Gallia Aquitania

Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as

Aquitaine

or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the

Roman Empire

. It lies in present-day southwest

France

, where it gives its name to the modern region of

Aquitaine

. It was bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis.John Frederick Drinkwater (1998). "Gaul (Transalpine)". ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization.'' Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford University Press
Oxford Reference Online

Tribes of Aquitania

Fourteen

Celt

ic tribes and over twenty

Aquitani

an tribes occupied the area from the northern slopes of the

Pyrenees

in the south to the ''Liger'' (

Loire

) river in the north. The major tribes are listed at the end of this section.''Strabo: The Geography''
The Aquitani
There were more than twenty tribes of Aquitani, but they were small and lacking in repute; the majority of the tribes lived along the ocean, while the others reached up into the interior and to the summits of the Cemmenus Mountains, as far as the

Tectosages

.

The name ''Gallia Comata'' was often used to designate the three provinces of Farther Gaul, viz. Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Belgica, and Aquitania, literally meaning "long-haired Gaul", as opposed to ''Gallia Bracata'' "trousered Gaul", a term derived from ''bracae'' ("breeches", the native costume of the northern "barbarians") for Gallia Narbonensis.

Most of the Atlantic coast of the Aquitani was sandy and thin-soiled; it grew

millet

, but was unproductive with respect to other products. Along this coast was also the gulf held by the Tarbelli; in their land, gold mines were abundant. Large quantities of gold could be mined with a minimum of refinement. The interior and mountainous country in this region had better soil. The Petrocorii and the Bituriges Cubi had fine ironworks; the Cadurci had linen factories; the Ruteni and the Gabales had silver mines.

According to Strabo, the Aquitani were a wealthy people. Luerius, the King of the Arverni and the father of Bituitus who warred against Maximus Aemilianus and Dometius, is said to have been so exceptionally rich and extravagant that he once rode on a carriage through a plain, scattering gold and silver coins here and there.

The Romans called the tribal groups '' pagi''. These were organized into larger super-tribal groups that the Romans called ''civitates''. These administrative groupings were later taken over by the Romans in their system of local control.

Aquitania was inhabited by the following tribes: Ambilatri, Anagnutes, Arverni, Ausci, Basabocates, Belendi, Bercorates, Bergerri, Bituriges Cubi,

Bituriges Vivisci

, Cadurci, Cambolectri Agesinates, Camponi,

Convenae

, Cocossati, Consoranni, Elusates, Gabali, Lassunni / Sassumini, Latusates / Tarusates, Lemovices, Monesi, Nitiobroges / Antobroges, Onobrisates, Oscidates montani, Oscidiates campestres, Petrocorii, Pictones, Pindedunni / Pinpedunni, Ruteni, Santones, Sediboniates, Sennates, Sibyllates, Sottiates, Succasses, Tarbelli, Tornates / Toruates, Vassei, Vellates, Vellavi, Venami.

Gallia Aquitania and Rome

Gaul

as a nation was not a natural unit (Caesar differentiated between proper Gauls (Celtae), Belgae and

Aquitani

). In order to protect the route to Spain, Rome helped Massalia (

Marseille

) against bordering tribes. Following this intervention, the Romans conquered what they called ''Provincia'', or the "Province" in 121 BC. ''Provincia'' extended from the

Mediterranean

to

Lake Geneva

, and was later known as Narbonensis with its capital at Narbo. Some of the region falls into modern

Provence

, still recalling the Roman name.

The main struggle (58–50 BC) against the Romans came against

Julius Caesar

under

Vercingetorix

at Battle of Gergovia (a city of the Arverni) and at the Battle of Alesia (a city of the Mandubii). The Gaulish commander was captured at the siege of Alesia and the war ended. Caesar seized the remainder of Gaul, justifying his conquest by playing on Roman memories of savage attacks over the Alps by Celts and Germans. Italy was now to be defended from the Rhine.

Caesar named Aquitania the triangle shaped territory between the Ocean, the Pyrenees and the

Garonne

river. He fought and almost completely subdued them in 56 BC after Publius Crassus's military exploits assisted by Celtic allies. New rebellions ensued anyway up to 28-27 BC, with Agrippa gaining a great victory over the Gauls of Aquitania in 38 BC. It was the smallest region of all three mentioned above. A land extension stretching to the Loire River was added by

Augustus

, following the census conducted in 27 BC, based on Agrippa's observations of language, race and community according to some sources. At that point, Aquitania became an imperial province and it, along with Narbonensis, Lugdunensis and Belgica, made up

Gallia

. Aquitania lay under the command of a former Praetor, and hosted no legions.

More so than Caesar,

Strabo

insists that the

primeval Aquitani

differ from the other Gauls not just in language, institutions and laws ("''lingua institutis legibusque discrepantes''") but in body make-up too, deeming them closer to the Iberians. The administrative boundaries set up by Augustus comprising both proper Celtic tribes and primeval Aquitani remained unaltered until Diocletian's new administrative reorganization (see below).

The Arverni often warred against the Romans with as many as two to four hundred thousand men. Two hundred thousand fought against Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus and against Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. The Arverni not only had extended their empire as far as Narbo and the boundaries of Massiliotis, but they were also masters of the tribes as far as the Pyrenees, and as far as the ocean and the ''Rhenus'' (

Rhine

).

Late Roman Empire and the Visigoths

Early Roman Gaul came to an end late in the 3rd century. External pressures exacerbated internal weaknesses, and neglect of the Rhine frontier resulted in barbarian invasions and civil war. For a while Gaul, including Spain and Britain, was governed by a separate line of emperors (beginning with

Postumus

). However, there had still been no move to gain independence. In an attempt to save the Empire, Diocletian reorganized the provinces in 293, with the establishment of the ''Diocesis Viennensis'' in the south of Gaul, comprising the former Gallia Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis. At the same time, Aquitania was divided into '' Aquitania Prima'', with its see (capital) in ''

Avaricum Biturigum

'' (Bourges), '' Aquitania Secunda'' (see – ''

Burdigala

''; the later Bordeaux) and ''Aquitania Tertia'', better known as ''

Novempopulania

'' ("land of the nine peoples"), with its see in '' Elusa'' (Eauze). ''Novempopulania'' originated in boundaries set up by Caesar for the original Aquitania, who had kept some kind of separate sense of identity (Verus' mission to Rome aimed at demanding a separate province). After this restructuring, Gaul enjoyed stability and enhanced prestige. After the trans-Rhine invasion December 31 406 by 4 tribes (Alans, Sueves, Asding and Siling Vandals), the offices of the Gallic prefecture were moved from Trier to Arles even though the Rhine frontier was subsequently restored and under Roman control till 459 when Cologne was taken by the Franks. Roman attention had been shifted to the south to try to control the invaders and keep them from the Mediterranean, a policy which failed after the Vandals started to harass the coasts from their bases in southern Spain from the early 420s.

In the early 5th century, Aquitania was invaded by the Germanic Visigoths. The Emperor Flavius Honorius conceded land in Aquitania to the Visigoths . According to some sources the Visigoths were Roman ''foederati'' and Flavius acted to reward them under the principle of '' hospitalitas'' (i.e. the Roman legal framework under which civilians were required to provide quarters to soldiers). However, in 418, an independent

Visigothic Kingdom

was formed from parts of ''Novempopulania'' and ''Aquitania Secunda''. The death of the general Aëtius (454) and a worsening debility on the part of the western government created a power vacuum. During the 460s and 470s, Visigoths encroached on Roman territory to the east, and in 476, the last imperial possessions in the south of Aquitania were ceded to the Visigoths. The Visigothic Kingdom later expanded over the Pyrenees and into the

Iberian Peninsula

.

From 602, an independent

Duchy of Vasconia

(or ''Wasconia'') was formed, under a

Frankish

-Roman elite, in the former Visigothic stronghold of south-west Aquitania (i.e. the region known later as Gascony).

Known governors

* Quintus Julius Cordus AD 69
* Gnaeus Julius Agricola 74-76
* Marcus Cornelius Nigrinus Curiatius Maternus 80-83
* Senecio Memmius Afer 94-96
* ucius Valerius Propinquus?Grani s ...?Grattius erealis?Geminius R stitutus?123-125
* Salvius ValensRonald Syme
"A Lost Legate of Aquitania"
''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'', 79 (1988), pp. 181-187
* Quintus Caecilius Marcellus Dentilianus c. 138
* Titus Prifernius Paetus Rosianus Geminus 142-145
* Quintus Cecilius Marcellus Dentillianus 146-149
* ..Licianus
* Fidus 150s
* Marcus Censorius Paullus ?157-?160
* Publius Flavius Pudens Pomponianus second half second centuryPaul Leunissen, ''Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander'' (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1989), pp. 204f
* Lucius Julius Julianus during the reign of CaracallaLeunissen, ''Konsuln und Konsulare'', p. 283
* Marcus Juventius Secundus Rixa Postumius Pansa Valerianus Severus early third century.

References

{{Authority control

Provinces of Roman Gaul
History of Aquitaine
Former countries in French history
27 BC establishments
1st-century BC establishments in Roman Gaul
20s BC establishments in the Roman Empire
5th-century disestablishments
5th-century disestablishments in the Roman Empire
States and territories established in the 1st century BC
States and territories disestablished in the 5th century