Caput III. cisalpine Gaul and transalpine Gaul
by Michael Lambert
December 2023
Caput III. cisalpine Gaul and transalpine Gaul
by Michael Lambert
December 2023
The Introduction. Hannibal’s march across the Alps to the Po valley introduces a Celtic noun and Gallic concepts to the narrative: poenus, –i. 2n, noun. A peak of a mountain, from Celtic vocabulary: Pennine ‘of the Alps’. And further, poenus and Punicus may be cited interchangeably adds depth and detail. Talk of cisalpine Gaul is curiosity satisfying…
cisalpine Gaul. The Romans conceived their dominion of the Italian Peninsula extended only as far as the Apennine foothills. Beyond the foothills, there was alpine terrain, the Alps. The Alps had proven to be a ‘false friend’, for Hannibal had successfully breached the mountains and threatened Rome’s existence. Did Rome have a policy beyond annihilating Hannibal?
By the 6th century BCE, Celtic peoples from northern regions – a broadly defined arch extending from the Belgium’s English Channel coast, across the Netherlands, Denmark, and northern Germany – had traversed the Alps and had settled in areas on the near or cis-side of the Alps (relative to Rome). Archaeological evidence attests to the presence of a warrior culture. By the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the Celtic presence had grown. Livy, the Roman writer, comments about Gallic settlements in the Po valley. The Insubres tribe had settled in the area of Mediolanum, an area in and about Milan. Other tribes, such as the Cenomani, Libui, Salui, Boli, and the Lingones followed. The last of the Celtic peoples were the Senones. The Senones settled in a strip of land adjacent to the Adriatic. The tribal occupation had been gradual infiltration versus violent invasion. The occupied area was now known as ager Gallicus. Though a peaceful occupation, the Celtic peoples had displaced Etruscan settlements. And, being Gallic, their Celtic culture ensured there was always a small bit of raiding. Rome was attacked in 225 BCE. In response, Rome mounted a three-year campaign and captured Mediolanum in 222 BCE. To control the ager Gallicus, Rome established colonies. It was during the establishment of these colonies that Hannibal’s invasion occurred. On the conclusion of the Punic Wars, the colonies were rebuilt and resettled.
After the conclusion of the Social War, 91-85 BCE; cisalpine Gaul was made a Roman province. The southern boundary of the new province was the Rubicon River.
All cisalpine Gaul colonial settlers, not already citizens, were enfranchised. The Transpadani, persons not counted as settlers, such as the region’s Celtic tribesmen, were denied citizenship. The non-enfranchisement policy of Celtic peoples became a bitter point. Pleas to correct the lack of citizenship were unanswered. Caesar in 49 BCE enfranchised the Transpadani. It is believed that Caesar had further plans for cisalpine Gaul, but his assassination intervened.
In 42 BCE, Augustus re-organized the Italian peninsula into eleven administrative districts. cisalpine Gaul was districts VIII to XI inclusive.
cisalpine Gaul was now an integral part of the Roman Empire: from Britannia to Syria, from Germanica to Africa.
transalpine Gaul. From Rome’s perspective Gaul comprised the area from the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean coast of modern France to the English Channel, the Atlantic to the Rhine and the western Alps. transalpine Gaul emerged as a geographical entity from the 1st century BCE to the 5th century CE.
Rome, to safeguard a land route from Italy to Spain, created a special Provincia, with its capital at Narbo on Lake Geneva.
Caesar during the period 58-50 BCE seized remaining Gallic territory on the grounds that Celtic tribes had attacked Rome.
The following areas were extraterritorial of Gaul: Britannia, (first invaded by Caesar in 55-54 BCE and later by Claudius commencing in 43 CE), Celts of the Danube region, recent German immigrants in the north-east of Italy. The following were excluded but covered under other agreements; the Liguri and Iberi Celtic tribes and the Graeci.
transalpine Gaul, unlike cisalpine Gaul, was not a national unit; it was a legal Roman artefact.
Overall, Rome’s administration of transalpine Gaul was inconsistent, sometimes negligent. Caesar had founded nation-states, civitates with urban centers, oppida. The oppida’s purpose was socio-economic. Also created and dispersed throughout were military colonies.
Under the emperors, Provincia acquired numerous city-states in their own rights.
Romanization succeeded with Latin being the dominant language. Due to aggressive Roman public works construction, transalpine Gaul acquired road and river canal networks which encouraged social integration and commerce. At the height of Empire, the estimated population numbered 10 million persons. Though there were revolts, the revolts were localized, such as the revolt of 21 CE by the Reveri, Aedui, Andecavi and the Turoni tribes or the revolt of 69-70 CE by the Batavi, Treveri, and the Lingones. A further sign of Romanization was the demise of the pre-conquest aristocracy. For all these achievements, the Celtic peoples were often referred to as Gallia comata, long-haired Gaul.
There is no single factor attributed to collapse. There is the weight of Empire, its division into two separate spheres. Internal civil strife, a shift in social focus with the rise of Christianity, the frontier and barbarian pressure, such as the Franks in 418 CE and the Visigoths in the 460s-70s CE. No grand stride, just cumulative small steps…
The Summary. If you discuss cisalpine Gaul, then you are obliged to cite transalpine Gaul, for no other reason than comparison and contrast. Roman attitudes are best summarized: gens Gallorum and Gallia comata