Celtic History

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The Great Celtic Oppida

The large, fortified urban settlements of late Iron Age Celtic Europe, from Bibracte and Alesia in Gaul to Camulodunum in Britain and Manching in Bavaria.

The oppida, the large fortified settlements that emerged in Celtic Europe in the second and first centuries BCE, were the first cities of the Celtic world. Combining dense habitation, public spaces, workshops, trading areas, and political and religious functions on a scale that exceeded anything previously seen in the Celtic world, the oppida represented a new phase in the development of Celtic settlements and homes and a crucial step in the development of the late Iron Age Celtic economy. The term oppidum, used by Caesar and other Roman writers, was applied to a wide variety of settlements, but the great oppida of Gaul, Britain, and central Europe were the largest and most complex settlements of the Celtic world, and they played a central role in the history of the Celtic civilization on the eve of the Roman conquest. The oppida are treated in detail in the Celtic encounter with Rome and in the Iron Age Celtic expansion, and they remain one of the most striking features of the late Iron Age Celtic landscape.

The Origin of the Oppida

The oppida emerged in the second and first centuries BCE, in the closing phase of the late Iron Age, in response to a complex of economic, political, and social pressures. The most important of these pressures were the growth of long-distance trade, the rise of a wealthy Celtic aristocracy with an interest in the development of urban centers, the introduction of coinage, and the increasing pressure of Roman expansion in the south. The oppida were, in many ways, a Celtic response to the challenge of the Mediterranean world, and they developed in regions where contact with Greek, Etruscan, and Roman traders was most intense.

The earliest oppida appeared in the regions of strongest Mediterranean contact, including the Rhône valley, the coast of Provence, the middle Rhine, and the territory of the Boii in central Europe. The classical oppida of the late Iron Age, with their combination of dense habitation, public spaces, and trading functions, emerged in the second century BCE, and the great oppida of the first century BCE, including Bibracte, Alesia, and Manching, were the culmination of this long development.

The Oppida of Gaul

The most famous oppida were in Gaul, the great region of Celtic civilization on the eve of the Roman conquest. Caesar, in the De Bello Gallico, lists the oppida of the various Gallic tribes and describes their political and economic functions in considerable detail. The most important of the Gallic oppida were Bibracte in the territory of the Aedui, Gergovia in the territory of the Arverni, Alesia in the territory of the Mandubii, and the oppidum of the Bituriges at Avaricum, modern Bourges. Each of these was the political and economic center of a major tribal confederation, and each was the site of significant events in the Roman conquest of Gaul.

Bibracte, on the summit of Mont Beuvray in the Morvan hills of Burgundy, was the chief oppidum of the Aedui, the most ancient and most prestigious of the Gallic tribes. The oppidum, which covered some 200 hectares, was the political and religious center of the Aeduan confederation, and it was the site of the great annual assembly at which Aeduan policy was decided. Caesar used Bibracte as his base during the early campaigns of the Gallic Wars, and the oppidum was the subject of extensive archaeological investigation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The excavations, carried out by the Bibracte Archaeological Research Center, have revealed a complex of public buildings, workshops, storehouses, and residential areas, and they give a vivid picture of life in a major Gallic oppidum on the eve of Roman conquest.

The Oppida of Britain

The Celtic oppida of Britain were less numerous and less monumental than the continental oppida, but they were nonetheless important centers of political and economic life. The most important of the British oppida was Camulodunum, modern Colchester, the capital of the powerful Catuvellaunian confederation of southeastern Britain. Camulodunum, which occupied a series of hilltop sites in the area of modern Colchester, was the political center of the Catuvellaunian kings, including Tasciovanus, Cunobelinus, and Caratacus, and it was the most important settlement in pre-Roman Britain according to Caesar.

The other British oppida included Verulamium, modern St Albans, the oppidum of the Catuvellaunian predecessors, the Cassi, which Caesar described as a “fortress” of considerable size; Calleva Atrebatum, modern Silchester, the oppidum of the Atrebates in Hampshire; and the hill fort of Maiden Castle in Dorset, one of the largest hill forts in Iron Age Europe. The British oppida, like their continental counterparts, combined defensive, residential, and economic functions, and they were the political centers of the various British tribal confederations.

The Oppida of Central Europe

The Celtic oppida of central Europe, in the regions of the upper and middle Danube, the Bohemian basin, and the Rhineland, were among the largest and most complex of the late Iron Age Celtic world. The most important of the central European oppida was Manching, near Ingolstadt in Bavaria, which covered some 380 hectares and was one of the largest Celtic settlements ever excavated. The oppidum of Manching, which flourished from the second century BCE to the early first century CE, was a major center of Celtic metalwork, with workshops producing weapons, tools, and ornaments for export to the rest of the Celtic world. The Manching oppidum was destroyed by the Germanic peoples around 50 BCE, and the site was abandoned.

Other important central European oppida included the Heuneburg on the upper Danube, the oppidum of the Heuneburg culture, which dates to the sixth and fifth centuries BCE and may be one of the earliest examples of urban development in the Celtic world; the Oppidum of the Titelberg in Luxembourg, a major center of Celtic trade and coin minting; and the Oppidum of Stradonice in Bohemia, a major La Tène settlement famous for its rich metalwork finds.

The Functions of the Oppida

The oppida served a number of functions in late Iron Age Celtic society. The first and most obvious was as defensive refuges, places to which the inhabitants of the surrounding countryside could retreat in time of war. The oppida were typically surrounded by massive walls and ditches, and the great ramparts of the larger oppida, like the walls of Manching and Bibracte, were among the most impressive engineering works of the Iron Age.

The second function of the oppida was as economic centers, places of production, trade, and exchange. The oppida were the sites of workshops producing a wide range of goods, and they were the nodes of long-distance trade networks that connected the Celtic world with the Mediterranean. The introduction of coinage in the late third and second centuries BCE, modeled on Greek and Roman prototypes, was closely tied to the rise of the oppida. The third function of the oppida was as political and religious centers. The oppida were the seats of the tribal chiefs and the venues for the great political assemblies that decided matters of war and peace, and they were also the sites of the great sanctuaries of the Celtic religion, with temples, sacred groves, and ritual deposits that attracted worshippers from the surrounding region. The religious function of the oppida is reflected in the rich ritual deposits found at many sites, including the great hoard of Celtic coins and metalwork found at the sanctuary of the Titelberg, and the elaborate ritual deposits of the oppidum of La Tène, where thousands of objects were deposited in the lake as votive offerings.

The Legacy of the Oppida

The oppida left a deep mark on the subsequent history of the Celtic world, even though most of the great continental oppida were abandoned or transformed after the Roman conquest. Many of the modern cities of France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic began as Celtic oppida, including Paris, which began as the oppidum of the Parisii; Lyon, which began as the oppidum of the Segusiavi; Besançon, which began as the oppidum of the Vesontio; and Prague, which began as the oppidum of the Boii (the name Bohemia itself is derived from the Celtic tribe of the Boii). The Roman conquest of Gaul was followed by the establishment of Roman cities on or near the sites of many of the Gallic oppida, and the resulting urban network became the foundation of the medieval and modern urban system of France. The oppida also left a legacy in the political and cultural life of the Celtic world. The great assemblies of the Gallic tribes, which were held at the oppida, were a distinctive feature of Celtic political life, and they represent one of the earliest examples of large-scale political organization in the European Iron Age.

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