(d. 311 c. e.) Coemperor from 293 to 311
Galerius served in both the first and second tetrarchy and was one of the most ardent opponents of Christianity in Roman history. As a youth he had been a herdsman but entered the army of aurelian and made his way through the ranks until 293, when he was chosen by Diocletian to form the tetrarchy; as Caesar, he was Diocletian’s deputy in the East, while constantius i chlorus was Caesar to maximian in the West. To ensure his position, Galerius divorced his wife and married Valeria, Diocletian’s daughter.
In 294-295, he worked to restore order on the shaky Danube frontier, which demanded constant fighting in Pannonia. In 296 he was ordered by Diocletian to Syria, where Narses, the Persian ruler, had launched a major assault against Rome. An initial counterattack was a disaster, but Galerius attempted another one in 298 and captured Armenia and Mesopotamia as well as one of the Persian capitals, Ctesiphon. Galerius was honored and returned to the Balkans, where thessalonica was transformed into a suitable metropolis for his residence, complete with an arch commemorating his victory over the Persians.
With his victory behind him, Galerius took steps to improve his position in the tetrarchy. He became more active in Diocletian’s decision-making, according to the historian Lactantius, and successfully demanded the most severe persecutions of Christians, supported by his mother, Romula, an ardent pagan. The edicts of persecution, especially the third and fourth, destroyed churches and books and enforced a death penalty on Christians.
In May 305, Diocletian and Maximian formally abdicated in favor of their deputies. Galerius now shared power with Constantius but actually commanded true imperial supremacy by holding all of the East and much of the West. Furthermore, the two new Caesars, Maximin Daia and Severus II, were clients. Constantius died in 306 at Eburacum (York), and Galerius named Severus Augustus, elevating Constantius’s son Constantine to the rank of Caesar to form a new tetrarchy. This political maneuver was defeated by Maximian’s son maxentius, who seized Rome, Italy, and part of Africa, declaring himself the rightful heir to the throne of his father. Severus tried to crush Maxentius but failed, and even Galerius himself was repulsed. Maxentius put Severus to death, and only the ultimately unsuccessful Conference of carnuntum staved off the demise of the tetrarchy.
Galerius remained in full control of the East until an illness struck him in 311. Lactantius recorded in vengeful detail the extent of Galerius’s suffering, describing the slow, agonizing deterioration of his health, replete with sores and hideous stinking worms. Amid this “heaven sent” death, Galerius signed a new edict, joined by his fellow tetrarchs, rescinding all previous anti-Christian proclamations. Henceforth, Christianity was to be tolerated and allowed to propagate freely in the empire. Eusebius, Lactantius, and other writers ascribed his remorse to divine intervention. Galerius succumbed at Easter, 311, and was buried in his hometown of Romulianum.
Galilee The most northerly of the three main districts of Roman-occupied palaestina, containing such notable cities as Capernaum, GISCHALA and Nazareth. Its population was composed of phoenicians, Syrians, Greeks, and Jews, making it not only a difficult place to rule but also a land subject to terrible internal strife, as the Jewish population disliked its northern neighbors. Galilee served as a territorial pawn on numerous occasions. It was part of the tetrarchy of herod antipas, bequeathed to him by HEROD THE GREAT and granted to him by Augustus as well. In 40 C. E., Gaius Caligula stripped Antipas of his entire tetrarchy, handing it to Herod Agrippa I, who ruled it until his death in 44 C. E., when a procurator was appointed to administer JUDAEA. Herod Agrippa II eventually took over the domain of Herod of Chalcis, and Nero added a large portion of Galilee as part of his TransJordan realm in 61 c. e. For the next five years the Roman procurators earned the enmity of the Jews, and in 66 their rage erupted into the Jewish rebellion. The troubles in Galilee were recorded in some detail by the official sent to lead the Jews there, Flavius Josephus. Galilee was overrun by the legions of Vespasian in 67. From the time of Hadrian in the mid-second century c. E. the entire area was possessed by syria-palestine.
Galla, Satria (d. after 65 c. e.) Wife of C. Calpurnius Piso, the famed conspirator against Nero Galla had been married to Domitius silo, a friend of piso, but he had induced her to leave her husband and become his wife. In 65, as the plot to remove Nero was exposed, piso committed suicide and, out of love for his wife, wrote a flattering letter to Nero imploring mercy for her. Nero granted clemency to Galla.
Gallia Roman name for the province of Gaul, roughly embracing modern France and the Low Countries; one of the largest areas under imperial control in the Roman Empire. In 50 B. C.E., Julius caesar departed from Gaul, embroiled in the Civil War with pompey the great, leaving behind him a country broken in will and subdued (see GALLIC wars). The sizable conquests he had made for Rome brought whole populations under Rome’s control. He named this new territory Gallia Comata but initiated several administrative changes over the next few years. While Gallia Transalpina (gallia narbonensis) was at first a part of Gallia Comata, in 44 b. c.e. he separated it, recognizing that it was too Romanized. What was left he split into two parts under legates controlling the Rhine frontier and watching the troublesome tribes there, especially the suebi. This done, he then founded the first of the Italian colonies at lugdunum (Lyons) and at Augst.
This arrangement, however, lacked an effective or logical organization, combining very different cultures under one legate. Augustus, coming to power after the battle of ACTIUM in 31 b. c.e., took upon himself the task of establishing a better policy. He was aided by Marcus AGRIPPA and the census taken among the Gallic tribes around Lugdunum in 27 b. c.e. To the senate he gave authority over Gallia Narbonensis in 22, taking for himself the rest and breaking it into three imperial provinces, formed along the lines of race, language, and community. In the south was Gallia Aquitania, with its more Iberian or Spanish people. Next came Gallia Lugdunensis, the home of the celts in Gaul, and then Gallia Belgica, with its mix of Celtic and Germanic nations.
The most southern of the three imperial provinces, Aquitania was initially conquered in 56 b. c.e. by the legate of Julius Caesar, Publius Crassus (see aquitania). When Gallia Aquitania was established as a province, its boundary was set along the geographic limits of the pyrenees, the Atlantic and the two rivers, the Loire and the Rhone. Provincial administration was probably conducted from BURDIGALA, the heart of Aquitania, situated on the Garonne River, although poitiers and saintes were thriving economic centers. In time, Aquitania sent its own senators to Rome.
The most Romanized of the three provinces, Lug-dunensis was centered around the important city of Lug-dunum (Lyons). A mint was also situated there, and the city served as the seat of administration for the legate. Boundaries for the province were established to the east and south by three rivers: the Loire, Saone, and Seine. Aside from Lugdunum, other notable cities were august-donum, the famous alesia, and lutetia (Paris). In the first years of Rome’s rule, this province was watched most closely because of the traditionally fierce and powerful tribes of the aedui and averni.
Gallia Belgica was the most northern province of Gallia, stretching from the seine to the Rhine, and as far south as the saone. With its location so near the Rhine, Gallia Belgica was considered the cornerstone of the regional imperial policy. Provincial government was centered at RHEIMS, while other officials chose trier (Treveri) as their headquarters, most notably the procurators of both Belgica and the two Germanies. The original inhabitants, the BELGAE, were a less civilized culture, mixing the Druidic-Celtic way of life with the Germanic dislike of Rome. They developed into civitates of remarkable wealth, with cities such as Amiens and Bavay
By Italian standards Gaul was appallingly underdeveloped and primitive, untouched by outside influences, and even unlike other Celtic lands, most notably Britain (Britannia). Romanization was only marginally successful in Gaul, and the Celts not only survived but also, with a number of compromises, actually flourished.
The Romans put great importance on the rise and use of large towns and cities, fostering economic life and political control. The Celts transposed their cantonal constitutional governments (self-sufficient districts) into towns, thus perpetuating the status of local nobility While Rome, especially under Caesar and Augustus, tolerated the cantonal pattern, two major steps were later taken to curb its nationalistic tendency and to bring it under imperial administration. First, the number of cantons was reduced from the hundreds of tribes during the Gallic Wars to a more sensible 64. For the Roman magistrates such a number, divided into three provinces, was more manageable, and the number continued to drop over the succeeding years. Each of these cantons, redesignated a civitas (city-state), was invested with the full privileges handed out to communities all over the empire. Roman government therefore existed, with all of its requirements and bureaucracy, in conjunction with the original and semi-independent Gallic communities. What was needed was a larger unifying creed to tie the Gauls directly to the Roman imperial state.
Throughout the provinces Augustus initiated the IMPERIAL CULT, the idea of worshiping the emperors and Rome, which was propagated in the concilia, the councils of each province conceived to maintain communication between the ruler and the actual people of the many lands that he commanded. Julius Caesar had found such a group useful in Gaul, summoning together major chieftains to hear their opinions and to receive their adulation. The idea was virtually unknown in the West in the early imperial epoch. The first of the concilia was initiated around 12 B. C.E., with the help of Tiberius’s brother drusus. Each civitas sent a delegation to Lug-dunum, and there elections were held to supply members for a concilium, including a president. The concilium conducted minor secular affairs (preserving a veneer of self-government) but was wholly responsible for holding the annual festival in honor of the emperor and Rome. People from all four Gallic provinces traveled to Lug-dunum to see the games, ceremonies, and feasts, described in a lengthy report sent to Rome.
Each canton or civitas endeavored to achieve success and prosperity, fostering both the betterment of cities and the continued economic growth of an already bountiful country. The provinces of Gallia produced wheat, olives, oil, wine, cheese, ham, fruits, vegetables, and corn. They kept the legions on the Rhine well fed, with a surplus that required, for a time, restriction on exports from the provinces in order to allow the Italians to absorb the economic input. The old Celtic skills in metallurgy and carving were maintained, and Gallic workmanship in jewelry and art was known throughout the provinces. Long periods of peace allowed strides in industry, so that textile, wood, and glass manufacturing developed. Especially noted were Gaul’s potters, who eventually exported their wares, and its wine.
Aiding the economy was an advanced network of communication and transportation. Ports in Brittany, at
Gesoriacum, Bordeaux (Burdigala), Massilia, Narbo, and Forum Julium loaded ships with items sent from along the many waterways traversing the provinces. The seine, Loire, Garonne, Rhone, Saone, and Moselle Rivers all contributed to the waterborne commerce, supplementing an extensive road circuit.
The general success of Rome in the provinces of Gaul served only to heighten their prime strategic importance. Just beyond the heavily guarded frontier lay the seething tribes of Germany. A legate in Gallia Belgica supervised the border until the seriousness of the Germanic frontier convinced domitian, around 90 C. E., to transfer the responsibility to a Roman legion and establish provinces in GERMANIA as well. Still, evidence of the role that Gaul played in the safeguarding of the early empire can be found in the list of its early commanders: Agrippa, Augustus himself from 16 to 13 B. C.E., Tiberius, Drusus, and the famous germanicus, from 12 to 15 C. E. The LEGIONS, however, were never stationed in Gaul, so peaceful had the region become. A form of the urban COHORTS, or local police, proved sufficient for centuries, although the tribes supplied large numbers of recruits for the legions and the auxilia.
Until the decline of the empire in the West, Gaul knew little hardship or war, and the use of Latin became commonplace. In the first century C. E., the attempted revolts of sacrovir, vindex, and Julius civilis all failed because the tribes on whom they depended for support refused to join them or were split by their loyalties to Rome and knew what a barbarian invasion would mean. The Imperium Galliarum established by the usurper POS-TUMUS (c. 261-268) was the product of an ambitious general and not the longing of the Gallic peoples. In fact, throughout the catastrophes of the third century C. E., Gallia survived better than many regions by virtue of its location as the gateway to Britain, Germany, and Spain. Its craftsmen and artists furthered their economic monopoly of foreign markets because war ravaged other areas.
Unfortunately their excellent position ensured that the barbarian invasions of the fifth century would slash and burn through the heart of the Gallic people’s domain. In late December, 406, the vandals, alans, Burgundians, and Suevians poured across the Rhine. With the Roman Empire of the West in shambles, opposition came only from the usurper Constantine iii, but he was defeated eventually, and the hordes just kept coming. Its cities destroyed, fields burned, economy in ruins, and culture annihilated, the province was broken. The vandals who seized Aquitania and Narbonensis pillaged even the lovely city of Bordeaux. The Franks eventually emerged supreme, and Gallia entered the next stage of its history, the era called the Dark Ages.
Suggested Readings: Caesar, Julius. The Conquest of Gaul. Translated by S. A. Hanford. New York: Penguin, 1982;
Ebel, Charles. Transalpine Gaul: The Emergence of a Roman Province. Leiden: Brill, 1976; Drinkwater, J. L Roman Gaul: The Three Provinces, 58 b. c.-a. d. 260. Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983; King, Anthony Roman Gaul and Germany. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990; Van Dam, Raymond. Leadership and community in Late Antique Gaul. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Gallia Cisalpina Name given to the region of northern Italy and in use for centuries prior to the foundation of the Roman Empire. Geographically, Gallia Cisalpina was surrounded by gallia narbonensis, the Alps, Raetia, Noricum, and Illyricum to the west, north, and east. To the south were the Italian sections of Etruria and Umbria. Traditional dividing lines between the territory and the other provinces were the Alps and the famed Rubicon River, marking the beginning of Italy proper.
Gallia Cisalpina was originally the home of the Etruscans and other Italian peoples, most notably the Umbrians and Ligurians. They were expelled by the Gauls, who desired their land because of its natural beauty and fertility but were in turn subdued by the Romans in the third and second centuries b. c.e. Henceforth, Gallia Cisalpina was a province under Roman control, but its tribes, such as the Taurini, Cenomani, and Insubres, were not fully mastered for some years.
When final Roman mastery was achieved, the implantation of colonies commenced. The sense of foreignness could be removed quickly, and the province remained part of the strategic line of defense, protecting Italy from invasion; Cisalpine, aided by Gallia Trans-alpina (Narbonensis) and Illyricum, formed a strong corridor of provincial safety. When Julius caesar received his five-year commission to govern the Gallic world, included in his command were these three holdings. The great general himself wintered in Gallia Cisalpina each year so as to remain alert to Italian and Roman political developments. In 50 b. c.e., when he had finished his GALLIC WARS and was marching on Rome, it was through this region that he went. The boundary of the Rubicon then assumed momentous importance.
Throughout the civil wars of the First and Second Triumvirates, Gallia Cisalpina was the scene of troop movements and political appointments. brutus albinus received the province to govern in 44 b. c.e., but he was delayed in taking up his post because of his participation in Caesar’s assassination. When he did finally try to assume command, Marc Antony involved him in battles around Mutina, and he later died. In the agreements of the Second Triumvirate, Octavian (Augustus) held Cisalpine Gaul until after Actium, in 31 b. c.e., when he became emperor. In 25 b. c.e., as part of his general reorganization of the Roman world, Augustus declared Italy to be a special province and placed Gallia Cisalpina within its jurisdiction. Of note, the Po Valley bisected
Gallia Cisalpina and formed two distinct areas within it: Gallia Transpadana to the north of the river and Gallia Cispadana to the south.
Gallia Narbonensis Originally called Gallia Trans-alpina; one of the four large provinces of Gaul (GALLIA), along with Gallia Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica. It was the oldest and most important Roman possession in Gaul. The province was bordered by the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean, the provinces of Tres Galliae, the Alps, and the Rhine. In the earliest days of Roman expansion, Gallia Transalpina attracted Rome’s attention, especially with its Greek colony at massilia and its prime location between Italy and the growing Roman possessions in Spain. The need for stable lines of communication, protection of the trade with the Gallic and Helvetian tribes, and its sheer financial potential, prompted annexation around 121 B. C.E. From that time until the fifth century C. E., Gallia Narbonensis was a permanent and reliable territory
A small degree of Romanization was felt during the initial years of occupation, but not enough to reduce the importance of Hellenic Massilia or to warrant comparisons with spain, which bore a deep Italian imprint. Julius CAESAR, who arrived in 58 b. c.e., began the real cultural transformation of the land, called in his own annals simply “the province.” He launched his gallic WARS from there and not only founded new colonies that would become major metropolises but also resurrected any older colonies that had declined.
The colony of narbo, formed probably under the Gracchi in the late second century b. c.e., was given a new breath of life. Other new coloniae (colonies) , formed with stout veterans and artisans, were lorum julium (Lre-jus) and arles. Augustus carried on Caesar’s policies but also expanded and improved upon them. As part of his reorganization of the Roman Empire, he declared the province a senatorial possession, under the administrative concern of a proconsul. Gallia Narbonensis flowered both as an economic entity and as a unique transplant of Roman culture and lifestyle. The capital was Narbo, to which were added many new cities and colonies, especially in the Rhone Valley The old Greek and Celtic ways surrendered to the new, in return for the benefits that Rome offered. Native communities, most importantly Nimes (Nemausus), first received municipal status and Latin rights (lUS latii) and finally full colonial privileges. Arles, Orange (Arausio), Vienne, and Vaison were only a few of the Roman-transformed cities, joined by Ruscino (Roussillon), Aquae sex-tiae (Aix), and Avennio (Avignon). Latin emerged as the language of government and preference. Roman and Italian architecture dominated, and the Latin community and local system of government replaced the Celtic cantons. Gallia Narbonensis surpassed spain in assimilation.
Being very Mediterranean in climate and environment, the province produced fruits in abundance. Agriculture was the mainstay of the local economy, with wines of high quality and excellent olives. There were cereals as well. Its pottery, made by skilled artisans, traveled throughout the world. Even the regional trade was enhanced by the improvement of the Rhone Valley waterways and the continued development of the Roman ROADS.
While incentives and Romanization played major roles in the continued vitality of Gallia Narbonensis, it benefited from centuries of peace. No invasion or major disaster came to its precincts from the time of Augustus until the fourth century C. E. Only the economic collapse of the empire in the third century C. E. and the chaotic state of the Western lands in the fourth and fifth centuries opened up the province to occupation and destruction. Then, with its defenses stripped away, ATHAULF took control in 415 and ravaged much of northern Narbonen-sis on his way through Aquitania and into Tarraconensis. In the subsequent disintegration of the imperial machine, the province received the same treatment as other lands at the hands of a multitude of conquerors.
Such catastrophes were many years in the future when Augustus became emperor, and Gallia Narbonensis not only earned a reputation for wine but also achieved actual fame for its local citizens. In the first century C. E., there were Domitius afer and montanus, asiaticus, and the Praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius BURRUS. In the second century, the province achieved its highest moment when ANTONINUS PIUS, born to a family from Nimes, ascended the throne in 138. By the end of the century his native city was the foremost center of provincial life, replacing Narbo, which never recovered from a fire (c. 150). Antoninus Pius epitomized Pliny the Elder’s comment that Gallia Narbonensis and Italy were one and the same.
Gallia Transalpina See gallia narbonensis.
Gallicus, Julius (fl. mid-first century c. e.) Orator (Advocatus) during the reign of Claudius In 53 C. E. Gallicus was defending a case before the emperor with such vigor that Claudius became angry and had him thrown into the Tiber. When one of Gallicus’s clients, seeking a new legal representative, went to the famous speaker afer for help, Afer responded: “Who told you that I could swim better than he?”
Gallic Wars Conflicts between the Roman legions under the command of Julius caesar and the many tribes of Gaul (gallia); waged between 58 and 51 b. c.e. These wars demonstrated the genius of Julius Caesar, the skills of the legions, the indomitable spirit of the Gauls and the damage that could be inflicted on cities, territories, and entire populations in Rome’s drive to world domination.
In 60 B. C.E., the first triumvirate was formed among Caesar, pompey the great, and crassus. Although
Caesar had been largely responsible for the rise of this political union, Pompey was considered the greater general and the foremost politician. Caesar recognized that, just as Pompey had attained power and fame by subduing and claiming the East, he too needed to find glory in the field. His eyes turned to Gaul.
Marius, his uncle, had defeated the marauding tribes in the provinces of gallia cisalpina and Gallia Transalpina. Furthermore, from Gaul he would always be capable of marching immediately to Italy in times of crisis and could be apprised of news from Rome. Thus, in 59 B. C.E., a tribune of Caesar’s own party, Vatinius, made the proposal to the senate that Caesar be granted the governorship of illyricum, Gallia Cisalpina and Gallia Transalpina for five years. At his disposal were a quaestor, 10 legates and four legions. With this army, totaling around 35,000 men, the general set out to make history
In his account of the Gallic Wars, Caesar wrote that Gaul was divided by three: the Belgae, the Aquitani, and the Celtae tribes, different from each other in language, government, and laws. Early in 58 b. c.e., these tribes were threatened by the Helvetii, the people of HELVETIA (modern switzerland), who were on the march in vast numbers toward southern Gaul, as part of a wider pattern of migration and resettlement. Gathering together all available troops, Caesar surprised the advancing horde at the ARAR River. A battle followed, in which some 30,000 Helvetii were annihilated. In July of that year another engagement took place at bibracte; the Helvetians struck first, but they were repulsed, pushed back into their camp, and massacred. Some 130,000 to 150,000 men, women, and children were slain. Only 110,000 Helvetians were left to begin the long march home, and Caesar noted that he had earned the acclaim of Gaul’s many chieftains.
By August Caesar turned his attentions to another foreign threat, this time from the Germanic King ariovis-TUS. In modern Alsace, Ariovistus and his warriors were conducting a campaign of terror among the local tribes, especially the aedui and the averni. Caesar wished for no other masters in Gaul and accepted a Gallic request for assistance. Only one battle was necessary, and Ariovistus was thrown across the Rhine, having lost most of his army. satisfied that external problems were eased, Caesar entered winter quarters to plan his next move.
The year 57 b. c.e. began with disturbing news from Gallia Belgica. Local tribes had risen and were united into a strong anti-Roman coalition. To prevent their movement out of Belgica, which would promote a widespread rebellion in the region, the legions were ordered to march. The Romans pushed into Belgica in late spring, defeating an army at axona under King GALBA (1). This victory, however, was not enough to convince the other people of Belgica about Roman superiority, and the Nervii ambushed Caesar at sabis in July; a bitter, bloody battle took place until legionary discipline won out. Following up on his triumph, Caesar besieged and captured the important city of aduatuca, ending all effective resistance in Gallia Belgica. The belgae had lived up to Caesar’s description of them as the greatest warriors in Gaul.
Caesar rested in Gallia Cisalpina for the winter and early in 56 b. c.e. set out against the tribes of western Gaul. The veneti of Armorica (modern Brittany) fell under assault while Publius crassus subdued aquitania. A sea battle between brutus albinus and the ships of the Veneti helped seal Armorica’s fate. Crassus was also successful, joined by Titurius sabinus, who had seized Normandy by vanquishing the Venelli. These notable achievements symbolized the near total ownership of Gaul by the Romans, but they were offset by Caesar’s inability to pacify two tribes of Belgica, the Morini and the Menapii. Hampered by foul weather and the onslaught of winter, Caesar contented himself with the destruction of their villages, forests, and fields before going into winter quarters.
Further steps to establish Roman rule over the reign were delayed because of a major crisis in 55 b. c.e. Germanic tribes, the usipetes and the Tencteri, pushed by the stronger suebi, crossed the Rhine and tried to settle in Gaul along the Meuse River. Perhaps half a million Germans were living in the area, and Caesar, facing a potential crisis of staggering importance, first tried to negotiate with them, in vain. When war ensued, Caesar allowed his soldiers to wipe out the tribes, slaughtering hundreds of thousands. Those who survived asked to be placed under his protection.
To impress upon the Germans the futility of crossing the Rhine, Caesar constructed a large bridge over the river in June of that year. He then ordered his men across to intimidate the people on the other side. This demonstration ended, Caesar started his invasion of Britain (Britannia), returning to Gaul to maintain a watch on the increasingly mutinous nations there.
Logistical problems and food shortages forced the legions in Gaul to winter in eight scattered camps. This strategic error invited the Gallic communities to rebel. AMBIORIX, leader of the Eburones, organized around 100,000 men and launched an assault against Titurius sabinus near Aduatuca. in the subsequent conflict, sabi-nus was destroyed, and the Gauls moved against Quintus Cicero but were repulsed. Caesar marched into Belgica, forced a battle on unequal terms and suppressed Ambiorix. Meanwhile, his lieutenant labienus defended his camp and repelled indutiomarus. He then joined Caesar as the Roman troops united to face what was anticipated as a vaster revolt the following year.
At the start of 53 b. c.e., all Gaul erupted. Caesar decided to take the war to the enemy, and with some 10 legions crushed the nervii, Senones, Carnutes, Menapii, and the treveri. Another sortie over the Rhine convinced the Suebi to curb any impulse toward entering the fray;
Once back in Belgica, Caesar pursued and harried the Gauls into submission, driving Ambiorix from the region.
As soon as one Gallic chieftain was vanquished, however, another appeared. Throughout late 53 b. c.e., the leader of the Averni, vercingetorix, prepared his army, supplied it, trained it, and used discipline and organization to make it formidable. At the start of 52 b. c.e. he struck, knowing that Caesar was in Italy By the time the general returned, he faced hostile country between him and Labienus, to the north near lutetia (Paris). Pushing ahead, Caesar swept the field, taking villaunodonum Cenabum (Orleans), and Noviodonum.
A siege of avaricum netted Caesar a brilliant victory However, his momentum was lost in May, when he hurriedly tried to capture gergovia, the capital of the Averni, and suffered defeat and an enforced withdrawal. Labienus was able to extricate himself from the north, uniting with Caesar as he was making countermoves. Caesar swung into the Aedui and then punished vercingetorix at vingeanne. unable to rout the Romans, the Gauls retired to alesia to await a siege. From July to the fall of 52 b. c.e., Caesar conducted a masterful operation in siege warfare enduring massive sorties from within the city and from outside forces. starving, vercingetorix surrendered. Caesar accepted the submission of the Aedui and the Averni, effectively ending all Gallic resistance. in another year, the entire region was pacified and given the new name of Gallia Comata.
For nearly eight years Julius Caesar fought the people of Gaul. He was responsible for the deaths of as many as one million people, furthering the spread of Roman might and prestige. so thoroughly did he accomplish his task that, with the exception of a few notable rebellions (see CIVILIS and vindex), the vast region of Gaul became one of the most loyal in the empire.
Caesar’s own commentary, The Gallic Wars, is the most detailed account of the campaign.
World History
