Gaul: Encyclopedia - Gaul

Gaul

Gaul (Latin Gallia, Greek Galatia) is the region of Western Europe occupied by present-day 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 also refers to a Celtic inhabitant of that region in ancient times, but the Gauls were widespread in Europe by Roman times, speaking the Gaulish language. Besides the Gauls living on the territory of modern-day France, there were the Lepontii who had settled in the plains of northern Italy (Gallia Cisalpina), and the Helvetii who settled to the north of the alps, in Raetia.

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, 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 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.

Gaul - Name

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 (Celts and Romans indiscriminately), cf. Wales, Cornwall, Walloons and Vlachs. Germanic w is regularly rendered with French gu / g (cf. guerre = war, garde = ward), and the dipthong au is the regular outcome of al before a following consonant (cf. cheval ~ chevaux). Gaulle can hardly be derived from Latin Gallia, since g would become j before a (cf. gamba > jambe), and the diphthong au would be incomprehensible. Cf. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (OUP 1966), p. 391; Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique et historique (Larousse 1990), p. 336.

Gaul - Roman Gaul

Roman rule in Gaul was established by Julius Caesar, who defeated the Celtic tribes in Gaul 58-51 BC and described his experiences in De Bello Gallico (About the Gallic War). The war cost the lives of more than a million Gauls, and a million further were enslaved. The area conquered by Caesar was called Gallia Comata: literally, "long-haired Gaul." The area was subsequently governed as a number of provinces. On December 31, 406 the Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia, and Roman rule in Gaul ended with the defeat of the Roman governor Syagrius by the Franks in AD 486.

Gaul - Gaulish tribes

Caesar divided the people of Gaul into three broad groups: the Aquitani; Galli (who in their own language were called Celtae); 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.

Julius Caesar's comments on these people from his book, The Gallic Wars, 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 Germans, 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 Germans 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

Gaul - Source for The Gallic Wars

• http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html

See also

• Gallo-Roman culture
• Gaulish language
• List of peoples of Gaul
• Vercingetorix
• Ambiorix

Categories: Ancient Roman enemies and allies | Ancient Gauls | Ancient Roman provinces | Roman Gaul

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Gaul", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki