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Divodurum Mediomatricorum

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Divodurum Mediomatricorum
Cityscape of Divodurum Mediomatricum (c. 2nd century AD)
Alternative nameDivodurum
LocationMetz, France
RegionLorraine
TypeCeltic oppidum
History
PeriodsRoman Empire

Divodurum Mediomatricorum ('place of the gods, divine enclosure')[note 1] was the main oppidum of the Mediomatrici (Gaulish: *Medio-māteres)[1]. Divodurum Mediomatricorum is mentioned by Tacitus in the early 1st century AD[2][1][3]. The oldest settlement of the oppidum was located on a hill, at the confluence of the Moselle and Seille rivers, nowadays in France. The present-day city of Metz, attested c. 400 AD as civitas Mediomatricorum ('civitas of the Mediomatrici'), is named after the Celtic tribe[4].

History

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The Mediomatrici were, according to Caesar, a Gaulish tribe at the frontier to the Belgicae dwelling in the present-day region Lorraine and Upper Moselle department during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They are mentioned as Mediomatricorum and Mediomatricis (dat.) by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[5] Mediomatrikoì (Μεδιοματρικοὶ ) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[6] Mediomatrici by Pliny (1st c. AD),[7] Mediomatricos (acc.) by Tacitus (early 2nd c. AD),[8] and as Mediomátrikes (Μεδιομάτρικες) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD)[9][10].

During the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), the Mediomatrici sent 5,000 men to support Vercingetorix who was besieged in Alesia in 52[11][3]. In 69–70 of the Common Era, Divodurum was sacked by the armies of Vitellius, and 4,000 of its inhabitants massacred[11].

Settlements

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A secondary settlement, whose original name is unknown, was located in Bliesbruck, in the eastern part of their civitas.[12][13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Delamarre 2003, p. 156.
  2. ^ Nègre 1990, p. 175.
  3. ^ a b Schön 2006.
  4. ^ Nègre 1990, p. 155.
  5. ^ Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 4:10, 7:75.
  6. ^ Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:3:4.
  7. ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:106.
  8. ^ Tacitus. Historiae, 4:70.
  9. ^ Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:9:7.
  10. ^ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Mediomatrici.
  11. ^ a b Demougin 1995, p. 183.
  12. ^ Petit & Santoro 2016.
  13. ^ Antonelli & Petit 2017.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ From Gaulish deuos 'god' attached to duron 'gates' > 'enclosed town, market town').[1]

Bibliography

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  • Antonelli, Sonia; Petit, Jean-Paul (2017). "L'agglomération de Bliesbruck (Moselle) durant l'Antiquité tardive : entre ruptures et continuités" (PDF). Gallia. Archéologie des Gaules. 74 (74–1): 149–164. doi:10.4000/gallia.2428. ISSN 0016-4119.
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
  • Demougin, Ségolène (1995). "À propos des Médiomatriques". Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz. 6: 183–194. doi:10.3406/ccgg.1995.1608. ISSN 1016-9008. JSTOR 24359561.
  • Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
  • Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.
  • Petit, Jean-Paul; Santoro, Sara (2016). "Le centre public d'une agglomération secondaire de la cité des Médiomatriques : Bliesbruck (Moselle)" (PDF). Gallia. Archéologie des Gaules. 73 (73–2): 213–283. doi:10.4000/gallia.2734. ISSN 0016-4119.
  • Schön, Franz (2006). "Mediomatrici". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e728280.
  • Wightman, Edith M. (1985). Gallia Belgica. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05297-0.
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