth strategy by burning towns to prevent the Roman legions from living off the land. Vercingetorix scorched much of the land marching north with his army from Gergovia in an attempt to deprive Caesar of the resources and safe haven of the towns, however, the capital of the Bituriges, Avaricum, a Gallic settlement directly in Caesars path, was spared. Due to the strong protests, naturally defendable terrain, and apparently strong man-made reinforcing defenses. Upon reaching Avaricum however, the Romans laid siege and eventually captured the capital, the next major battle was at Gergovia, capital city of the Arverni and Vercingetorix. During that battle, Vercingetorix and his warriors crushed Caesars legions and allies, Vercingetorix then decided to follow Caesar but suffered heavy losses during a cavalry battle and he retreated and moved to another stronghold, Alesia. In the Battle of Alesia, Caesar built a fortification around the city to besiege it, the relief came in insufficient numbers, estimates range from 80,000 to 250,000 soldiers. Vercingetorix, the leader, was cut off from them on the inside. However, the attacks did reveal a point in the fortifications and the combined forces on the inside
14.
Sheffield
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Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, its derives from the River Sheaf. With some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its industrial roots to encompass a wider economic base. The population of the City of Sheffield is 569,700, Sheffield is the third largest English district by population. The metropolitan population of Sheffield is 1,569,000, in the 19th century, Sheffield gained an international reputation for steel production. Known as the Steel City, many innovations were developed locally, including crucible and stainless steel, Sheffield received its municipal charter in 1843, becoming the City of Sheffield in 1893. International competition in iron and steel caused a decline in these industries in the 1970s and 1980s, the 21st century has seen extensive redevelopment in Sheffield along with other British cities. Sheffields gross value added has increased by 60% since 1997, standing at £9.2 billion in 2007, the economy has experienced steady growth averaging around 5% annually, greater than that of the broader region of Yorkshire and the Humber. The city is in the foothills of the Pennines, and the valleys of the River Don and its four tributaries, the Loxley, the Porter Brook, the Rivelin. 61% of Sheffields entire area is space, and a third of the city lies within the Peak District national park. The area now occupied by the City of Sheffield is believed to have inhabited since at least the late Upper Palaeolithic period. The earliest evidence of occupation in the Sheffield area was found at Creswell Crags to the east of the city. In the Iron Age the area became the southernmost territory of the Pennine tribe called the Brigantes and it is this tribe who are thought to have constructed several hill forts in and around Sheffield. Gradually, Anglian settlers pushed west from the kingdom of Deira, a Celtic presence within the Sheffield area is evidenced by two settlements called Wales and Waleswood close to Sheffield. The settlements that grew and merged to form Sheffield, however, date from the half of the first millennium. In Anglo-Saxon times, the Sheffield area straddled the border between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria, after the Norman conquest, Sheffield Castle was built to protect the local settlements, and a small town developed that is the nucleus of the modern city. By 1296, a market had been established at what is now known as Castle Square, from 1570 to 1584, Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor. During the 1740s, a form of the steel process was discovered that allowed the manufacture of a better quality of steel than had previously been possible
15.
Kiel
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Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 240,832. Kiel lies approximately 90 kilometres north of Hamburg, for instance, the city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. The Olympic sailing competitions of the 1936 and the 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Kiel, Kiel has also been one of the traditional homes of the German Navys Baltic fleet, and continues to be a major high-tech shipbuilding centre. Located in Kiel is the GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel at the University of Kiel, Kiel is an important sea transport hub, thanks to its location on the Kiel Fjord and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, Kiel Canal. A number of ferries to Sweden, Norway, Russia. Moreover, today Kiel harbour is an important port of call for cruise ships touring the Baltic Sea, Kiel was one of the founding cities of original European Green Capital Award in 2006. In 2005 Kiels GDP per capita was €35,618, which is well above Germanys national average, within Germany and parts of Europe, the city is known for its leading handball team, THW Kiel. The city is home to the University of Kiel, Kiel Fjord was probably first settled by Normans or Vikings who wanted to colonize the land which they had raided, and for many years they settled in German villages. This is evidenced by the geography and architecture of the fjord, the city of Kiel was founded in 1233 as Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count Adolf IV of Holstein, and granted Lübeck city rights in 1242 by Adolfs eldest son, John I of Schauenburg. Being a part of Holstein, Kiel belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and was situated only a few south of the Danish border. Kiel, the capital of the county of Holstein, was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring pirates, the University of Kiel was founded on 29 September 1665, by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. A number of important scholars, including Theodor Mommsen, Felix Jacoby, Hans Geiger and Max Planck, from 1773 to 1864, the town belonged to the King of Denmark. However, because the king ruled Holstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire only through a personal union, thus Kiel belonged to Germany, but it was ruled by the Danish king. Even though the Empire was abolished in 1806, the Danish king continued to rule Kiel only through his position as Duke of Holstein, when Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848, Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1850. On 24 March 1865 King William I based Prussias Baltic Sea fleet in Kiel instead of Danzig, the Imperial shipyard Kiel was established in 1867 in the town. When William I of Prussia became Emperor William I of the German Empire in 1871, he designated Kiel, the prestigious Kiel Yacht Club was established in 1887 with Prince Henry of Prussia as its patron. Emperor Wilhelm II became its commodore in 1891, because of its new role as Germanys main naval base, Kiel very quickly increased in size in the following years, from 18,770 in 1864 to about 200,000 in 1910. Much of the old centre and other surroundings were levelled and redeveloped to provide for the growing city
16.
Budapest
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Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary, one of the largest cities in the European Union and sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. It has an area of 525 square kilometres and a population of about 1.8 million within the limits in 2016. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the Danube river with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the west bank, the history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century and their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–1242. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century, following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity, and Budapest became a global city after its unification in 1873. It also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a power that dissolved in 1918. Budapest was the point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils in 1919, the Battle of Budapest in 1945. Budapest is an Alpha- global city, with strengths in arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts the Budapest Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks and it is the highest ranked Central and Eastern European city on Innovation Cities Top 100 index. Budapest attracts 4.4 million international tourists per year, making it the 25th most popular city in the world, further famous landmarks include Andrássy Avenue, St. It has around 80 geothermal springs, the worlds largest thermal water system, second largest synagogue. Budapest is home to the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Police College, over 40 colleges and universities are located in Budapest, including the Eötvös Loránd University, Central European University and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Budapest is the combination of the city names Buda and Pest, One of the first documented occurrences of the combined name Buda-Pest was in 1831 in the book Világ, written by Count István Széchenyi. The origins of the names Buda and Pest are obscure, according to chronicles from the Middle Ages, the name Buda comes from the name of its founder, Bleda, brother of the Hunnic ruler Attila. The theory that Buda was named after a person is also supported by modern scholars, an alternative explanation suggests that Buda derives from the Slavic word вода, voda, a translation of the Latin name Aquincum, which was the main Roman settlement in the region. There are also theories about the origin of the name Pest. One of the states that the word Pest comes from the Roman times. According to another theory, Pest originates from the Slavic word for cave, or oven, the first settlement on the territory of Budapest was built by Celts before 1 AD
17.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
18.
Leipzig
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Leipzig is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany. With a population of 570,087 inhabitants it is Germanys tenth most populous city, Leipzig is located about 160 kilometres southwest of Berlin at the confluence of the White Elster, Pleisse, and Parthe rivers at the southern end of the North German Plain. Leipzig has been a city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, Leipzig was once one of the major European centers of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing. Leipzig became an urban center within the German Democratic Republic after the Second World War. Leipzig later played a significant role in instigating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, through events which took place in, Leipzig today is an economic center and the most livable city in Germany, according to the GfK marketing research institution. Since the opening of the Leipzig City Tunnel in 2013, Leipzig forms the centerpiece of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland public transit system, Leipzig is currently listed as Gamma World City and Germanys Boomtown. Outside of Leipzig the Neuseenland district forms a lake area of approximately 300 square kilometres. Leipzig is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means settlement where the linden trees stand, an older spelling of the name in English is Leipsic. The Latin name Lipsia was also used, the name is cognate with Lipetsk in Russia and Liepāja in Latvia. In 1937 the Nazi government officially renamed the city Reichsmessestadt Leipzig, the common usage of this nickname for Leipzig up until the present is reflected, for example, in the name of a popular blog for local arts and culture, Heldenstadt. de. Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi and endowed with city, Leipzig Trade Fair, started in the Middle Ages, became an event of international importance and is the oldest remaining trade fair in the world. During the Thirty Years War, two battles took place in Breitenfeld, about 8 kilometres outside Leipzig city walls, the first Battle of Breitenfeld took place in 1631 and the second in 1642. Both battles resulted in victories for the Swedish-led side, on 24 December 1701, an oil-fueled street lighting system was introduced. The city employed light guards who had to follow a schedule to ensure the punctual lighting of the 700 lanterns. The Leipzig region was the arena of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig between Napoleonic France and a coalition of Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden. It was the largest battle in Europe prior to the First World War, in 1913 the Monument to the Battle of the Nations celebrating the centenary of this event was completed. The railway station has two entrance halls, the eastern one for the Royal Saxon State Railways and the western one for the Prussian state railways
19.
Murus Gallicus
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Murus Gallicus or Gallic Wall is a method of construction of defensive walls used to protect Iron Age hillforts and oppida of the La Tene period in Western Europe. Straight beams, connected lengthwise and two feet distant from each other at equal intervals, are placed together on the ground, these are morticed on the inside, but the intervals which we have mentioned, are closed up in front by large stones. In this manner the whole wall is consolidated, until the height of the wall be completed. About 30 structures of type have been excavated, mainly in Gaul. The example at the sea fort of Le Camp dArtus. The murus Gallicus contrasts with other styles, Pfostenschlitzmauer - characterised by upright wooden posts in the outer wall. Dacian Wall - inner and outer stone walls reinforced with horizontal timber tie beams. At Manching an earlier murus gallicus wall was rebuilt in the pfostenschlitzmauer style, commentaries on the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar,7.23 The Ancient Celts, Barry Cunliffe ISBN 0-14-025422-6 Contains the cross-section of Huelgoat drawn by Mortimer Wheeler
20.
Celtic language
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The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. Modern Celtic languages are spoken on the north-western edge of Europe, notably in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall. There are also a number of Welsh speakers in the Patagonia area of Argentina. Some people speak Celtic languages in the other Celtic diaspora areas of the United States, Canada, Australia, in all these areas, the Celtic languages are now only spoken by minorities though there are continuing efforts at revitalisation. Welsh is the only Celtic language not classified as endangered by UNESCO, the spread to Cape Breton and Patagonia occurred in modern times. SIL Ethnologue lists six living Celtic languages, of four have retained a substantial number of native speakers. These are the Goidelic languages and the Brittonic languages, the other two, Cornish and Manx, died in modern times with their presumed last native speakers in 1777 and 1974 respectively. For both these languages, however, revitalisation movements have led to the adoption of these languages by adults and children, taken together, there were roughly one million native speakers of Celtic languages as of the 2000s. In 2010, there were more than 1.4 million speakers of Celtic languages, shelta, based largely on Irish with influence from an undocumented source. Some forms of Welsh-Romani or Kååle also combined Romany itself with Welsh language, beurla-reagaird, Highland travellers language Celtic divided into various branches, Lepontic, the oldest attested Celtic language. Anciently spoken in Switzerland and in Northern-Central Italy, from the Alps to Umbria, coins with Lepontic inscriptions have been found in Noricum and Gallia Narbonensis. Celtiberian, anciently spoken in the Iberian peninsula, in parts of modern Galicia, Asturias, La Rioja, Aragón, Cantabria, Old Castile, the relationship of Celtiberian with Gallaecian, in the northwest of the peninsula, is uncertain. Gallaecian, anciently spoken in the former Gallaecia, northwest of the peninsula, Gaulish languages, including Galatian and possibly Noric. These languages were spoken in a wide arc from Belgium to Turkey. Brittonic, including the living languages Breton, Cornish, and Welsh, before the arrival of Scotti on the Isle of Man in the 9th century, there may have been a Brittonic language in the Isle of Man. Goidelic, including the living languages Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic, scholarly handling of the Celtic languages has been rather argumentative owing to scarceness of primary source data. Other scholars distinguish between P-Celtic and Q-Celtic, putting most of the Gaulish and Brittonic languages in the former group, the P-Celtic languages are sometimes seen as a central innovating area as opposed to the more conservative peripheral Q-Celtic languages. In the P/Q classification schema, the first language to split off from Proto-Celtic was Gaelic and it has characteristics that some scholars see as archaic, but others see as also being in the Brittonic languages
21.
Beaver
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The beaver is a large, primarily nocturnal, semiaquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, the North American beaver and Eurasian beaver, Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges. They are the second-largest rodent in the world and their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population was more than 60 million. Beavers, along with pocket gophers and kangaroo rats, are castorimorph rodents, Beavers are known for their natural trait of building dams on rivers and streams, and building their homes in the resulting pond. Beavers also build canals to float building materials that are difficult to haul over land and they use powerful front teeth to cut trees and other plants that they use both for building and for food. In the absence of existing ponds, beavers must construct dams before building their lodges, first they place vertical poles, then fill between the poles with a crisscross of horizontally placed branches. They fill in the gaps between the branches with a combination of weeds and mud until the dam impounds sufficient water to surround the lodge and this serves as a warning to beavers in the area. Once a beaver has sounded the alarm, nearby beavers will dive, Beavers are slow on land, but are good swimmers, and can stay under water for as long as 15 minutes. Beavers are herbivores, and prefer the wood of quaking aspen, cottonwood, willow, alder, birch, maple and they also eat sedges, pondweed, and water lilies. Beavers do not hibernate, but store sticks and logs in a pile in their ponds, some of the pile is generally above water and accumulates snow in the winter. This insulation of snow often keeps the water freezing in and around the food pile. Beavers have webbed hind-feet, and a broad, scaly tail and they have poor eyesight, but keen senses of hearing, smell, and touch. A beavers teeth grow continuously so that they not be worn down by chewing on wood. Their four incisors are composed of hard orange enamel on the front, the chisel-like ends of incisors are maintained by their self-sharpening wear pattern. The enamel in a beavers incisors contains iron and is resistant to acid than enamel in the teeth of other mammals. Beavers continue to grow throughout their lives, adult specimens weighing over 25 kg are not uncommon. Females are as large as or larger than males of the same age, Beavers live up to 24 years of age in the wild
22.
Battlement
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These gaps are termed crenels, and the act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons, a wall with battlements is said to be crenelated or embattled. Battlements on walls have protected walkways behind them, on tower or building tops, the roof is used as the protected fighting platform. The term originated in about the 14th century from the Old French word batailler, the word crenel derives from the ancient French cren, Latin crena, meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing, see also crenation. In medieval England a licence to crenellate granted the permission to fortify their property. The castles in England vastly outnumber the licences to crenellate, royal pardons were obtainable, on the payment of an arbitrarily determined fine, by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent, there has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army and they indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, battlements have been used for thousands of years, the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt. Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud, traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece, and some ancient Greek vases suggest the existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements, late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms. From the 13th century, the merlons could be connected with wooden shutters that provided added protection when closed, the shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres, in the battlements of Pompeii, additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which the defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height, Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright, the normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded, the battlements of the Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance. European architects persistently used battlements as a decorative feature throughout the Decorated
23.
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
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Commentarii de Bello Gallico, also simply Bellum Gallicum, is Julius Caesars firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting the Germanic peoples and Celtic peoples in Gaul that opposed Roman conquest. The Gaul that Caesar refers to is sometimes all of Gaul except for the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, encompassing the rest of modern France, Belgium and some of Switzerland. On other occasions, he refers only to that territory inhabited by the Celtic peoples known to the Romans as Gauls, the work has been a mainstay in Latin instruction because of its simple, direct prose. It begins with the quoted phrase Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres. The full work is split into eight sections, Book 1 to Book 8, Book 8 was written by Aulus Hirtius, after Caesars death. The boni intended to prosecute Caesar for abuse of his authority upon his return, such prosecution would not only see Caesar stripped of his wealth and citizenship, but also negate all of the laws he enacted during his term as Consul and his dispositions as pro-consul of Gaul. To defend himself against these threats, Caesar knew he needed the support of the plebeians, particularly the Tribunes of the Plebs, by winning the support of the people, Caesar sought to make himself unassailable from the boni. The work is a paradigm of proper reporting and stylistic clarity and it is often lauded for its polished, clear Latin. It contains many details and employs many stylistic devices to promote Caesars political interests, the books are valuable for the many geographical and historical claims that can be retrieved from the work. Notable chapters describe Gaulish custom, their religion, and a comparison between Gauls and Germanic peoples, since Caesar is one of the characters in the Astérix and Obélix albums, René Goscinny included gags for French schoolchildren who had the Commentarii as a textbook. One example is having Caesar talk about himself in the person as in the book. Some English editions state that Astérixs village of indomitable Gauls is the part of Gaul. In Book 5, Chapter 44 the Commentarii de Bello Gallico notably mentions Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, during World War I the French composer Vincent dIndy wrote his Third Symphony, which bears the title De Bello Gallico. DIndy was adapting Caesars title to the situation of the current struggle in France against the German army, in which he had a son and nephew fighting, and which the music illustrates to some extent. At Gutenberg Project, Caesars Commentaries, English translation by W. A. MACDEVITT, introduction by THOMAS DE QUINCEY De Bello Gallico, Latin text edition. The Gallic Wars By Julius Caesar, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, IVLI CAESARIS COMMENTARIORVM DE BELLO, TheLatinLibrary. com,2008. Dickinson College Commentaries Selections in Latin with notes, audio, Commentaries on the Gallic War public domain audiobook at LibriVox Wikisource, Commentaries on the Gallic War translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, Books 1–8
24.
Beaune
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Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy in the Côte dOr department in eastern France. It is located between Paris and Geneva, Beaune is one of the key wine centres in France and the annual wine auction of the Hospices de Beaune is the primary wine auction in France. The town is surrounded by some of the worlds most famous villages, while the facilities and cellars of many producers, large. With a rich historical and architectural heritage, Beaune is considered the Capital of Burgundy wines, Beaune is a walled city, with about half of the battlements, ramparts, and the moat, having survived and in good condition, and the central old town is extensive. Historically Beaune is intimately connected with the Dukes of Burgundy, landmarks in Beaune include the old market, the 15th-century Hospices, the Beffroi, and the collegiate church of Notre Dame. Beaune is one of the communes of the Côte de Beaune subregion of the Burgundy wine region. Although Beaune is lacking a Grand Cru vineyard in the commune, it is the hub of the wine business. Beaune is renowned for its annual charity auction on behalf of the Hospices de Beaune. It is on the route des Grands Crus tourist trail among the vineyards, the road runs north from Beaune to Gevrey Chambertin and Nuits-Saint-Georges and south to Nolay, Saisy and Autun. Beaune is the centre for wine industry services as well as a number of wine-related institutes, the train station is served by TGV, through Dijon or Lyon. Beaune has a fine food market on Saturdays, where there are a large number of stall holders supplying a broad selection of products and specialties from Burgundy. For example, Bresse chickens, Jura cheeses, small goods, spices, there is a smaller market on Wednesday, and special-event markets and fetes are held throughout the year. Although Beaune is not primarily a tourist town but one centred on the wine industry, about five traditional smaller hotels are located within the city walls with around five chain hotels on the outskirts. Technically Beaune is a commune in eastern France, a sub-prefecture of department 21, the name Beaune derives from the Latinised Gaulish word Belena, which was the name of a spring around which the settlement was established. That name in turn is derived from Belen or Belenos, a god of fast-flowing water, a Roman fort was built there in the first century A. D. and it was already a prosperous wine-growing region in the 13th century. The town is served by a watercourse, the Bouzaise of which the source is in a public park at the north-east boundary. Beaune has a climate with an oceanic tendency. The oceanic influence is seen with frequent rains in each season and it is this climate which creates the unique environment for which the Côte dOr is so readily known
25.
Bibracte
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Bibracte, a Gaulish oppidum or fortified city, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. It was situated near modern Autun in Burgundy, France, the material culture of the Aedui corresponded to the Late Iron Age La Tène culture. In 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesars armies defeated the Helvetii 16 miles south of the fort, in 52 BC, Vercingetorix was proclaimed head of the Gaulish coalition at Bibracte. A few decades after the Roman conquest of Gaul, Bibracte was abandoned in favour of Autun,25 kilometres distant, once abandoned, Bibracte remained undisturbed and unexamined until discovered by modern archaeology. Jacques Gabriel Bulliot initiated the first excavations at the site between 1867 and 1895 and his nephew Joseph Déchelette, author of a famous Manuel dArchéologie, continued the excavations between 1897 and 1907. The modern site known as Mont Beuvray is generally identified as ancient Bibracte, the site straddles the borders of the French départements of Nièvre and Saône-et-Loire in Burgundy. The site is a park at the centre of a protected forest. It is the focus of cooperative European archaeological efforts, a ground for young archaeologists. Important international excavations have been undertaken at Mont Beuvray by teams from the universities of Sheffield, Kiel, Budapest, Vienna, on December 12,2007, the site of Bibracte received the Great Site of France Label. Before the Roman conquest in 52 BC the great Celtic city of Bibracte had more than thirty thousand inhabitants, protected by a huge stone wall of the Murus Gallicus type enclosing an area of 135 hectares. The origin of the word Bibracte is still poorly understood, the term may have come from the Celtic *bibro- / *bebro- followed by the collective suffix -akti or from the Latin biffractrus. Furthermore, the wall of the city has shrunk since dating methods made it possible to show the precedence of the outer battlements compared to the inner battlements. The stone facing of the surrounding wall, moreover, was certainly reused for the construction of the second wall. Therefore, it is unlikely that Bibracte was surrounded by two walls at the same time, some scholars of the era have cited other evidence to justify placing the Aeduian oppidum on the site of Autun, which was effectively the capital of the Aedui in the first century. Bibracte is mentioned twice in Roman sources. The first mention of Bibracte is found in Julius Caesars Commentaries on the Gallic War in the year 58 BCE. It was mentioned again in 52 BCE, when he was questioning the intentions of his Aedui allies, inscriptions from the era announced that the capital of the Aedui received the name Augustodunum during the reign of Augustus, which gave rise to the current Autun. Starting in the 16th century, a passion for local history arose among scholars, aristocrats, and clergy, one theory placed Bibracte at Autun, the Gallic city at the site of the Gallo-Roman city
26.
Napoleon III
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Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world. He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure. Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
27.
Gallic Wars
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The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar against several Gallic tribes. The wars paved the way for Julius Caesar to become the ruler of the Roman Republic. Still, Gaul was of significant military importance to the Romans, conquering Gaul allowed Rome to secure the natural border of the river Rhine. The Gallic Wars are described by Julius Caesar in his book Commentarii de Bello Gallico, as a result of the financial burdens of his consulship in 59 BC, Caesar incurred significant debt. When the Governor of Transalpine Gaul, Metellus Celer, died unexpectedly, Caesars governorships were extended to a five-year period, a new idea at the time. Caesar had initially four veteran legions under his command, Legio VII, Legio VIII, Legio IX Hispana. As he had been Governor of Hispania Ulterior in 61 BC and had campaigned successfully with them against the Lusitanians, Caesar also had the legal authority to levy additional legions and auxiliary units as he saw fit. His ambition was to conquer and plunder some territories to get out of debt. It is more likely that he was planning a campaign against the Kingdom of Dacia, the countries of Gaul were civilized and wealthy. Most had contact with Roman merchants and some, particularly those that were governed by such as the Aedui. The Romans respected and feared the Gallic tribes, only fifty years before, in 109 BC, Italy had been invaded from the north and saved only after several bloody and costly battles by Gaius Marius. Around 62 BC, when a Roman client state, the Arverni, conspired with the Sequani and the Suebi nations east of the Rhine, to attack the Aedui, the Sequani and Arverni sought Ariovistus’ aid and defeated the Aedui in 63 BC at the Battle of Magetobriga. The Sequani rewarded Ariovistus with land following his victory, Ariovistus settled the land with 120,000 of his people. When 24,000 Harudes joined his cause, Ariovistus demanded that the Sequani give him land to accommodate the Harudes people. This demand concerned Rome because if the Sequani conceded, Ariovistus would be in a position to all of the Sequani land. They did not appear to be concerned about a conflict between non-client, client and allied states, by the end of the campaign, the non-client Suebi under the leadership of the belligerent Ariovistus, stood triumphant over both the Aedui and their coconspirators. Fearing another mass migration akin to the devastating Cimbrian War, Rome, the Helvetii was a confederation of about five related Gallic tribes that lived on the Swiss plateau, hemmed in by the mountains, and the Rhine and Rhone rivers. They began to come under increased pressure from German tribes to the north, by 58 BC, the Helvetii were well on their way in the planning and provisioning for a mass migration under the leadership of Orgetorix
28.
Oppidum of Manching
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The Oppidum of Manching was a large Celtic proto-urban or city-like settlement at modern-day Manching, near Ingolstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. The settlement was founded in the 3rd century BC and existed until c and it reached its largest extent during the late La Tène period, when it had a size of 380 hectares. At that time,5,000 to 10,000 people lived within its 7.2 km walls, thus, the Manching oppidum was one of the largest settlements north of the Alps. The ancient name of the site is unknown, but it is assumed that it was the site of the Celtic Vindelici tribe. The enormous circular fortification around the site survived the demise of the settlement as a landscape feature. It had already noted by the Romans, for centuries it remained an important landmark e. g. for the boundaries of parishes or bishoprics. A first description was penned by the schoolteacher J. A. Buchner in 1831, first excavations took place in 1892-93 under Joseph Fink. In 1903, Paul Reinecke recognised the site as a Celtic oppidum, in 1936-38, during the Nazi remilitarisation of Germany, the Luftwaffe constructed an airfield at Manching. This led to the destruction of large proportions of the site, only very few finds were recovered from the construction site. In 1938, the archaeologist Karl-Heinz Wagner started an excavation of the northeast part of the enclosure, within the visible earthen bank, he discovered the remains of a wall, which he described as a murus gallicus according to Julius Caesars description of such structures. Due to the presence of the airfield, Manching was the target of bombing raids during World War II. 12 hectares of the settlement had been examined, since 1996, a series of further rescue excavations have been conducted by Susanne Sievers, increasing the excavated area to 26 hectares by 2002. As a result, Manching is most substantially explored oppidum in Central Europe, the increasing degree of exploration does, however, coincide with a progressive destruction of the site, as much of the new excavations take place to retrieve information before areas are built on. Since 2006, finds from the oppidum are on display in the Keltisch-Römisches Museum Manching, unlike other contemporary Celtic oppida, Manching was not located on a hilltop, but in a riverine plain. The site was placed in a position at the crossing of two ancient trade routes, one running north-south, the other west-east. It was also near the meeting of the rivers Paar and Danube, a distributary of the Danube, northeast of the settlement, had been transformed into a harbour. Manching was probably the most important centre of trade and economy in the late La Tène period and it also had access to rich deposits of iron ore and gold in the immediate vicinity. The settlement was designed and built according to a systematic plan, oriented on the cardinal directions, the area had been divided into individual parcels, each with a farmyard-like fence
29.
Artifact (archaeology)
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An artifact or artefact is. something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest. In archaeology, however, the word has become a term of particular nuance and is defined as, an object recovered by archaeological endeavor, which may have a cultural interest. However, modern archaeologists take care to distinguish material culture from ethnicity, examples include stone tools, pottery vessels, metal objects such as weapons, and items of personal adornment such as buttons, jewelry and clothing. Bones that show signs of modification are also examples. Natural objects, such as fire cracked rocks from a hearth or plant material used for food, are classified by archeologists as ecofacts rather than as artifacts, natural objects that humans have moved but not changed are called manuports. Examples include seashells moved inland, or rounded pebbles placed away from the action that made them. For instance, a bone removed from a carcass is a biofact. Similarly there can be debate over early stone objects that could be either crude artifacts or naturally occurring and it can be difficult to distinguish the differences between actual man-made lithic artifacts and geofacts – naturally occurring lithics that resemble man-made tools. It is possible to authenticate artifacts by examining the general attributed to man-made tools. Artifact Collection at the Royal Military College of Canada Museum in Kingston, Ontario
30.
Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
31.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
32.
Alesia (city)
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Alesia was the capital of the Mandubii, one of the Gallic tribes allied with the Aedui. The Celtic oppidum was conquered by Julius Caesar during the Gallic Wars and its location was controversial for a long time. It is today considered to have located on Mont-Auxois, near Alise-Sainte-Reine in Burgundy. Alesia is best known for being the site of the decisive Battle of Alesia in 52 BC that marked the defeat of the Gauls under Vercingetorix by the Romans under Julius Caesar, Caesar described the battle in detail in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The battles outcome determined the fate of all of Gaul, in winning the battle, after being conquered by Caesar, Alesia became a Gallo-Roman town. It featured a centre with monumental buildings such as temples. For a long time after the abandonment of the Roman town, in the 19th century, Emperor Napoleon III developed an interest in the location of this crucial battle in pre-French history. He was writing a biography of Caesar and saw the command of Vercingetorix over all Gaulish armies as a symbol of the French nation, at the same time he realized that the future French nation was heavily influenced by the Roman victory and centuries of rule over Gaul. In 1838, a find with the inscription, IN ALISIIA, had discovered near Alise-Sainte-Reine in the department Côte-dOr near Dijon. Napoleon ordered an excavation by Eugène Stoffel around Mont-Auxois. These excavations in 1861–65 concentrated on the vast Roman siege lines, the oppidum was located on a plateau of c.97 hectares, around 200 metres above the valley floor, surrounded by steep cliffs in every direction except at the eastern and western extremities. Later archaeological analysis at Alise-Sainte-Reine has corroborated the described siege in detail, the remains of siege rings said to match Caesar’s descriptions have been identified by archaeologists using aerial photography. Franco-German excavations led by Michel Reddé and Siegmar von Schnurbein in 1991–97 confirmed these findings, there have been other theories about Alesias location that claimed it was in Franche-Comté or around Salins-les-Bains in Jura. In total, around 40 towns and other locations have claimed to be the site of Alesia, no one knows where Alesia is. Part of the area has become the MuséoParc Alésia, not much of the Gallic oppidum is visible today, except for some remains of a rampart. Most of the date to the town’s Roman period. A large copper statue of Vercingetorix, made in 1865 by Aimé Millet stands at the end of the plateau. Museumpark at Alesia The Siege of Alesia
33.
Druid
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A druid was a member of the high-ranking professional class in ancient Celtic cultures. While perhaps best remembered as religious leaders, they were also legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and they are however attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans. The earliest known references to the date to the fourth century BCE. Later Greco-Roman writers also described the Druids, including Cicero, Tacitus, in about 750 CE the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac, who wrote about Jesus, saying that he was. Better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop, the druids then also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianized Ireland like the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity. In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and neopagan groups were founded based on ideas about the ancient druids, many popular notions about druids are based on the misconceptions of 18th century scholars. These have been superseded by more recent study. The modern English word druid derives from the Latin druides, which was considered by ancient Roman writers to come from the native Celtic Gaulish word for these figures, other Roman texts also employ the form druidae, while the same term was used by Greek ethnographers as δρυΐδης. Based on all forms, the hypothetical proto-Celtic word may then be reconstructed as *dru-wid-s meaning oak-knower. The two elements go back to the Proto-Indo-European roots *deru- and *weid- to see, the sense of oak-knower is supported by Pliny the Elder, who in his Natural History considered the word to contain the Greek noun drýs, oak-tree and the Greek suffix -idēs. The modern Irish word for Oak is Dair, which occurs in anglicized placenames like Derry – Doire, there are many stories about saints, heroes, and oak trees, and also many local stories and superstitions about trees in general, which still survive in rural Ireland. Both Old Irish druí and Middle Welsh dryw could also refer to the wren, sources by ancient and medieval writers provide an idea of the religious duties and social roles involved in being a druid. One of the few things that both the Greco-Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree on about the druids is that played an important part in pagan Celtic society. He also claimed that they were exempt from service and from the payment of taxes. Pomponius Mela is the first author who says that the instruction was secret and was carried on in caves. Druidic lore consisted of a number of verses learned by heart. What was taught to Druid novices anywhere is conjecture, of the oral literature, not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, in this he probably draws on earlier writers, by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from the Greek script to the Latin script
34.
Strabo
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Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus, Strabos life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus. He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, in 29 BC, on his way to Corinth, he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae and it is not known precisely when Strabos Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 BC, others around 17 or 18 AD, the latest passage to which a date can be assigned is his reference to the death in AD23 of Juba II, king of Maurousia, who is said to have died just recently. He probably worked on the Geography for many years and revised it steadily, on the presumption that recently means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next, when he died. The first of Strabos major works, Historical Sketches, written while he was in Rome, is completely lost. Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialties throughout his life at different stops along his Mediterranean travels. His first chapter of education took place in Nysa under the master of rhetoric Aristodemus, Strabo was an admirer of Homers poetry, perhaps a consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus. At around the age of 21, Strabo moved to Rome, where he studied philosophy with the Peripatetic Xenarchus, despite Xenarchuss Aristotelian leanings, Strabo later gives evidence to have formed his own Stoic inclinations. In Rome, he learned grammar under the rich and famous scholar Tyrannion of Amisus. Although Tyrannion was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected authority on geography, the final noteworthy mentor to Strabo was Athenodorus Cananites, a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus endowed to Strabo three important items, his philosophy, his knowledge, and his contacts, moreover, from his own first-hand experience, Athenodorus provided Strabo with information about regions of the empire which he would not otherwise have known. Strabo is most notable for his work Geographica, which presented a history of people. Although the Geographica was rarely utilized in its antiquity, a multitude of copies survived throughout the Byzantine Empire. It first appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued around 1469, the first Greek edition was published in 1516 in Venice
35.
Augustus
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Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
36.
Arverni
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The Arverni were a Celtic tribe. The tribe was located in what is today the French Auvergne region, one of the most powerful tribes in ancient Gaul, the Arverni opposed the Romans on several occasions. Their most important stronghold was Gergovia, near the commune of Clermont-Ferrand. The Arverni are known to have had the most powerful tribal hegemony in Gaul during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC under their kings, Luernios, and his son Bituitus. But when Arvern king Bituitus was defeated by the Romans of Quintus and Gnaeus Ahenobarbus in 121 BC, their ascendancy passed to the Aedui and Sequani. No further Arvernian kings are mentioned in the record between 121 BC and 52 BC, and they may have adopted a constitutional oligarchy at this time. However, there were at least two attempts to re-establish rulership by Celtillos and Vercingetorix. The King Luernios was mentioned in writing by the Greek ethnographer Posidonius, Luernios was known to have scattered gold and silver coins to his followers while riding in his chariot. Under Luernios, the Arverni were at the head of a formidable Gallic military hegemony which stretched from the Rhine to the Atlantic coast and they joined Bellovesus migrations towards Italy, together with the Aeduii, Ambarri, Aulerci, Carnutes and Senones. The Arverni later played an important role in the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar from 58 BC to 51 BC, at first the Arvenian nobles tried to avoid confronting Caesar during his early incursions. They executed the leader Celtillus, evidently for trying to gain sovereignty over all the Gauls, in 52 BC, Celtillus son Vercingetorix rallied his supporters to fight the Romans, but was expelled from Gergovia by the nobles, including his uncle Gobanitio. He then raised an army in the country, and returned to the city where he ejected his opponents and was declared king. This accomplished, Vercingetorix forged an alliance with at least 15 Gallic tribes and he then led the majority of the Gauls and won the Gergovia battle against Julius Caesar and his cavalry did marvels in pursuing the Roman troops. After Julius Caesar saved half of his legions and received food from other Gauls, Vercingetorix was defeated by Caesar at the Battle of Alesia, after several months where the legions built 14 ranges of military equipment to block the Gallic soldiers. After several weeks of support from the western Gallic people with huge troops coming to support Vercingetorix, when the western Gallic people decided to depart, Vercingetorix took the decision to surrender to save the people of Alesia. The Arverni territories and over 75% of the Gauls were subsequently incorporated into the Roman imperium, Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus, conquered King Bituitus Alba Fucens, town where Bituitus was held after capture
37.
Sequani
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Sequani is an exonym assigned by the Romans, most likely based on a similar-sounding endonym. The endonym is not known for certain, Sequani is like Sequana, Caesars name for the Seine, but the country of the Sequani is not in the Seines watershed. Strabo was originally responsible for the connection by supposing that the Sequana flowed through the country of the Sequani. The French name of the Saône, however, the forming the western border of the Sequani. The Romans called it the Arar, william Smith hypothesized that Sequani and Souconna were related. The country of the Sequani can be defined by the reports of the ancient writers, the Jura Mountains separated the Sequani from the Helvetii on the east, but the mountains belonged to the Sequani, as the narrow pass between the Rhone and Lake Geneva was Sequanian. They did not occupy the confluence of the Saône into the Rhone, extending a line westward from the Jura estimates the southern border at about Mâcon, but Mâcon belonged to the Aedui. Strabo says that the Arar separates the Sequani from the Aedui and the Lingones, on the northeast corner the country of the Sequani touched on the Rhine. Before the arrival of Julius Caesar in Gaul, the Sequani had taken the side of the Arverni against their rivals the Aedui and hired the Suebi under Ariovistus to cross the Rhine and help them. The Sequani then appealed to Caesar, who back the Germanic tribesmen. This so exasperated the Sequani that they joined in the revolt of Vercingetorix, under Augustus, the district known as Sequania formed part of Belgica. A triumphal arch at Vesontio, which in return for service was made a colony. Diocletian added Helvetia, and part of Germania Superior to Sequania, the southern reach of this territory was known as Sapaudia, which later developed into Savoy. Fifty years later, Gaul was overrun by the barbarians, under Julian, it recovered some of its importance as a fortified town, and was able to withstand the attacks of the Vandals. Later, when Rome was no able to afford protection to the inhabitants of Gaul. Vesontio Luxovium Loposagium Portus Abucini Segobudium Epamanduodurum Ariolica Magetobria / Admagetobria Pons Dubis Castro Vesulio Sigynnae Caesar, attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Sequani. Endnotes, T. Rice Holmes, Caesars Conquest of Gaul, mommsen, Hist. of Rome, bk. v. ch. vii. Dunod de Charnage, Hist. des Séquanois J. D. Schöpflin, Alsatia illustrata, i
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Gabriel de Mortillet
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Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet, French archeologist and anthropologist, was born at Meylan, Isère. Mortillet was educated at the Jesuit college of Chambéry and at the Paris Conservatoire, becoming in 1847 proprietor of La Revue indépendante, he was implicated in the Revolution of 1848 and sentenced to two years imprisonment. He fled the country and during the fifteen years lived abroad. In 1858 he turned his attention to research, making a special study of the Swiss lake-dwellings. He also issued three works on the evidence for man in North Italy, the third making a then unprecedented association with the Ice Age. He returned to Paris in 1864, and soon afterwards was appointed curator of the museum at St Germain and he became mayor of the town, and in 1885 he was elected deputy for Seine-et-Oise. He had meantime founded a review, Matériaux pour lhistoire positive et philosophique de lhomme and he died at St Germain-en-Laye on 25 September 1898. Mortillet is best known for his clarification and ordering of the archeology of the Paleolithic, later acknowledging the ambiguity in that system as well, he published a new classification in 1869, using type sites and their associated artifacts to distinguish and name periods. His system may have subsequently been refined, but still remains in current use, however, whereas Mortillet believed his classifications were universal stages, with an unilineal evolution. Later thinking regards each culture as a more localised conglomerate, capable of overlapping in time with others, de Mortillet recognised the importance of the mobiliary art discovered by Lartet and Christie, commenting of such bone carvings, “They are not the work of children. They are the childhood of art”, les Nègres et la civilisation égyptienne. Origines de la chasse, de la pêche et de lagriculture, le préhistoire, origine et antiquité de lhomme,1900. Henry Christie This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
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Ambarri
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The Ambarri were a Gallic people, whom Julius Caesar calls close allies and kinsmen of the Aedui. If the reading Aedui Ambarri in the referred to is correct. They are not mentioned among the clientes of the Aedui and they occupied a tract in the valley of the Rhône, probably in the angle between the Saône and the Rhône, and their neighbors on the east were the Allobroges. They are mentioned by Livy with the Aedui among those Galli who were said to have crossed the Alps into Italy in the time of Tarquinius Priscus, several communes in todays Ain department of France derive their name from them, including, Ambérieu-en-Bugey, Ambérieux-en-Dombes, Ambutrix and Ambronay. They joined Bellovesusmigrations towards Italy, together with the Aeduii, Ambarri, Arverni and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. article name needed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
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Ain
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Ain is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône and it has an excellent transport network and benefits from the proximity to the international airports of Lyon and Geneva. Ain is composed of four different areas which – each with its own characteristics – contribute to the diversity. In the Bresse agriculture and agro-industry are dominated by the cultivation of cereals, cattle breeding, milk, in the Dombes, pisciculture assumes greater importance as does wine making in the Bugey. The high diversification of the industry is accompanied by a strong presence of the plastics sector in. Due to its industrial character and the cooperation of small and medium enterprises. Its unemployment rate lies far beneath the national and regional average, besides the export-oriented SMEs, several large enterprises, with a prominent position on national and international markets, have settled in the department. The first inhabitants settled in the territory of todays Ain about 15000 BC, the menhir of Pierrefiche in Simandre-sur-Suran dates from the mid-Neolithic era, in the fourth or third millennium BC, it is the sole standing stone in Burgundy. The late-second century BC Calendar of Coligny bears the longest surviving Gaulish inscription, in the year 58 BC Julius Caesars military action against the Helvetians advancing through Gaul on the territory of todays Ain marked the beginning of the Gallic Wars. Under the Merovingians, the four regions of the modern département belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy. In the beginning of the 6th century AD the diocese of Belley was created, abbeys of the order of Saint Benedict were established in the valleys. In 843 the Treaty of Verdun assigned the territories that comprise the Ain to the kingdom of Lothar I, the first big fiefdoms emerge between 895 and 900 in Bâgé-le-Châtel, which formed the nucleus of the pays of Bresse, and in Coligny. Numerous castles were erected in a low rolling terrain that was not otherwise easily defended, in the 12th century the Romanesque architecture prospered. In the 11th century the Counts of Savoy and Valromey settled in the region of Belley, in the beginning of the 15th century almost the whole region of Ain is united under the house of Savoy. New monasteries are founded in the cities, churches are constructed or reshaped according to the Gothic style of architecture. In the beginning of the 16th century – the Duchy of Savoy was at the peak of its power – Ain was inherited by Margaret of Habsburg, in Brou she erected a church and a monastery in late-Gothic style. The Treaty of Lyon of 17 January 1601 ends finally the conflict, in the 17th century sculpture, painting and literature prosper. During the 18th century streets and small industries emerge, on 28 March 1762 the Count of Eu, son of the Duke of Maine, cedes the region of Dombes to Louis XV
