oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

Aedui The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; grc, Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Burgundy region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic a ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defi ...

Battle of Bibracte The Battle of Bibracte was fought between the Helvetii and six Roman legions, under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar. It was the second major battle of the Gallic Wars. Prelude The Helvetii, a confederation of Gallic tribes, had begun a total ...

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, ...

Vercingetorix Vercingetorix (; Greek: Οὐερκιγγετόριξ; – 46 BC) was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Despite ha ...

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

Joseph Déchelette Joseph Déchelette (8 January 1862 – 3 October 1914) was a French archaeologist, prehistorian, and museum curator. He particularly distinguished himself as an early scholar of ancient ceramology. He is among the first to have made the conne ...

Nièvre Nièvre () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019.Saône-et-Loire in Burgundy. The site is an archaeological park at the centre of a protected forest. It is the focus of cooperative European archaeological efforts, a training ground for young archaeologists, and a centre for interpreting Gaulish culture for a popular audience. Important international excavations have been undertaken at Mont Beuvray by teams from the universities of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

,

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

,

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. On December 12, 2007, the site of Bibracte received the "Great Site of France" designation. Before the Roman conquest in 52 BC the great Celtic city of Bibracte had more than thirty thousand inhabitants, protected by a huge stone wall of the

Murus Gallicus ''Murus gallicus'' or Gallic wall is a method of construction of defensive walls used to protect Iron Age hillforts and ''oppida'' of the La Tene period in Western Europe. Basic features The distinctive features are: * earth or rubble f ...

type which enclosed an area of 135 hectares.

Etymology

The origin of the word ''Bibracte'' is still poorly understood. The term may have come from the Celtic ''*bibro- / *bebro-'' ( beaver) followed by the collective suffix ''-akti'' (cf. Irish, Gallic ''aktā'') or from the Latin ''biffractrus'' (twice fortified). The latter version, however, is thought questionable from a strategic view, since it is very difficult to protect a

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

over a long distance, a problem which a double battlement would only have exacerbated. Furthermore, the surrounding wall of the city has shrunk since dating methods made it possible to show the precedence of the outer battlements compared to the inner battlements (see the map). The stone facing of the outer surrounding wall, moreover, was certainly reused for the construction of the second wall. Therefore, it is unlikely that Bibracte was surrounded by two walls at the same time. Three inscriptions dedicated to the goddess ''Bibracte'' which were found at

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

in the 17th century provide another explanation for the name, but two of the inscriptions carved into the stone have disappeared and the authenticity of the third, engraved on a brass medallion, has been the object of debate. Some scholars of the era have cited other evidence to justify placing the Aeduian oppidum on the site of Autun (the former Augustodunum), which was effectively the capital of the

Aedui The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; grc, Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Burgundy region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic a ...

in the first century. Christian Goudineau et Christian Peyre, Bibracte et les Éduens, ''À la découverte d'un peuple gaulois'', éditions Errance, pp 1–6 1993

Discovery of Bibracte

Bibracte is mentioned only twice in Roman sources. The first mention is found in

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, ...

's ''

Commentaries on the Gallic War ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...

'' in the year 58 BC. It was mentioned again in 52 BCE, when he was questioning the intentions of his Aedui allies, who had joined the revolt and crowned

Vercingetorix Vercingetorix (; Greek: Οὐερκιγγετόριξ; – 46 BC) was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Despite ha ...

king of the Gauls at Bibracte. Inscriptions from the era announced that the capital of the Aedui received the name (''the citadel of Augustus'') during the reign of Augustus, which gave rise to the current Autun. Starting in the 16th century, a passion for local history arose among scholars, aristocrats, and clergy, which led to the question of the location of Bibracte. Christian Goudineau, ''Regards sur la Gaule'', éditions Errance, 1998, pp. 65–82 One theory placed Bibracte at Autun: the Gallic city at the site of the Gallo-Roman city. Another placed it at

Beaune Beaune () is the wine capital of Burgundy in the Côte d'Or department in eastern France. It is located between Lyon and Dijon. Beaune is one of the key wine centers in France, and the center of Burgundy wine production and business. The annua ...

and was defended by the scholar . A third located the city on the slopes of Beuvrect or Bevrect, today known as Mont Beuvray. This last theory was based on three major arguments. First, there is a connection between the names Bibracte and Beuvrect. Second, medieval chronicles situated the city at Beuvrect. This was reinforced by the existence of an annual fair on the first Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of May, the age of which is attested to in texts from the 13th century. Finally, the discovery of pottery, coins, and the observations of the priest of Saint-Léger-sous-Beuvray in 1725 supported it. Generally, the Autun hypothesis received the greatest approval at first. Moreover, Autun was renamed Bibracte after the French Revolution and remained so for some time. Only the research of in the 19th century shifted scholarly opinion in favor of Mont Beuvray. In 1851, Bulliot communicated with the Congress of the French Society of Archeology about an ancient chapel (the Saint Martin chapel on Mont Beuvray) established to Christianize the Aedui. He also returned to Mont Beuvray to take more notes. He discovered what he thought was the embankment of a Roman camp (actually a

nemeton A nemeton (plural: nemeta) was a sacred space of ancient Celtic religion. Nemeta appear to have been primarily situated in natural areas, and, as they often utilized trees, they are often interpreted as sacred groves.Koch, p. 1350. However, othe ...

) at the summit of Mont Beuvray next to the chapel. He documented it and considered placing Bibracte at Mont Beuvray instead of Autun, contrary to the unanimous opinion of the Aedui Society. The publication of his ''Essay on the Roman System of Defense in the Aedui country between the Saône and the Loire'', in which he revealed his convictions, was not taken seriously by the members of the Society of Archeology. Bibracte, 1st century B

Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

took an interest in the battles of the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...

and an officer named Stoffel, charged by the Emperor with conducting investigations of the Roman victory over the Helvetii, visited Bulliot, who shared with him his opinions about the location of Bibracte. Stoffel was not interested, but he commissioned Xavier Garenne, another member of the Aedui Society, to make a survey of Mont Beavray. At the same time, the Viscount of Aboville, the owner of the land, conducted research and shared it with the Archbishop of Reims, who was a member of the Aedui Society and a friend of Bulliot, though he did not share Bulliot's theory about the location of Bibracte. Interested by these investigations, the Archbishop shared the various findings with the Emperor who, in 1867, assigned Bulliot to do research at Mont Beavray and funded his work. Bulliot excavated the site from 1867 to 1905, removing all doubt about the location of Bibracte. His nephew

Joseph Déchelette Joseph Déchelette (8 January 1862 – 3 October 1914) was a French archaeologist, prehistorian, and museum curator. He particularly distinguished himself as an early scholar of ancient ceramology. He is among the first to have made the conne ...

, whom he introduced to excavation, continued the work until 1907, comparing Bibracte to other sites in Europe such as Stradonice in Bohemia, the

Manching Manching is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, 7 km southeast of Ingolstadt. In the late Iron Age, there was a Celtic settlement, the Oppidum of Manching, on the location ...

in Germany and Velem-Zenst-Vid in Hungary, which were precursors of the cultural unification of the Celtic world and of the civilization of

oppida An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretch ...

.

History of the oppidum

Chronology of the population of Beuvray

During the excavations of the gate, five artifacts were discovered, the oldest of which demonstrated human habitation on Mont Beuvray in the

Neolithic Era The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

. Dating techniques have shown that the oppidum was founded at end of the 3rd century BCE, on an area of 200 hectares protected by the exterior rampart. An interior rampart was built later, for reasons unknown.Anne-Marie Romero, Bibracte Archéologie d'une ville gauloise, Bibracte-Centre archéologique européen, 2006, p.60 Because the Aedui had the status of "friend of the Roman people," contacts with Roman merchants were probable before the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. This privileged status prevented Bibracte from suffering much from conflict: in 58 BCE, at Montmort 25 kilometers south of the site, Julius Caesar's armies defeated the Helvetii, forcing them to return to Switzerland and gradually be incorporated into what became the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. In 52 BCE, an assembly of Gallic peoples at Bibracte gave

Vercingetorix Vercingetorix (; Greek: Οὐερκιγγετόριξ; – 46 BC) was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Despite ha ...

supreme command of the Gallic armies.Anne-Marie Romero, Bibracte Archéologie d'une ville gauloise, Bibracte-Centre archéologique européen, 2006, p16 Despite this insurrection, Caesar treated the city mercifully after his victory at Alesia. He stayed there during the winter of 52-51 BCE to write his ''Commentaries on the Gallic War''. These mentioned the names of certain notables of the Aedui aristocracy such as

Dumnorix Dumnorix (spelled Dubnoreix on coins) was a chieftain of the Aedui, a Celtic tribe in Gaul in the 1st century B.C. He was the younger brother of Divitiacus, the Aedui druid and statesman. The Aedui were allies of Rome, but Dumnorix was a leader o ...

,

vergobret A ''vergobret'' was a magistrate in ancient Gaul who held the highest office in many Gallic cities, especially among the Aedui. Julius Caesar discusses the role of the vergobret several times in his ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'', referring to ...

of the Aedui, and his brother Diviciacos, the druid. The city's industry boomed in the decades following the war. Strabo the geographer, writing a generation later than Caesar, identified Bibracte as again an Aedui stronghold. After the founding of

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

( Augustodunum) 25 kilometers away c. 15 BCE, during the reign of

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, Bibracte was gradually abandoned by its inhabitants. However, cults continued to practise their rites in its temples and its fountains and its aristocratic residences were maintained. Two main hypotheses have been advanced concerning the abandonment of the site over several decades. Migration could have been caused by economic reasons or by a desire to integrate with the Roman model; a part of the dominant Aedui class, already pro-Roman during the

Gallic War The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...

, definitely realized the strategic importance of the new city located on the principal axes of communication and wanted to conform to the Roman model of flatland cities, while a more traditional population remained for a time on the Bibracte site. It is known from 13th century texts that a festival every first Monday of May survived. In the 15th and 16th centuries, a Franciscan convent was established on Mont Beuvray. It was abandoned, but the festival continued.

Influence and power

The power of the Aedui capital was related in the ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'', which underlined the many alliances held by the Aedui with neighboring peoples. Julius Caesar also mentioned the wars that set the Aedui against the Arverni and the

Sequani The Sequani were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper river basin of the Arar river (Saône), the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Sequanos'' by Caesar (mi ...

for hegemony over a large part of Gaul. These references were not impartial, since Rome had been allied with the Aedui, "our blood brothers", since at least the 2nd century BCE. Moreover, they maintained commercial links and military alliances: Rome helped the Aedui in the 2nd century to defeat an Arverni army and rose to their defense against the invasion of the Helvetii that precipitated the

Gallic War The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...

.

Gabriel de Mortillet Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet (29 August 1821 – 25 September 1898), French archaeologist and anthropologist, was born at Meylan, Isère. Biography Mortillet was educated at the Jesuit college of Chambéry and at the Paris Conservat ...

, in his classification of ancient peoples, included the site's residents under the name "Beavraisian", a category abandoned by modern scholars. In addition to this powerful alliance with Rome, the Aedui were part of a confederation of Celtic tribes that included: *The

Ambarri The Ambarri were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Ain department during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Ambarri'' and ''Ambarros'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),Caesar. ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico''1:11< ...

(in

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...

) *The Brannovices *The

Bellovaci The Bellovaci (Gaulish: ''Bellouacoi'') were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the modern Picardy region, near the present-day city of Beauvais, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. After they were defeated by Caesar in 57 BC, they gave lukewarm s ...

*The

Bituriges The Gaulish name Bituriges, meaning 'kings of the world', can refer to: * Bituriges Cubi, an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling around modern Bourges * Bituriges Vivisci, an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling around modern Bordeaux {{Disambiguation ...

(in Berry) *The Parisii *The

Segusiavi The Segusiavī (Gaulish: *''Segusiauī/Segusiawī'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling around the modern city of Feurs ( Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Segusiavis'' by Caesar (mid-1st ...

(

Forez Forez is a former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire ''département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''départements''. The final "z" in Forez () is not pronounced in the Loire ...

, adjacent to the Arverni) *The

Senones The Senones or Senonii (Gaulish: "the ancient ones") were an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling in the Seine basin, around present-day Sens, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Part of the Senones settled in the Italian peninsula, where they ...

( Sens region) Whose influence extended across a large part of Gaul. Archeologists estimate the population of Beuvray between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants at its peak.

Commerce

In his ''History of Gaul'', the historian

Camille Jullian Camille Jullian (15 March 1859 – 12 December 1933) was a French historian, philologist, archaeologist and historian of literature. A Professor of ancient history and classics at the University of Bordeaux from 1891, Jullian was awarded a chai ...

writes these lines about the

Aedui The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; grc, Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Burgundy region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic a ...

: "Bibracte, I am sure, was the source and the guarantee of their power. Around Bibracte were very good roads, uniting the three biggest basins of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

." So, the Roman products traveling up the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

(the waterways were the fastest means of travel at the time) and taking after that the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name ...

, the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

or the Allier, passed through Aedui territory before joining the basins of the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

and Seine. The Aedui were located at a commercial crossroads between the Celtic world and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. They allowed the diffusion of Roman products through Gaul as early as the 2nd century BCE, allowing their allies to benefit from their commerce with Rome and definitely with Greek colonies such as

Massilia Massalia (Greek: Μασσαλία; Latin: Massilia; modern Marseille) was an ancient Greek colony founded ca. 600 BC on the Mediterranean coast of present-day France, east of the river Rhône, by Ionian Greek settlers from Phocaea, in Western An ...

. These exchanges are confirmed by the large quantities of amphoras and ceramics from Italy found in waste tanks and in the paving of houses. In addition, the Aedui installed a system of customs that taxed products passing through their territory to increase their wealth, as attested in the texts of Julius Caesar: "It was typical of

Dumnorix Dumnorix (spelled Dubnoreix on coins) was a chieftain of the Aedui, a Celtic tribe in Gaul in the 1st century B.C. He was the younger brother of Divitiacus, the Aedui druid and statesman. The Aedui were allies of Rome, but Dumnorix was a leader o ...

: the man was audacious, his generosity made him popular, and he wanted political change. For years, he has had the control of the customs and all the other taxes of the Aedui, because when he bid, no one dared bid against him." The Aedui and the

Sequani The Sequani were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper river basin of the Arar river (Saône), the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Sequanos'' by Caesar (mi ...

fought each other to control the Arar (now the Saône) because controlling the river allowed taxation of Roman and Celtic products traveling north. In the centre of the oppidum many cellars and certain public buildings that stocked large quantities of cereals and wine imported from the southern countries have been found. One of these wooden cellars has recently been reconstructed. Without a doubt, it was in these buildings that the Aedui centralized their harvests and imports.

Politics

The political system of the Aedui was essentially reformed according to indications in the ''Commentaries on the Gallic War''. At the head of the Aedui state sat a senate comprising one member of each Aedui aristocratic family. What is today called ''executive power'' was held by the

vergobret A ''vergobret'' was a magistrate in ancient Gaul who held the highest office in many Gallic cities, especially among the Aedui. Julius Caesar discusses the role of the vergobret several times in his ''Commentaries on the Gallic War'', referring to ...

, the supreme magistrate, who exercised his functions over the course of a year. He was forbidden from leaving the borders of the territory during this period, which prevented him from commanding the army outside the borders. Christian Goudineau et Christian Peyre, Bibracte et les Éduens, À la découverte d'un peuple gaulois, éditions Errance, 1993, pp 81–83 This measure, along with that which authorized only one voice per aristocratic family in the senate, aimed to prevent any individual or their family from monopolizing the reins of power. The vergobret was publicly elected by a council directed by the druids. Among the Aedui, it seems like the vergobret also exercised a judiciary role, since Caesar reports that he had "the right to life and death over his fellow citizens". Finally, it is thought that the vergobret was responsible for the administration of the territory. Caesar adds that the druids were charged with this: "They believe that religion does not allow them to put the material of their education in writing, while for the rest in general, for public and private administrative acts, they used the Greek alphabet." No excavation has permitted the rediscovery of such acts, the backings of which, being wood covered with wax, are perishable. Furthermore, it is known that the druids held high functions since Diviciacus came to Rome to plead the case of the Aedui during the Germanic invasion led by Ariovistus on the account of the Sequani; he also directed the Aedui cavalry during the Gallic War after the death of his brother

Dumnorix Dumnorix (spelled Dubnoreix on coins) was a chieftain of the Aedui, a Celtic tribe in Gaul in the 1st century B.C. He was the younger brother of Divitiacus, the Aedui druid and statesman. The Aedui were allies of Rome, but Dumnorix was a leader o ...

. Therefore, it is thought that some druids held high military positions.

Archeological research on Mont Beuvray

From 1865 to 1895, Gabriel Bulliot identified Bibracte in 1867 and began excavations there (notably the Celtic artisanal neighborhood surrounding the Rebout gate), with the aid of funds allocated by Napoleon III. In fact, having a passion for history, the emperor set off vast campaigns of excavations to uncover sites of the Gallic War in order to write his ''History of Julius Caesar''. The modest "Hotel of the Gauls" which housed the researcher on the premises had been constructed there since. Joseph Déchelette, the nephew of Bulliot, took up his work again from 1895 to 1907. He was killed during World War I and the excavations fell into neglect. In 1984, the excavations began again under the impetus of François Mitterrand, who proclaimed Bibracte a site of national interest in 1985. This term, invented for the occasion, allowed the site to be subsidized. The label of "national interest" was created afterward in order to designate exhibitions or sites which benefit from a program of diffusion and enlargement of the public by the Minister of Culture. This will always give the necessary impetus to a project of excavations of European scope. Thus, in 1989, the European Archeological Center of Mont Beuvray was created, which will reassemble the site, the museum, and the research center of Glux-en-Glenne. It was inaugurated in 1995. By order on March 21, 1995, the Minister of Culture, on the advice of the National Council of Archeological Research, confirmed the oppidum of Bibracte (Mont-Beuvray, Saint-Léger-sous-Beuvray; Saône-et-Loire; Glux-en-Glenne; Nièvre). The excavations were actually conducted by Vincent Guichard and put into practice by many French and foreign teams; the excavations notably concentrated on the Gallic neighborhood of Rebout, on the vast Gallo-Roman ensemble of the Pasture of the Convent and the Roman residence of the Horse Park. Thus, specialists, researchers, professors and students from all over Europe come together on the site every summer to excavate different parts of the site. These have included, among others: *

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

:

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

*

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

: Université Libre de Bruxelles *

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

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, Pierre and Marie Curie University,

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, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,

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: University of Madrid and

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* Switzerland:

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Each university excavates the site as triannual projects which currently depend on the comprehension of the operation of a Celtic city of the

La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

. Their research consists of several weeks of work on the terrain which is followed by a detailed study of the excavation and of the objects discovered, which are then stored at the site's research center.

Archeological prospecting on Mont Beuvray

The prospecting technique used by Bulliot was rudimentary. It consisted of observing the irregularities in the landscape, since the mountain was practically unchanged since the period under study. This allowed him to recreate a plan of the battlements with nearly no excavation. He used this technique to make a scale plan with the help of the army topographers, who made a series of topographical recreations of the landscape. Only the recreation of the Porrey neighborhood exists to this day.Anne-Marie Romero, Bibracte Archéologie d'une ville gauloise, Bibracte-Centre archéologique européen, 2006, pp 98–99 In recent years, the same technique has been used in the same Porrey neighborhood with more precise tools, like

theodolite A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building an ...

s and

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

. In fact, aerial and electromagnetic prospecting is made impossible by the vegetation that reforested the mountain since the end of grazing and the excavations of Joseph Déchelette and the nature of the subsoil. One costly but faster technique, tested in 2007, is LIDAR, the use of airborne laser scanners, which are unhindered by the vegetation and can recreate in minutes what usually takes weeks to do on the ground. This will be done in order to attempt to make a complete map of the city and to archive the topography of the location.

Organization

The research done by Bulliot and Déchelette at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century recreated an organization of the site into neighborhoods, with construction mostly following a central road from the Gate of Rebout to the Great Gates. This organization differs from that of oppida like Manching, where there is a regular urban framework; this is explained by the relief of the terrain, as the battlements encircle three summits with some relatively steep slopes. Since 1984, the excavations have seemed to confirm Déchelette's and Bulliot's hypotheses in broad terms, while nevertheless contributing certain nuances.

Battlements

Bibracte was protected by strong

Murus Gallicus ''Murus gallicus'' or Gallic wall is a method of construction of defensive walls used to protect Iron Age hillforts and ''oppida'' of the La Tene period in Western Europe. Basic features The distinctive features are: * earth or rubble f ...

style battlements, which excavations have been able to reconstruct. The city had a progression of two different surrounding walls and at least five restorations of the inner surrounding wall, revealed, among other things, by the study of the Rebout gate. Surprisingly, the inner encircling wall was constructed after the outer wall. The city, therefore, shrank in area from 200 to 135 hectares (494 to 334 acres). The first wall (the internal wall on the map below), discovered by Bulliot, is a Murus Gallicus that delimits an area of 135 hectares for a length of per battlement. It is estimated that construction of the wall required more than 10,000 cubic meters of wood, between 10,000 and 20,000 cubic meters of earth and about thirty tons of iron. The second wall, surprisingly outside the first, encircles an area of 200 hectares and was the subject of research beginning in 1992 for initial probing. This archeological research revealed that the battlement had had a height between four and five meters (13 and 16 feet) without its yet-unknown top (e.g., palisades or towers) and an identical depth, and was preceded by a ditch between 2 and 4 meters (7 and 13 feet) deep and between 6 and 10 meters (20 and 33 feet) wide. A study was conducted between 1995 and 2002 with many probes along with those by the University of Vienna. The researchers were able to ascertain that this battlement was a Murus Gallicus that had been dismantled in order to construct the inner wall. The dating, however, remains imprecise, and places this event during the 2nd century. These excavations also updated a postern to the level of Porrey, which is the only one currently known for Murus Gallicus type fortifications. Bibracte Porte Rebout

The battlement is punctuated by about fifteen gates, including the famous Gate of Rebout (20 meters (66 feet) in width and 40 meters (131 feet) in depth). The gate of Rebout was the first location excavated by Bulliot, where he worked for nine weeks, and was the first site for new excavations from 1984 to 1986 which also studied the ditches adjoining the battlements. These excavations revealed five levels of different restorations, including a palisade from the Neolithic Era (dated with carbon-14). The latter has been the object of a reconstruction since 1996 which currently marks the entry into the old

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

. At the present time, research has not been able to detect a trace of a method for locking the gate or a defensive device for it. Some hypotheses have advanced the idea of a double gate surmounted by a wooden guard tower like that of the Manching oppidum, but nothing has yet confirmed this. The recent research on the battlements, since 2005, has concentrated on a line of fortification downhill from the Gate of Rebout. Dating seems to indicate that this construction took place after that of the gate and therefore constituted an advance fortification. It will be studied over the course of the next excavations. At the same time, some aristocratic tombs have been discovered between the two lines of battlements.

Public buildings

Excavations conducted between 2012 and 2017 uncovered the remains of a large monumental public building dating to the La Tène period, c. 70 BC. In the first phase of construction (c. 70 BC) a terrace was built, surrounded by a ''murus gallicus'' stone wall with a large entrance on the east side. On the terrace a 44 metre-long square building was constructed out of wood, with galleries surrounding a central courtyard. Around 30 BC a monumental building was erected in the central space and the galleries were replaced with a palisade. In c. 15 BC the previous building was levelled and a vast platform was built which was surrounded by stone walls. In the centre the space was possibly occupied by a new central building. Next to this another platform was built, also surrounded by a stone wall, with an internal gallery built from wood. These constructions have been compared to other known public buildings and temples from the La Tène period, though the precise purpose of the buildings at Bibracte is yet to be determined. According to Hantrais et al. (2020) "The characteristics of this monumental construction indicate that it was certainly a public building with original architectural features and techniques. Yet, although this monumental building is very well documented archaeologically, its exact function remains enigmatic."

Artisans' neighborhoods of Côme Chaudron and Champlain

The excavations, which were resumed in 2000 in the neighborhoods known as the Côme Cauldron and the Champlain, near the Rebout Gate, revealed a neighborhood dedicated to metalwork and to artisans' lodging. This metalworking seems to have been very specialized, incorporating blacksmiths, bronzeworkers, and enamellers, whose workshops had already been restored by Bulliot, and probably also involved goldsmiths and minters. Excavations on the site of Beuvray, in the region of the Champlain, and on the surrounding massifs revealed the existence of mines for the extraction of metals, including gold, iron, and tin ore. This research will continue and will attempt to restore the workshops for the smelting of the metals extracted outside the oppidum. In fact, given the specialization of the workshops in Bibracte, it seems that the metals arrived in bars which were therefore cast outside the oppidum. Another artisanal neighborhood has been found in the region of one of the summits of the site, at the Rock of the

Wyvern A wyvern ( , sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary winged dragon that has two legs. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, Un ...

, an area which had been little investigated at the time of Bulliot and Déchelette's research. This neighborhood will be the object of future excavations which will attempt to determine the function of the neighborhood.

Housing

Predominantly made of wood and earth, the Gallic houses used stone only sparingly, which was saved for the ramparts. Little is known of the houses' structure as wood rots and decomposes. There are, however, stone constructions in the horse Park district, probably aristocratic residences and a public building with columns, near the convent's pasture. These were probably constructed soon after the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...

. Anne-Marie Romero, Bibracte Archéologie d'une ville gauloise, Bibracte-Centre archéologique européen, 2006, pp 87–89

Horse Park

At the center of Mont Beuvray, the plateau known as the Horse Park holds several Roman-style stone houses which were excavated in the 19th century. The houses there include, in particular, the residence PC1 (so named by Bulliot), which is a veritable gold mine for the researchers. In fact, it developed from a wood construction (of Roman inspiration) at a domus with an

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

containing an

impluvium The ''impluvium'' (pl. ''impluvia'') is a water-catchment pool system meant to capture rain-water flowing from the ''compluvium'', or slanted roof. Often placed "inside", instead of "outside", a building, it is a notable feature in many archite ...

, porticos, and

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

heated by

hypocaust A hypocaust ( la, hypocaustum) is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm th ...

, along with a system of sewers. In its final stage, the residence measured 55 by 67 meters, covering an area of around 3500 square meters, about four times the size of the domus found on the site of Pompeii. It is estimated that there were about fifteen domus in this area, such as PC2, a smaller residence that faces PC1 on the other side of the central road. There are also homes of the

villa rustica Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...

type (the Italian rural residences) like PC33. However, it is still not known whether this was a residential neighborhood reserved for only the elite, since excavations have also revealed the presence of forges near the domus.

Monumental basin

At the centre of the main road, in the area of the Pasture of the Monastery, stands a pink granite monumental basin with a transversal orientation corresponding to the rising sun during the Winter Solstice and to the setting sun during the Summer Solstice. Water left the basin through the northern opening downstream, continuing through a pipe. The supply of water, however, has not yet been discovered: * the basin was waterproofed with a coat of red clay, precluding a feed from a spring * no supply pipe has been found The main geometrics of the design are known: the intersection of two circles with connections of precisely the length of a Pythagorean triangle joining the centre of the circle, the centre of the basin and one end of the basin. However, its use is still unknown; it could be a sacred point of the city's founding, or a water shrine. Among certain specialists, this manner of carving granite is unusual and rests on the principles of Mediterranean limestone carving. This points to the basin being a monument outside of ordinary Celtic architecture. Almagro-Gorbea (2017) suggests that the Bibracte basin "seems to be correlated to the druid Diviciacus, an expert in the philosophy of nature", in reference to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

's statement that “there are indeed Druids in Gaul — for I knew one of them myself, Divitiacus, the Aeduan ... He claimed to have that knowledge of nature which the Greeks call '''physiologia'".'' Various classical authors refer to the druids as philosophers, who had a knowledge of astronomy and adhered to Pythagorean beliefs and practices.

Hippolytus of Rome Hippolytus of Rome (, ; c. 170 – c. 235 AD) was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestin ...

states that the druids "investigated to the very highest point the Pythagorean philosophy" and foretold certain events "from calculations and numbers by the Pythagorean art". Some modern authors have further suggested that Bibracte was the site of a druidic school, as described by Julius Caesar in the ''

Gallic War The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homel ...

:'' The later Aeduan capital of was the location of the Menian schools, which were dedicated to the study of liberal arts and law. The schools are mentioned by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

in his account of the

Revolt of Sacrovir The Revolt of Sacrovir, also called the Florus-Sacrovir Revolt, was a Gallic uprising against Roman authorities led by Julius Sacrovir of the Aedui and Julius Florus of the Treveri in AD 21. Motivated by financial woes, the two chieftains refused ...

:

Places of worship

The oppidum of Bibracte has about ten springs and five fountains dating from the Gallic or Gallo-Roman periods. The Saint Pierre Fountain was a place of worship and pilgrimage, in which coins and

ex-voto An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or to a divinity; the term is usually restricted to Christian examples. It is given in fulfillment of a vow (hence the Latin term, short for ''ex voto suscepto'', "from the vow made") or in gratitude o ...

s were found. At the summit of the mountain, a Celtic place of worship (

nemeton A nemeton (plural: nemeta) was a sacred space of ancient Celtic religion. Nemeta appear to have been primarily situated in natural areas, and, as they often utilized trees, they are often interpreted as sacred groves.Koch, p. 1350. However, othe ...

) a hectare large has been exhumed, surrounded by a palisade and concentric ditches. Under the current chapel from the 19th century, the 1988 excavations discovered a Galloroman temple. Furthermore, the abandonment of the city before the beginning of the Christian era did not prevent the pursuit of pilgrimages carried out in its surroundings.

Necropolis

Located below the present-day museum parking lot, the necropolis underwent archaeological excavations, with the aim of saving it, when the museum was created and the ''route départementale'' was diverted. Over a surface area of 1.5 hectares, 70 funeral enclosures, used following incineration, were found, each having an eastern entry. The crematorium was found further south. Other funerary urns were discovered at the foot of the Rebout Gate, possibly the remains of a local aristocratic family.Bibracte website, archaeological section http://www.bibracte.fr/index.php?langue=en More cemeteries are presumably situated on the former site access paths, as was often the case at the time, but have not yet been excavated.

Basilica

In the area of the Convent Pasture, the excavations revealed, under a large domus of the Augustan era, the presence of an exceptional public monument, which was at the time unique in Gaul: a Roman

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

with three naves and an internal

peristyle In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=f ...

with a peripheral

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

, displaying four rows of eight columns or eight pilasters. It was connected on the east with a small square, 22 meters on a side, bordered to the north and south with porticos which were extensions of the walls of the annexes of the basilica. On the west it was connected to the main road of Bibracte with another square, 17 meters on the side. Some architectural elements have been found that attest the presence of limestone columns with Attic bases and Doric and

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

capitals. These elements formed a monumental urban project of the greatest importance. These public buildings date to the period between 50 and 40 BCE and between 35 and 25 BCE. At this date, the basilica and the square were carefully leveled and replaced by a large private residence, doubtless in connection with the move of the Aedui capital to Autun. The basilica of Bibracte confirms the exceptional importance of the site and revealed that the Romanization of the Aedui was considerably more rapid than previously believed. The basilica of Bibracte is currently the oldest representation of Roman monumental stone architecture in non-Mediterranean Europe.

A window to the Celtic world

Museum of Celtic Civilization

The site hosts the Museum of Celtic Civilization, constructed by Pierre-Louis Faloci and opened to the public in 1996. Pierre-Louis Faloci is also the architect of Bibracte's Center of European Archeological Research, which was opened in 1994. The architectural design corresponds to the evolution of the ages of humanities: it has a base of carved stone, walls of polished pradesh, and a metal roof. One of the facades, which are large picture windows, is hidden by a wall of pradesh (on the valley side), while that which faces the site allows free view to the visitors. The museum has few proper collections, as many of those exhibited are loaned from other museum. During some years, the

Coligny calendar The Coligny calendar is a second century Celtic calendar found in 1897 in Coligny, France. It is a lunisolar calendar with a five-year cycle of 62 months. It has been used to reconstruct the ancient Celtic calendar. The letters on the ca ...

and the

Gundestrup cauldron The Gundestrup cauldron is a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date from between 200 BC and 300 AD,Nielsen, S; Andersen, J; Baker, J; Christensen, C; Glastrup, J; et al. (2005). "The Gundestrup cauldron: New scientific and technical ...

can be seen there.

Permanent exhibits

The 2000 square meters of the exhibit in the museum are laid out over two stages. The first stage (and the first in the tour) recounts the discovery of the site and the place of Bibracte in the global context of the European Celtic culture. The majority of the following subjects are covered: war, the age of oppida, Mediterranean commerce, and agriculture. The ground floor, which consists of several alcoves, recounts the life of the Aedui at Bibracte. Objects of daily life, jewelry, funereal urns, and artisanal workshops are reconstructed or exhibited there.

Temporary exhibits

Several summer exhibits have been featured at the museum, each addressing a precise subject of the Celtic world:Anne-Marie Romero, Bibracte Archéologie d'une ville gauloise, Bibracte-Centre archéologique européen, 2006, pp 136–142 * 1995: Celtic Europe at the time of Bibracte * 1996: History seen from above * 1997: A look at the Celts in Slovenia * 1998: At the border of East and West

protohistoric Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in ...

art in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

in the 1st millennium BCE * 1999: The tombs of the last Celtic aristocrats * 2000: The Gallic druidsNote that Diviciacos, an Aedui druid, is the only one whose name is known * 2001: The time of the Gauls in the provinces * 2002: On Caesar's trail * 2003: Blacksmiths and metal merchants * 2004: The white gold of Hallstatt * 2005: Wine, the nectar of the Gods * 2006: The treasures of women * 2007: A round trip between Bibracte and Kathmandu * 2008: Situlae, images of a vanished world * 2009: La Tène * 2010: The Gauls do the head

Research center

Located four kilometers from Mont Beuvray, in the commune of Glux-en-Glenne (

Nièvre Nièvre () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019.gîte A gîte () is a type of accommodation that comes in a variety of forms, ranging from a gîtes d'etape, a hostel, for walkers and cyclists, to a gîte rural, a holiday home in the country available for rent, often an accessory dwelling unit. The t ...

s. In this center, archeologists, students, and researchers congregate from all over Europe to excavate the site of Bibracte. In several months, the research center will expand to accommodate the regional center for preservation of relics and archeological collections, becoming the reference center of Burgundy in this field.

Gallery

File:Bibracte Musee Interieur domestique.jpg, Celtic house interior reconstruction File:Bibracte chambre1.jpg, Celtic house interior reconstruction File:Bibracte chambre2.jpg, Celtic house interior reconstruction File:Bibracte metier tisser.jpg, Weaving and crafts File:Bibracte murus gallicus1.jpg, Construction of a ''murus gallicus'' File:Mont-Beuvray - 13.jpg, Excavations on Mont Beuvray File:Mont-Beuvray - Fouilles.jpg, Excavations on Mont Beuvray File:107 Mont Beuvray Paysage panoramique en direction du sud.jpg, View from Mont Beuvray

References

Bibliography

Reference works

* Christian Goudineau and Christian Peyre, ''Bibracte et les Éduens, À la découverte d'un peuple gaulois, éditions Errance, 1993 * Christian Goudineau, ''Regards sur la Gaule'', éditions Errance, 1998, pp. 65–82 * Anne-Marie Romero, ''Bibracte. Archéologie d'une ville gauloise'', Bibracte-Centre archéologique européen, 2006 * Stephan Fichtl, ''La ville celtique, Les oppida de 150av. J.-C. à 15ap. J.-C.'', éditions Errance, 2005 * K. Gruel et D. Vitali, ''L'oppidum de Bibracte. Un bilan de onze années de recherches (1984–1996)'', Gallia, 55, 1998, pp. 1–14
Read online
* "Bibracte, capitale des Éduens", ''L'Archéologue-Archéologie nouvelle'', 4, mars 1994, pp. 36–45 et 6, juin 1994, pp. 62–72

Old works

* Jacques Gabriel Bulliot, ''Fouilles du Mont-Beuvray (ancienne Bibracte) de 1867 à 1895'', Dejussieu (Autun), 2volumes, 1899 * Joseph Déchelette, ''Les fouilles du Mont-Beuvray de 1897 à 1901'', Picard (Paris), Dejussieu (Autun), 1904 * Joseph Déchelette,'' L'oppidum de Bibracte. Guide du touriste et de l'archéologue au Mont Beuvray et au Musée de l'Hôtel Rolin'', Picard (Paris), Dejussieu (Autun), 1903 * Joseph Déchelette, ''Manuel d'archéologie préhistorique, celtique et gallo-romaine'', éditions Picard, Collection Grands manuels Picard, 2000

Works from the collection Archeological Excavations of Bibracte

* Guillaumet J.-P., Szabo M. (under the direction of), ''Études sur Bibracte'', (Studies on Bibracte) Glux-en-Glenne: BIBRACTE, 2005, 313 p., * Paunier D., Luginbühl T., ''Les sites de la maison 1 du Parc aux Chevaux (PC 1). Des origines de l'oppidum au règne de Tibère'' (The Sites of House 1 of the Horse Park (PC1). The Origins of the Oppidum in the Reign of Tiberius), Glux-en-Glenne : Bibracte, 2004, 472 p. * Olmer F., ''Les amphores de Bibracte, 2. Le commerce du vin chez les Eduens d'après les timbres d'amphores'', Glux-en-Glenne : Bibracte, 2003, 375 p. * Buchsenschutz O., Guillaumet J.-P., Ralston I. (sous la direction de), ''La Porte du Rebout'', Glux-en-Glenne : Centre *Archéologique Européen du Mont Beuvray (CAE), 1999, 320 p.

External links

Bibracte website
(in English)

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Bibracte, site archéologique, centre de recherche et musée

El Estanque Monumentale de Bibracte
- Detailed analysis of the Bibracte Basin (in Spanish and English)
The Monumental Basin of Mont Beuvray and its Possible Orientation towards the Constellation of Gemini (2019)

Novedades sobre el urbanismo de Bibracte (2005)
(in Spanish)
Gaul by Jean-Claude Golvin
Illustrations of Bibracte
Water management in Bibracte (Saône-et-Loire), before and after the Roman Conquest (Borau 2020)
{{Authority control Populated places established in the 3rd century BC Populated places disestablished in the 1st century BC 1st-century BC disestablishments in the Roman Empire 1867 archaeological discoveries Oppida Roman towns and cities in Burgundy Populated places in pre-Roman Gaul Former populated places in France Aedui Museums in Saône-et-Loire Archaeological museums in France Museums of ancient Rome in France Prehistoric sites in France

Etymology

Discovery of Bibracte

History of the oppidum

Chronology of the population of Beuvray

Influence and power

Commerce

Politics

Archeological research on Mont Beuvray

Archeological prospecting on Mont Beuvray

Organization

Battlements

Public buildings

Artisans' neighborhoods of Côme Chaudron and Champlain

Housing

Horse Park

Monumental basin

Places of worship

Necropolis

Basilica

A window to the Celtic world

Museum of Celtic Civilization

Permanent exhibits

Temporary exhibits

Research center

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

Reference works

Old works

Works from the collection Archeological Excavations of Bibracte

External links