The Cadastre of Orange is an ancient plan that shows the Roman centuriations (land distributions) that extended across the territory of the colony of Arausio (modern-day Orange in France) in Gallia Narbonensis, as well as across the territories of neighboring cities and colonies. Excavations carried out between 1949 and 1952 near the ancient theater of […]
Gaul
Posted inClassical Archaeology
An impressive Gallo-Roman lime kiln with a 4-meter diameter combustion chamber found in France
During the construction of a single-family house in the Opilias neighborhood of Donzère (France), archaeologists from Inrap discovered a perfectly preserved ancient Gallo-Roman lime kiln. This kiln is of the “corridor” type, of which fewer than thirty examples are known in Gaul and the Mediterranean during antiquity. The site occupation has been dated between the […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
How a Vase Became a Legend and Foundational Myth of France After the Fall of the Last Roman Stronghold in Gaul
Of all the things a tourist can see in the French town of Soissons (the Cathedral of Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius, seven medieval abbeys, the 18th-century town hall, the arsenal housing the municipal museum…), the most curious is undoubtedly a monument to the fallen in Fernand-Marquigny Square, created by artist Guy Lartigue. One of […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
Researchers Reconstruct Development of Roman Water Mills at Barbegal, the Largest Mechanical Power Concentration of Antiquity
Archaeologists often grapple with the challenge of piecing together the history of ancient structures from mere ruins. This was the case for the remnants of the Roman water mills in Barbegal, located in southern France and dating back to the 2nd century AD. This remarkable industrial complex featured 16 water wheels arranged in parallel rows—eight […]
Posted inAncient Rome
Kingdom of Soissons, the Last Roman Stronghold in Gaul that Survived Ten Years after the Fall of the Western Empire
In the tumultuous era of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, a small but significant domain known as the Kingdom of Soissons emerged. This territory, located in the northwest of Gaul, was successively led by three Roman generals: Aetius, Aegidius, and Syagrius, all holding the title of Magister Militum per Gallias (commander-in-chief of Roman […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
The Great Gallo-Roman Sanctuary of the Redones Unearthed in Rennes
In a recent archaeological excavation in the old Hôtel Dieu neighborhood in Rennes, archaeologists have discovered a large sanctuary. The discovery is part of the redevelopment of the site of the old Hôtel Dieu hospital. The sanctuary, dating from the 3rd century AD, was uncovered after the excavation of the north wall enclosing its courtyard, […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
A Network of Stone Pipes Found in the Ancient Gallo-Roman City of Matisco in France
To the southeast of the territory of the Gallic people, the Aedui, on a small hill overlooking the Arar (Celtic name for the Saône), an oppidum, a fortified settlement, was established in the early 1st century BC, called Matisco (the current Mâcon in central-eastern France). This oppidum played a strategic role on the frontier marked […]
Posted inAncient Rome
Julius Civilis, the Batavian Prefect who Rebelled Against Rome to Create an Independent Kingdom Uniting Gaul and Germania
During the Roman Empire era, what is now known as the Netherlands was referred to as Batavia. The name referred to its inhabitants, the Batavians, who lived on an island at the mouth of the Rhine, hence its etymology (batawjō = good island). They were a Germanic people separated from the Chatti who were allies […]
Posted inAncient Rome
Quintus Servilius Caepio, the proconsul who stole the “Aurum Tolosanum”, the fabulous treasure the Gauls took from Delphi
Gaius Marius earned the nickname Third Founder of Rome by preventing the de facto invasion represented by the migration of a coalition of Germanic peoples to the Italian peninsula. That episode left a series of subsidiary stories, two of which were protagonized by the same character: Quintus Servilius Caepio. In the first – the juiciest, […]
Posted inAntiquity
Aedui, the Celtic People who Considered Themselves the Romans’ Brothers and Kinsmen
The conflict known as the Gallic Wars was a military struggle fought between the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar and the Gallic tribes between 58 and 51 BC. These were not a handful of barbarians; on the contrary, they were civilized tribes with a significant influence from Rome, most of which had abandoned the monarchical system […]
