Encyclopedia
- For Gaul after the Roman conquest, see Roman Gaul
Gaul was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of
Western Europe comprising present-day northern
Italy,
France,
Belgium, western
Switzerland and the parts of the
Netherlands and
Germany on the west bank of the
Rhine river.
In English, the word
Gaul may also refer to a
Celtic inhabitant of that region, although the expression may be used more generally for all ancient speakers of the
Gaulish language who were widespread in
Europe and extended even into central
Anatolia by Roman times. In this way, "Gaul" and "Celt" are sometimes used interchangeably.
Gauls under
Brennus sacked Rome circa 390 BC. In the Aegean world, a huge migration of Eastern Gauls appeared in
Thrace, north of
Greece, in 281 BC. Another Gaulish chieftain named
Brennus, at the head of a large army, was only turned back from desecrating the
Temple of Apollo at
Delphi at the last minute -- he was alarmed, it was said, by portents of thunder and lightning. At the same time a migrating band of
Celts, some 10,000 fighting men, with their women and children and slaves, were moving through Thrace. Three tribes of Gauls crossed over from Thrace to
Asia Minor at the express invitation of Nicomedes I, king of
Bithynia, who required help in a dynastic struggle against his brother. Eventually they settled down in eastern
Phrygia and
Cappadocia in central
Anatolia, a region henceforth known as
Galatia.Name
The names
Gallia and
Galatia sometimes are compared to
Gael, which is, however, from
Goidhel or
Gwyddel, and cannot be directly related. It is uncertain whether the
Gal- names are from a native name of a tribe, or if they are exonyms. Birkhan considers a root
*gal- "powerful" , but speculates that the name also could be taken from a
Gallos River, comparable to the names of the
Volcae and the
Sequani which are likely derived from hydronyms. There also have been attempts to trace
Keltoi and
Galatai to a single origin. It is most likely that the terms originated as names of minor tribes
*Kel-to and/or
Gal-to- which were the earliest to come into contact with the Roman world, but which have disappeared without leaving a historical record .
In English usage the words
Gaul and
Gaulish are used synonymously with Latin
Gallia,
Gallus and
Gallicus. However the similarity of the names is probably accidental: the English words are borrowed from French
Gaule and
Gaulois, which appear to have been borrowed themselves from Germanic *
walha-, the usual word for the non-Germanic people . Germanic
w is regularly rendered with French
gu /
g , and the diphthong
au is the regular outcome of
al before a following consonant .
Gaulle can hardly be derived from Latin
Gallia, since
g would become
j before
a , and the diphthong
au would be incomprehensible; the regular outcome of Latin
Gallia would have been *
Jaille in French. Cf.
Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology , p. 391;
Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique et historique , p. 336.
Hellenistic aitiology connects the name with Galatea , and it was suggested that the association was inspired by the "milk-white" skin of the Gauls.
Pre-Roman Gaul
The early history of the Gauls is predominantly a work in archeology — there being little written information concerning the peoples that inhabited these regions — and the relationships between their material culture, ethnic composition and linguistic divisions rarely coincide.
The earliest origins of the Pre-Gallic Celts was perhaps the Danube Valley, although this issue is contested. It seems as if they inherited many of their skills , as well as certain facets of their culture, from the Greeks. Some scholars think that the
Bronze Age Urnfield culture represents an origin for the
Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European family that migrated into Europe at this time. This culture was preeminent in central Europe during the late Bronze Age, from ca. 1200 BC until 700 BC. The spread of
iron-working led to the development of the
Hallstatt culture directly from the Urnfield. Proto-Celtic, the latest common ancestor of all known Celtic languages, is considered by some scholars to have been spoken at the time of the late Urnfield or early Hallstatt cultures.
The Hallstatt culture was succeeded by the La Tène culture, which developed out of the Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence from
Greek, and later
Etruscan civilizations. The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age in eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, southwest Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Farther to the north extended the contemporary
Pre-Roman Iron Age culture of Northern Germany and Scandinavia.
By the second century BC, Celtic France was called Gaul by the Romans, the people to the north were called Belgae and the peoples of the south-west of France were called the Aquitani by the Romans, and may have been
Celtiberians or Vascons. In addition to the Gauls, there were other peoples living in the Gaul territories of Europe, such as the Lepontii who had settled on the southern slopes of the
Italian Alps, in
Raetia, and the
Greeks and
Phoenicians who had established outposts like
Marseille. On the North-West Mediterranean coast of Italy, the Ligures had merged with the Celts to form a Celto-Ligurian culture; in Spain, Celtic peoples had merged with the
Iberians to form the
Celtiberians.
In the second century BC, Mediterranean Gaul had en extensive urban fabric and was prosperous, while the heavily forested Northern Gaul had almost no cities outside of fortified compounds used in times of war. The prosperity of Mediterranean Gaul lead to Rome responding to the pleas of the inhabitants of
Marseille who were under attack by a coalition of Ligures and Gauls: the Romans intervened in Gaul in 125 BC and by 121 BC they had conquered the Mediterranean region called
Provincia . This conquest upset the ascendancy of the Gaulish
Averni tribe.
Further expansion into the non-urbanized Northern Gaul occurred under
Julius Cesar who conquered regions as far North as modern-day Belgium during the
Gallic Wars , the turning point of which was the decisive
Battle of Alesia in 52 BC where the Romans defeated a confederation of
Gallic tribes united under the leadership of
Vercingetorix of the
Averni.
The Gauls that Caesar encountered during his campaigns were not neolithic barbarians, as the vast wealth accumulated by Caesar during the Gallic Wars can attest. Rather, the Gauls in the last century before Christ ought to be regarded as "half-civilized." As the excavations of the Aeduan "oppidum" of Bibracte reveal, the Gauls were a wealthy people, well-acquainted with the use of gold, as well as silver and bronze coinage. Furthermore, coins from Gaul have been found in Britain and vice versa, supporting Caesar's claim that trade existed between the two "nations."
Religion
In terms of their religion, the Gauls were relatively undeveloped. Most practiced a form of
animism, ascribing human characteristics to lakes, streams, mountains, etc., and granting them a quasi-deific status. Also, worship of animals was not uncommon; the animal most sacred to the Gauls was the boar, which can be found on many Gallic military standards, much like the Roman eagle.
Their system of gods and goddesses was loose, there being certain deities which virtually every Gallic person worshiped, as well as tribal and household gods. Many of the major gods were related to Greek gods; the primary god worshiped at the time of the arrival of Caesar was Teutates, the Gallic equivalent of Mercury. The "father god" in Gallic worship was "Dis Pater," who could be assigned the Roman name "
Saturn." However there was no real theology, just an "ever-expanding, ever-shifting, formless chaos" of modes of worship.
Perhaps the most intriguing facet of Gallic religion is the practice of the
Druids. There is no certainty concerning their origin, but it is clear that they vehemently guarded the secrets of their order and held sway over the people of Gaul. Indeed they claimed the right to determine questions of war and peace, and thereby held an "international" status. In addition, the Druids monitored the religion of ordinary Gauls and were in charge of educating the aristocracy. They also practiced a form of excommunication from the assembly of worshippers, which in ancient Gaul meant a separation from secular society as well. Thus the Druids were an important part of Gallic society.
Social structure and tribes
The Druids were not the only political force in Gaul, however, and the early political system was complex, if ultimately fatal to the society as a whole. The fundamental unit of Gallic politics was the tribe, which itself consisted of one or more of what Caesar called "pagi." Each tribe had a council of elders, and initially a king. Later, the executive was an annually-elected magistrate. Among the Aedui, a tribe of Gaul, the executive held the title of "Vergobret," a position much like a king, but its powers were held in check by rules laid down by the council.
The tribal groups, or
pagi as the Romans called them were organized into larger super-tribal groups that the Romans called
civitates. These administrative groupings would be taken over by the Romans in their system of local control, and these
civitates would also be the basis of France's eventual division into
ecclesiastical bishoprics and dioceses, which would remain in place -- with slight changes -- until the French revolution.
Although the tribes were moderately stable political entities, Gaul as a whole tended to be politically-divided, there being virtually no unity between the various tribes. Only during particularly trying times, such as the invasion of Caesar, could the Gauls unite under a single leader like
Vercingetorix. Even then, however, the faction lines were clear.
The Romans divided Gaul broadly into
Provincia , and the Northern
Gallia Comata . Caesar divided the people of Gaulia Comata into three broad groups: the
Aquitani;
Galli ; and
Belgae. In the modern sense,
Gaulish tribes are defined linguistically, as speakers of dialects of the Gaulish language. While the Aquitani were probably Vascons, the Belgae would thus probably be counted among the Gaulish tribes, perhaps with Germanic elements.
Julius Caesar's comments on these people from his book,
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is an account written by Julius Caesar [i] about his nine years of war in Gaul [i] ...
, are worth quoting:
"All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in our Gauls, the third.
All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws.
The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani; the Marne and the Seine separate them from the Belgae.
Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest, because they are furthest from the civilization and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind; and they are the nearest to the Germanic people, who dwell beyond the Rhine, with whom they are continually waging war; for which reason the Helvetii also surpass the rest of the Gauls in valor, as they contend with the Germanic people in almost daily battles, when they either repel them from their own territories, or themselves wage war on their frontiers. One part of these, which it has been said that the Gauls occupy, takes its beginning at the river Rhone; it is bounded by the river Garonne, the ocean, and the territories of the Belgae; it borders, too, on the side of the Sequani and the Helvetii, upon the river Rhine, and stretches toward the north.
The Belgae rises from the extreme frontier of Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine; and look toward the north and the rising sun.
Aquitania extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Spain: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star." 1
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