See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/279961274

Fire and Sword. The archaeology of Caesar’s Gallic War

Article · April 2015

CITATIONS READS

0 1,161

1 author:

Manuel Fernandez-Gotz
The University of Edinburgh
112 PUBLICATIONS 196 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Manuel Fernandez-Gotz on 10 July 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

GALLIC WAR

I
n the years 58-51 BC, Gaul was
conquered and added to the Roman
Empire through the military campaigns
of Julius Caesar and his legions. For
the first time in history, tribal groups

Fire and
in north-western Europe were confronted
with the violent expansionism of an imperial
system.
Although Caesar’s war narrative is coloured
by personal propaganda and imperial ideol-
ogy, there is no doubt that the conquest had
dramatic consequences for Gallic societies.

Sword
The Roman writer Appian claimed that Caesar
killed one million Gauls and enslaved another
million out of a total population of four mil-
lion.
Until recently, Caesar’s conquests in the
northern periphery of Gaul were known
only from his historical account. In the
Netherlands, Belgium, and the German
Lower Rhine area, the Caesarian conquest was
the archaeology of almost totally invisible archaeologically. Direct
evidence in the form of Roman army camps or
Caesar’s Gallic War battlefield locations was absent.
This in contrast to the more central and
What did Roman conquest mean for the defeated? Nico southern areas of Gaul, where we have major
sites like Alesia (besieged in 52 BC). One
Roymans and Manuel Fernández-Götz have been uncovering reason for the lack of evidence in the north
Image: Roymans/Dijkman 2010.

the evidence in north-west Europe. is the absence of heavily defended oppida –

large Late Iron Age fortifications from the 2nd
and 1st centuries BC. These were both military
targets and the sites of winter camps for the
ABOVE Artist’s impression of the battle between the Eburonean king Ambiorix and the Roman army in 54 BC. legions. They survive today as very obvious
archaeological monuments.

52 Military History monthly May 2015

 ‘Caesar pillaged
Landscapes of war and terror
The shortage of archaeological evidence for

shrines and
the conquest does not mean, however, that
the northern periphery was any less affected

temples of the gods

by the war. On the contrary, there is probably
no region of Gaul where the impact was as
dramatic as in the north-east.
In the Germanic frontier zone, the conquest
had sharp negative effects: the emphasis was filled with offerings,
on destruction, mass enslavement, deportation,
and even genocide. Here, Roman imperialism and oftener sacked
oppida for the sake
revealed itself in its most aggressive form.
Caesar is very clear about his war aims

of plunder than
against, for example, the Eburones tribe:
his campaigns were meant to annihilate this

for any fault.’

people and their name – to carry out, that is, a
deliberate genocide.
The strategy repeatedly described was
to move through the homeland of enemy
tribes with the aim of burning down as many
settlements as possible, destroying the crops
in the fields, and murdering the inhabitants.
This must have had a dramatic impact on the
physical appearance of these homelands. It
must have created what we call ‘landscapes of
war and terror’.
This more negative aspect of the Roman
conquest has rarely been the subject of serious
research. Until recently, it was hardly possible
because of the lack of independent archaeo-
Suetonius, Life of Caesar
logical data. This situation has, however,
changed substantially in the last two decades.
Thanks to new archaeological, palaeobotani-
cal, and numismatic evidence, it is now pos-
sible to build a picture of the conquest and its
impact on indigenous societies.
BELOW Ethnic map of northern
Gaul at the time of Caesar.

Image: Fernández-Götz 2014.

www.military-history.org Military History monthly 53

GALLIC WAR

Caesar killed
one million and
enslaved another
million in a total
population of
four million.
Defeated and enslaved: Thuin
and the Aduatuci
One of the most spectacular discoveries of
Roman provincial archaeology of the last
few years is the identification of a Late Iron
Age fortification at Thuin as the oppidum of
the Aduatuci. For the first time in northern
Gaul, archaeology can identify one of the
major ‘crime scenes’ described by the Roman
proconsul. This site was conquered by Caesar
in 57 BC as part of his campaigns against the
tribes of the Nervii and the Aduatuci.
The fortification of Thuin (Belgium)
occupies a plateau of more than 13 hectares
and can be reached on the eastern side via a
narrow 60m-wide finger of land. Several argu-
ments indicate this to have been the oppidum
of the Aduatuci.
The historical account has it that, after the
site’s capture, the entire population of 53,000
individuals were sold as slaves and deported
to Italy:

On the morrow the gates [of the oppidum] were

broken open, for there was no more defence, and our
troops were sent in. Then Caesar sold as one lot the
booty of the oppidum. The purchasers furnished a
return to him of 53,000 persons.

The main arguments for the identification

of Thuin are as follows: it was an important
Late Iron Age fortification situated in the ter-
ritory of the Aduatuci that did not survive into
the Roman period; there is a close match with
the topography described by Caesar; several
gold hoards of the early 50s BC have been
found and these seem to reflect a single event;
finally, and most importantly, concentrations

TOP Caesar’s military campaigns of 57 BC and the

approximate locations of major battlefields: 1) along
the River Aisne, 2) along the River Sabis/Sambre,
Images: Roymans et al 2012.

and 3) at the oppidum of the Aduatuci.

LEFT Topography of the Late Iron Age fortification
at Thuin and the location of gold finds and Roman
lead sling bullets: a) gold hoard; b) isolated gold
coin(s); c) concentration of sling-bullets; d) iron
tools; and e) bronze ornaments and appliqués.

54 Military History monthly May 2015

RIGHT One of the hoards of gold coins from
the mid-1st century BC found at Thuin.
of Roman lead sling-bullets imply a Roman
siege of the site.
The sling-bullets appeared in two separate
concentrations: on the wall near the main
entrance of the fortification, and on the far
side of the Biesmelle River. Their concentra-
tion at the main rampart strongly suggests that
they were used by the attackers.
Plunder
In his biography of Caesar, Suetonius accuses
Caesar of the large-scale plunder of oppida
and sanctuaries in Gaul and of enriching him-
self enormously with the wealth stored there,
most notably in the form of gold:
In Gaul he pillaged shrines and temples of the
gods filled with offerings, and oftener sacked oppida
for the sake of plunder than for any fault. In conse-
quence he had more gold than he knew what to do
with, and offered it for sale throughout Italy and the
provinces at the rate of 3,000 sesterces a pound.
Since the usual price of gold was 4,000
sestertii a pound, we can conclude that Caesar
greatly inflated the Italian gold market.
The coin hoards found archaeologically
probably represent deposits placed at a cult
site in a time of crisis – for both religious and
security reasons. Following the capture of the
oppidum, not only will the entire population
have been sold as slaves, but the Roman army
will have systematically plundered the fortifica-
tion. Caesar will have been chiefly interested
in the portable wealth hidden there in the
form of coins, jewellery, and other precious
objects. Perhaps only the three recently dis-
covered gold hoards from Thuin escaped the
Roman sack. They probably represent only a
tiny fraction of the gold stored at the site.
Genocide in the north: Caesar
and the Eburones
The Caesarian conquest produced a major
change in the ethnic map of the Lower Rhine.
This is particularly clear in the case of the
Eburones and the Aduatuci, which did not
survive the conquest period as tribal groups.
There are, however, differing opinions
among historians about the interpretation
of Caesar’s narrative. Some scholars take his
account of the destruction of these tribes liter-
ally, while others see it as a flourish of political
propaganda.
Information about the genocide of the
Eburones goes back to Caesar himself, who
says in his account that the territory of this
civitas was razed to the ground and left to be
pillaged as punishment for the rebellion of
their king Ambiorix in 54 BC:
www.military-history.org
He [Caesar] sent messengers around to the neigh-
bouring tribes and invited them all, in the hope of
booty, to join him in pillaging the Eburones, … and
at the same time, by surrounding it with a large
host, destroy the race and name of the tribe.
After that, the Eburones disappeared from
the political map forever. Does this mean
that all the members of this ethnic group
were massacred?
If we look at the archaeological and envi-
ronmental data, a substantial population
decrease, caused by partial genocide, seems
likely. In fact, pollen diagrams suggest a
serious reduction in human activity and an
increase in woodland pollen in the Cologne
hinterland around the mid 1st century BC.
This conclusion seems to correlate fairly ABOVE Roman lead sling-bullets from Thuin,
closely with the events described in the texts indicating the attack by the Caesarian army.
and suggests that population declined signifi-
cantly in the region – though it never became
completely uninhabited.
‘Caesar surrounded
A substantial population decrease in the
1st century BC also seems to occur in the
the Eburones
Meuse-Demer-Scheldt region (southern
Netherlands/northern Belgium), a region
with a large host
which has produced high-quality settlement
evidence. Most Roman settlements in this area
appear to be new foundations of the late 1st
century BC or the early 1st century AD.
So archaeology is able to show that there was to destroy the
race and name
a serious break in occupation of the Meuse-
Images: Roymans et al 2012.
Demer-Scheldt region – a break likely to have
of the tribe.’
been caused by the Caesarian conquest.
At the same time, recent research allows
the image offered by the written sources to be
refined. There is some evidence of continuity.
The territory of the Eburones was never, it Caesar, Gallic War
Military History monthly 55
GALLIC WAR

Caesar’s Gallic War TIMELINE

Image: Roymans/Dijkman 2010.

Brittany coast.
58 BC Morini and 53 BC
Migration of Menapii of Revolt of Belgae
Helvetii blocked. north-eastern suppressed.
Helvetii Gaul defeated.
defeated in 52 BC
eastern-central 55 BC Pan-Gallic
Gaul. Caesar builds revolt led by
Ariovistus and bridge, crosses Vercingetorix.
German tribes Rhine, and Sieges of
defeated in defeats German Avaricum,
eastern Gaul. tribes. Gergovia, and
Caesar invades Alesia.
57 BC Britain for first Defeat and
Belgae of north- time. capture of
eastern Gaul Vercingetorix.
defeated and 54 BC
conquered. Caesar invades 51 BC
Britain for Last Gallic
56 BC second time. resistance
Veneti defeated Uprisings in suppressed.
in sea Gaul.
battle off

ABOVE Statue of the Eburonean king Ambiorix,

seems, completely depopulated.
The evidence for continuity includes certain
house types and recurring use of cult sites. In
fact, the pre-Roman sites of Kessel, Empel, and
Elst continued developing until they became
monumental Gallo-Roman sanctuaries.
So the absence of the Eburones from the
political map after the conquest was not the
result of wholesale slaughter, but of a more
limited, localised genocide.
of the Roman conquest:
the introduction of Latin, the spread of
writing, the progressive expansion of stone
architecture, the construction of villas with
mosaics, and the erection of large-scale public
works such as aqueducts or amphitheatres.
In fact, the subjugation of Gaul was an act
of imperialist violence that brought about
the death and enslavement of hundreds of
thousands of people. Partial genocides like that
of the Eburones, the tens of thousands who fell
in battle, the massive sales of slaves through the
southern markets, and the looting of numer-
leader of the anti-Roman revolt of 54 BC, in
Tongeren.
LEFT Reconstruction of the Gallo-Roman
temple complex at Empel. It has its origins
as a cult site in the early 1st century BC.
poles – those who simply tried to survive by
adapting as best they could to the changing
world they lived in. .
Professor Nico Roymans teaches at the Vrije
University of Amsterdam, and Dr Manuel
Fernández-Götz at the University of Edinburgh.

Mass violence and Roman

ous sanctuaries were acknowledged by the con-
querors in their own accounts. Archaeological
imperialism evidence now supports their testimony.
In numerous traditional accounts there has There was another side. There were
Image: Roymans 2004.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Identity and Power: the transformation
of Iron Age societies in north-east
Gaul, Fernández-Götz Amsterdam

been a tendency to see the Romanisation
of the Western provinces as ‘the light of
civilisation’ reaching passive and previously
barbarous indigenous societies. The emphasis
was been on the supposedly positive aspects
collaborators and there were processes of
integration and hybridisation. But a holistic
history should include victors and vanquished,
winners and losers, and also all those who
cannot easily be assigned to one of these two
University Press.
Caesar in Gaul and Rome: war in words,
Riggsby, University of Texas Press.

56 Military History monthly May 2015

View publication stats