The Allobroges are classified as a Celtic tribe. They lived in Gaul near Lake Geneva in present-day southeastern France, separated from the Helvetii by the Rhone River, and are discussed as Celts or Gauls. Their town Vienne was an important trade center. Along with their allies the Arverni, they were conquered in 121 B. C.E. by the Romans. The Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus given the honorific title of Allobrogicus in commemoration of his victory. The Allobroges became allies of the Romans during the campaigns of Julius Caesar in the mid-first century b. c.e.
The first historic reference to the Allobroges (by the second-century b. c.e. Greek historian Polybius) concerns their failed attempt in 218 B. C.E. to prevent the Carthaginians under Hannibal from crossing the Alps.
The Allobroges had vast agricultural lands that were famed for their wheat. They probably had extensive vineyards as well. They practiced animal husbandry, forestry, and probably mining. The Allobroges controlled part of the Rhine Valley, a major Roman trade route into Gaul. In addition, their territory contained the point where all the roads across the Alps arrived. They probably imposed tolls on the traders who passed through their territory. Among these was the Via Agrippa, the major Roman road connecting Arelete (modern Arles) near the Mediterranean coast with Lugdunum (modern Lyon), the capital of Gallia Comata.
The Allobroges were reportedly among the wealthiest and most advanced of Gaulish tribes. The oppidum of the Allobroges grew from the village described by strabo in the early years of the first century c. E. into what Tacitus calls in his Annals of about 98 c. e. a historic and imposing city. it had the second-largest theater in Gaul. The well-preserved ruins in Allobroges territory give an idea of their religious worship. Although there are no remains that indicate the worship of the Celtic horse goddess Epona, important in other Celtic lands, a statue of the Gaulish hammer god sucellus has been found, as well as a temple to Cybele, a goddess of Asia Minor whose worship the Romans had adopted. Because this temple had been built on top of an earlier, pre-Roman building dating from the second century b. c.e., Cybele’s name may have been given to a similar local goddess. A statue of the tutelary goddess of Vienne stood in the baths at saint-Romain-en-Gal. As elsewhere among the Celts, springs were holy places, and there was a major healing sanctuary at the town of Aix-les-Bains, dedicated to a southern Gaulish healing god, Barvos. The fact that he was not supplanted by Apollo (who took over the healing function of most native deities) attests to his importance.
The Allobroges maintained a presence among the Romans through the period of Roman occupation lasting until the fifth century c. e.
World History
