![Mittelrhein2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Mittelrhein2.jpg)
The Aresaces were
Belgic Belgic may refer to:
* an adjective referring to the Belgae, an ancient confederation of tribes
* a rarer adjective referring to the Low Countries or to Belgium
* , several ships with the name
* Belgic ware
Aylesford-Swarling pottery is part of a ...
tribe. They were closely related to, and probably originally part of, the
Treveri
The Trēverī (Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringe ...
. They inhabited the left bank of the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
in the
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
-Bingen area, which was once the easternmost part of Treveran territory.
Written sources
The Aresaces are not mentioned by ancient writers, such as geographers or
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
, but are known from three inscriptions dating to the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Two of these come from
Rhenish Hesse
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...
,
while the third is from
Augusta Treverorum
Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, whose history dates to the Roman Empire, is often claimed to be the oldest city in Germany. Traditionally it was known in English by its French name of Treves.
Prehistory
The first traces of human settlement in ...
(
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
), the capital of the Treveri.
A grave monument from
Mainz-Weisenau
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Main ...
that identifies the two deceased children as
Treveri
The Trēverī (Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringe ...
has been explained as evidence that the Aresaces continued to regard themselves as a subdivision of the Treveri.
Another Celtic tribe in Rhenish Hesse, known from an inscription as well as ancient literature, was the
Cairacates.
Settlement area of the Aresaces
![Donnersberg-earthworks-01s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Donnersberg-earthworks-01s.jpg)
According to current scholarship, the Aresaces would have been organized as a ''
pagus
In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...
'' or sub-unit of the Treveri, settled in Rhenish Hesse in the area south and east of
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
. Their neighbours to the south were the Celtic
Mediomatrici
The Mediomatrici (Gaulish: ''*Medio-māteres'') were according to Caesar a Gaulish tribe at the frontier to the Belgicae dwelling in the present-day regions Lorraine, Upper Moselle during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are ment ...
, while on the opposite bank of Rhine dwelled the Germanic
Vangiones
The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenance. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near ...
,
Triboci
In classical antiquity, the Triboci or Tribocci were a Germanic people of eastern Gaul, inhabiting much of what is now Alsace.
Name
Besides the forms Triboci and Tribocci, Schneider has the form “Triboces” in the accusative plural. Pliny ha ...
,
Nemetes
The Nemetes (occasionally ''Nemeti'') were a tribe settled along the Upper Rhine by Ariovistus in the 1st century BC.
Their capital, ''Noviomagus Nemeton'' (or ''Civitas Nemetum''), was close to the site of medieval Speyer.
Their area of settlem ...
, and the
Mattiaci
The Mattiaci were by Tacitus recorded as an ancient Germanic tribe and related to the Chatti, their Germanic neighbors to the east. There is no clear definition of what the tribe's name meant. The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' sugge ...
(a subdivision of the
Chatti
The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe
whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis''). They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the valle ...
) in the area around present-day
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
.
This area was only sparsely settled during the late
La Tène period, with larger settlements barely to be found in the second half of the 1st century BCE. One possible cultural and administrative centre of the Aresaces might have been the ''oppidum'' on the
Donnersberg
The Donnersberg ("thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate (german: Pfalz) region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the ...
, which would have marked the southeasternmost centre of Treveran influence.
Urbanization was only to increase noticeably at the time of, or shortly before, the Roman presence in the region.
The Aresaces in the Mainz area
At the time of the Romans' arrival in greater Mainz in 13–12 BCE, there were two or more lesser civilian settlements there that can probably be attributed to the Aresaces. One such at
Mainz-Weisenau
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Main ...
emerged either shortly before or at the same time as the Roman army camp at Mainz, while a village-like settlement at
Mainz-Bretzenheim also straddled the banks of the Zaybach. There is further evidence for settlement at
Mainz-Finthen near the Königborn and Aubach.
A Celtic and later Roman temple district between
Klein-Winternheim
Klein-Winternheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
Kl ...
and
Ober-Olm
Ober-Olm is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Neighbouring municipalities
Ober-Olm's neig ...
near Mainz was dedicated to
Mars Loucetius and
Nemetona
Nemetona, or 'she of the sacred grove', is a Celtic goddess with roots in northeastern Gaul. She is thought to have been the eponymous deity of the Germano-Celtic people known as the Nemetes;Beck, pp. 237-238. evidence of her veneration is found ...
; this is regarded as the tribal sanctuary of the Aresaces living in the area.
The Aresaces under Roman rule
![Mz-roemer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Mz-roemer.jpg)
Under
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...
, if not before, the Romans administratively separated the area of Treveran territory on the left bank of the Rhine from the ''civitas Treverorum'' and the province of
Gallia Belgica
Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and Germany.
In 50 BC, af ...
, attaching the Rhenish Hesse region to the newly organized province of
Germania Superior. The Aresaces were likely to have been organized as a separate ''civitas'' from the Treveri at this stage, if not earlier, as were their neighbours the Cairacates.
Meanwhile, the city of Mainz—known in Latin as ''Mogontiacum''—flourished as a legionary headquarters for a number of
Roman legion
The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of ...
s and also the capital of the province of Germania Superior.
Aresaces and Vangiones in Rhenish Hesse
The territory of the Aresaces was formerly thought to have belonged to the
Vangiones
The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenance. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near ...
, who would thus have occupied quite a large tract on the left bank of the Rhine. However, this interpretation is now considered superseded in light of archaeological discoveries. The Vangiones' settlement on the left bank of the Rhine, in the area of present-day
Worms Worms may refer to:
*Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs
Places
*Worms, Germany
Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...
(ancient ''Civitas Vangionum'' or ''Borbetomagus''), is now considered to have taken place only under the aegis of the Roman administration during the
Augustan period.
[See, among others, Marion Witteyer, p. 1025.]
Sources
*
*
References
{{Peoples of Gaul
Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul
Historical Celtic peoples
Gauls
Belgae
History of Mainz
Rhenish Hesse
Treveri