Jump to content

Gallo-Roman culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromGallo-Roman art)
This article is about the culture of Romanized areas of Gaul. For the political history of the brief "Gallic Empire" of the third century, seeGallic Empire.

Wall fragment with fresco of a Gallo-Roman man, fromEvreux,250–275 AD
Gallo-Roman figures found inIngelheim am Rhein

Gallo-Roman culturewas a consequence of theRomanizationofGaulsunder the rule of theRoman Empire.It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation ofRoman culture, language, morals and way of lifein a uniquely Gaulish context.[1]The well-studied meld of cultures[2]inGaulgives historians a model against which to compare and contrast parallel developments of Romanization in other less-studiedRoman provinces.

Interpretatio romanaoffered Roman names forGaulish deitiessuch as the smith-godGobannus,[3]but of the Celtic deities, only the horse-patronessEponapenetrated Romanized cultures beyond the confines of Gaul.[4]

Thebarbarian invasionsbegan in the late 3rd century and forced upon Gallo-Roman culture fundamental changes in politics, economic underpinning and military organization. TheGothic settlement of 418offered a double loyalty, as Western Roman authority disintegrated at Rome. The plight of the highly-Romanized governing class[5]is examined by R.W. Mathisen,[6]the struggles of bishopHilary of Arlesby M. Heinzelmann.[7]

Into the 7th century, Gallo-Roman culture would persist particularly in the areas ofGallia Narbonensisthat developed intoOccitania,Cisalpine Gaul,Orléanais,and to a lesser degree,Gallia Aquitania.The formerly-Romanized northern Gaul, once it had been occupied by theFranks,would develop intoMerovingianculture instead. Roman life, centered on the public events and cultural responsibilities of urban life in theres publicaand the sometimes luxurious life of the self-sufficient ruralvillasystem, took longer to collapse in the Gallo-Roman regions, where theVisigothslargely inherited the status quo in 418. The Gallo-Roman language persisted in the northeast into theSilva Carbonaria,which formed an effective cultural barrier with the Franks to the north and the east, and in the northwest to the lower valley of theLoire,where Gallo-Roman culture interfaced with Frankish culture in a city likeToursand in the person of that Gallo-Roman bishop confronted with Merovingian royals,Gregory of Tours.Based uponmutual intelligibility,David Dalbycounts seven languages descended from Gallo-Romance:Gallo-Wallon,French,Franco-Provençal(Arpitan),Romansh,Ladin,Friulian,andLombard.[8]However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing theRhaeto-Romance languages,Occitano-Romance languagesandGallo-Italic languages.

Politics

[edit]
Northern Gaul "sou",440–450, 4240mg.Hotel de la Monnaie.

Gaul was divided by Roman administration into three provinces, which were subdivided during the later 3rd-century reorganization underDiocletian,and divided between two dioceses, Galliae and Viennensis, under the Praetorian prefecture of Galliae. On the local level, it was composed ofcivitates,which preserved, broadly speaking, the boundaries of the formerly-independent Gaulish tribes, which had been organised in large part on village structures, which retained some features in the Roman civic formulas that overlaid them.

Over the course of the Roman period, an ever-increasing proportion of Gauls gainedRoman citizenship.In 212, theConstitutio Antoninianaextended citizenship to all free-born men in the Roman Empire.

Gallic Empire

[edit]
Main article:Gallic Empire
AGallicwarrior dressed in Romanlorica hamata(chainmail) with a cloak over it. Wearing atorcaround his neck, he also wields a Celtic-style shield although the proportions of the body and the overall realism are more in line withClassicalandRoman artthan with theCeltic depictionsof soldiers.[9]

During theCrisis of the Third Century,from 260 to 274, Gaul was subject toAlamannicraids during a civil war. In reaction to local problems, the Gallo-Romans appointed their own emperor,Postumus.The rule over Gaul,BritanniaandHispaniaby Postumus and his successors is usually called theGallic Empirealthough it was just one set of many usurpers who took over parts of the Roman Empire and tried to become emperor. The capital wasTrier,which was used as the northern capital of the Roman Empire by many emperors. The Gallic Empire ended whenAureliandecisively defeatedTetricus Iat Chalons.

Religion

[edit]
Main article:Gallo-Roman religion

The pre-Christian religious practices of Roman Gaul were characterized bysyncretismof Graeco-Roman deities with their nativeCeltic,BasqueorGermaniccounterparts, many of which were of strictly local significance. Assimilation was eased byinterpreting indigenous gods in Roman terms,such as withLenus MarsorApollo Grannus.Otherwise, a Roman god might be paired with a native goddess, as withMercuryandRosmerta.In at least one case, that of the equine goddessEpona,a native Gallic goddess was also adopted by Rome.

Easternmystery religionspenetrated Gaul early on, which included the cults ofOrpheus,Mithras,CybeleandIsis.

Theimperial cult,centred primarily on thenumenofAugustus,came to play a prominent role in public religion in Gaul, most dramatically at the pan-Gaulish ceremony venerating Rome and Augustus at the Condate Altar, nearLugdunum,annually on 1 August.

Christianity

[edit]
Gallo-RomanChristiansarcophagus,Rignieux-le-Franc(Ain), late 4th century.Louvre Museum.

Gregory of Toursrecorded the tradition that after the persecution under the co-emperorsDeciusand Gratus (250–251), the future PopeFelix Isent seven missionaries to re-establish the broken and scattered Christian communities:Gatiento Tours,Trophimusto Arles,Paulto Narbonne,Saturninusto Toulouse,Denisto Paris,Martialto Limoges andAustromoinetoClermont.[10]

In the 5th and the 6th centuries, Gallo-Roman Christian communities still consisted of independent churches in urban sites, each governed by abishop.Christians experienced loyalties that were divided between the bishop and the civil prefect, who operated largely in harmony within the late-imperial administration. Some of the communities had origins that predated the 3rd-century persecutions. The personal charisma of the bishop set the tone, as 5th-century allegiances forpagansand Christians switched from institutions to individuals. Most Gallo-Roman bishops were drawn from the highest levels of society as appropriate non-military civil roads to advancement dwindled, and they represented themselves as bulwarks of high literary standards and Roman traditions against theVandalandGothicinterlopers. Other bishops drew the faithful to radical asceticism. Bishops often took on the duties of civil administrators after the contraction of the Roman imperial administration during the barbarian invasions of the 5th century by helping fund building projects and even acting as arbiters of justice in the local community. Miracles attributed to both kinds of bishops, as well as holy men and women, attractedcult veneration,sometimes very soon after their death. A great number of locally venerated Gallo-Roman and Merovingian saints arose from 400 to 750. The identification of the diocesan administration with the secular community, which took place during the 5th century in Italy, can best be traced in the Gallo-Roman culture of Gaul in the career ofCaesarius,bishop andMetropolitanofArlesfrom 503 to 543. (Wallace-Hadrill).

Language

[edit]
See also:Gallo-Romance languages,Gaulish language,Aquitanian language,Vulgar Latin,andLigurian language (ancient)
TheGallo-Romance languagestoday, in the broadest definition of the term.

Before the Roman incursion, most of Gaul spoke Celtic dialects that are now considered to be theGaulish languagewith considerablevariation.The south-western region that would later becomeGasconyspoke theAquitanian language,which may have been the parent language ofBasque,[11]and parts of the coast near Marseille spokeLigurianwith some Greek-speaking colonies on the Mediterranean coast, notably includingMassilia.In the northeastern zone ofBelgica,there may have been some presence ofGermanic languages,but that is disputed. During the late empire, there was some settlement in Gaul by tribes speaking Germanic orEastern Iranian languages,such as theAlans.

Overview of the re-assembled tablet of theColigny calendar,alunisolar calendarcreated in the 2nd century with native Gaulish text

TheGaulish languageis thought to have survived into the 6th century in France, despite considerable Romanization of the local material culture.[12]The last record of spoken Gaulish deemed to be plausibly credible[12]was whenGregory of Tourswrote in the 6th century (c. 560–575) that a shrine inAuvergnewhich "is calledVasso Galataein the Gallic tongue "was destroyed and burnt to the ground.[13]Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape theVulgar Latindialects that developed into French, with effects including loanwords andcalques(includingoui,[14]the word for "yes" ),[15]sound changes,[16][17]and influences in conjugation and word order.[15][18][19]

TheVulgar Latinin the region of Gallia took on a distinctly local character, some of which is attested in graffiti,[19]which evolved into theGallo-Romancedialects which include French and its closest relatives. The influence ofsubstratelanguages may be seen in graffiti showing sound changes that matched changes that had occurred earlier in the indigenous languages, especially Gaulish.[19]The Vulgar Latin in the North of Gaul evolved into thelangues d'oïlandFranco-Provencal,and the dialects in the South evolved into the modernOccitanandCatalantongues. Other languages held to be Gallo-Romance include theGallo-Italic languagesand theRhaeto-Romance languages. Latinepigraphyin Gaul has peculiarities such as the occasional variant⟨Ꟶ⟩instead of⟨H⟩.[20]

Gallo-Roman art

[edit]
The "Endymion sarcophagus", early 3rd century, found in 1806 atSaint-Médard-d'Eyrans,in RomanGallia Aquitania(Louvre)
Model reconstructing the Pillar of the Boatmen in theMusée de Cluny,an example of synthesis between Celtic and Roman art

Roman culture introduced a new phase of anthropomorphized sculpture to the Gaulish community,[21]synthesized with Celtic traditions of refined metalworking, a rich body of urbane Gallo-Roman silver developed, which the upheavals of the 3rd and the 5th centuries motivated hiding away inhoards,which have protected some pieces of Gallo-Roman silver, from villas and temple sites, from the universal destruction of precious metalwork in circulation. The exhibition of Gallo-Roman silver highlighted specifically Gallo-Roman silver from the treasures found atChaourse(Aisne),Mâcon(Saône et Loire), Graincourt-lès-Havrincourt (Pas de Calais), Notre-Dame d'Allençon (Maine-et-Loire) and Rethel (Ardennes, found in 1980).[22]

Gallo-Roman sites

[edit]

The two most Romanized of the three Gauls were bound together in a network ofRoman roads,which linked cities.Via Domitia(laid out in 118 BC), reached fromNîmesto thePyrenees,where it joined theVia Augustaat theCol de Panissars.Via Aquitaniareached fromNarbonne,where it connected to the Via Domitia, to theAtlantic OceanthroughToulousetoBordeaux.Via Scarponensis connectedTriertoLyonthroughMetz.

Sites, restorations, museums

[edit]
Bust of a Gallo-Roman, fromLausanne,Switzerland, About 200 AD.

AtPérigueux,France, a luxurious Roman villa called theDomus of Vesunna,built round a garden courtyard surrounded by a colonnaded peristyle enriched with bold tectonic frescoing, has been handsomely protected in a modern glass-and-steel structure that is a fine example of archaeological museum-making (see external link).

Lyon,the capital of Roman Gaul, is now the site of theGallo-Roman Museum of Lyon(rue Céberg), associated with the remains of the theater andodeonof RomanLugdunum.Visitors are offered a clear picture of the daily life, economic conditions, institutions, beliefs, monuments and artistic achievements of the first four centuries of theChristian era.The "Claudius Tablet" in the Museum transcribes a speech given before the Senate by theEmperor Claudiusin 48, in which he requests the right for the heads of the Gallic nations to participate in Roman magistracy. The request having been accepted, the Gauls decided to engrave the imperial speech on bronze.

InMetz,once an important town ofGaul,theGolden Courtyard Museumsdisplays a rich collection of Gallo-Roman finds and the vestiges of Gallo-Roman baths, revealed by the extension works to the museums in the 1930s.

InMartigny,Valais,Switzerland, at theFondation Pierre Gianadda,a modern museum of art and sculpture shares space with Gallo-Roman Museum centered on the foundations of a Celtic temple.

Other sites include:

Towns

[edit]
Cityscape of Gallo-Roman Divodurum Mediomatricum, ancestor of present-dayMetz(second century AD.).
The Gallo-Roman museum in the amphitheatre ofLugdunumin today'sLyon

Amphitheatres

[edit]

Aqueducts

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^For a recent survey on the Romanization of Gaulish culture, seeWoolf, Greg (1998).Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press(published 2003).doi:10.1017/CBO9780511518614.ISBN0-521-41445-8.
  2. ^Modern interpretations are revising the earlier dichotomy of "Romanization"and" resistance ", especially as viewed, under the increased influence of archaeology, through thematerial remainsof patterns of everyday consumption, as in Woolf 1998:169–205, who emphasised the finds atVesontio/Besançon.
  3. ^Pollini, John,ed. (2002).Gallo-Roman Bronzes and the Process of Romanization: The Cobannus Hoard.Monumenta Graeca et Romana. Vol. 9.Leiden:Brill Publishers.ISBN978-90-04-12437-0.
  4. ^Oaks, L. S. (1986). "The Goddess Epona: Concepts of Sovereignty in a Changing Landscape". InHenig, Martin;King, Anthony (eds.).Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire.Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monographs. Vol. 8.Oxford:Oxford University Press.pp. 77–83.ISBN0-947816-08-9.
  5. ^Gilliard, Frank D. (October 1979). "The Senators of Sixth-Century Gaul".Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies.54(4).University of Chicago Press,on behalf of theMedieval Academy of America:685–697.doi:10.2307/2850323.JSTOR2850323.S2CID162653671.
  6. ^Mathisen,Roman Aristocrats in Barbarian Gaul: Strategies for Survival in an Age of Transition(University of Texas Press) 1993.
  7. ^M. Heinzelmann, "The 'affair' of Hilary of Arles (445) and Gallo-Roman identity in the fifth century" in Drinkwater and Elton 2002.
  8. ^David Dalby, 1999/2000,The Linguasphere register of the world’s languages and speech communities.Observatoire Linguistique, Linguasphere Press. Volume 2. Oxford.[1]
  9. ^Ashton, Kasey. "The Celts Themselves."University of North Carolina.Accessed 5 November 2017.
  10. ^Historia Francorum,i.30.Later local traditions inserted locally venerated bishops into this group, to establish parity with the seven churches of Gaul.
  11. ^Trask, L.The History of BasqueRoutledge: 1997ISBN0-415-13116-2
  12. ^abLaurence Hélix (2011).Histoire de la langue française.Ellipses Edition Marketing S.A. p. 7.ISBN978-2-7298-6470-5.Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise.
  13. ^Hist. Franc.,book I, 32Veniens vero Arvernos, delubrum illud, quod Gallica lingua Vasso Galatæ vocant, incendit, diruit, atque subvertit.And coming to Clermont [to theArverni] he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatæ in the Gallic tongue.
  14. ^Peter Schrijver,Studies in the History of Celtic Pronouns and Particles,Maynooth, 1997, 15.
  15. ^abSavignac, Jean-Paul (2004).Dictionnaire Français-Gaulois.Paris: La Différence. p. 26.
  16. ^Henri Guiter, "Sur le substrat gaulois dans la Romania", inMunus amicitae. Studia linguistica in honorem Witoldi Manczak septuagenarii,eds., Anna Bochnakowa & Stanislan Widlak, Krakow, 1995.
  17. ^Eugeen Roegiest,Vers les sources des langues romanes: Un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania(Leuven, Belgium: Acco, 2006), 83.
  18. ^Matasovic, Ranko (2007)."Insular Celtic as a Language Area".In Tristram, Hildegard L.C. (ed.).The Celtic Languages in Contact(Papers from the Workshop within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies). Postdam University Press. p. 106.ISBN978-3-940793-07-2.
  19. ^abcAdams, J. N. (2007). "Chapter V – Regionalisms in provincial texts: Gaul".The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC – AD 600.Cambridge. pp. 279–289.doi:10.1017/CBO9780511482977.ISBN9780511482977.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. ^West, Andrew;Everson, Michael(25 March 2019)."Proposal to encode Latin Letter Reversed Half H"(PDF).Retrieved21 September2022.
  21. ^A. N. Newell, "Gallo-Roman Religious Sculpture"Greece & Rome3.8 (February 1934:74–84) noted the esthetic mediocrity of early Gallo-Roman sculpture in representations of Gaulish deities.
  22. ^Exhibition "Trésors d'orfevrerie Gallo-Romaine", Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine, Lyons, reviewed by Catherine Johns inThe Burlington Magazine131(June 1989:443–445).

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Wallace-Hadrill, J.M. 1983.The Frankish Church(Oxford University Press)ISBN0-19-826906-4,1983
  • Drinkwater, John, and Hugh Elton, eds.Fifth-Century Gaul: a crisis of identity?(Cambridge University Press) 2002.
  • Omrani, Bijan.Caesar's Footprints: Journeys to Roman Gaul(Head of Zeus) 2017.ISBN978-1784970666
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gallo-Roman_culture&oldid=1245554269#Gallo-Roman_art"