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BELGAE

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 668 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BELGAE , a See also:

Celtic See also:people first mentioned by See also:Caesar, who states that they formed the third See also:part of See also:Gaul, and were separated from the Celtac by the Sequana (See also:Seine) and Matrona (See also:Marne). On the See also:east and See also:north their boundary was the See also:lower See also:Rhine, on the See also:west the ocean. Whether Caesar means to include the Leuci, Treviri and Mediomatrici among the Belgian tribes is uncertain. According to the statement of the deputation from the Remi to Caesar (See also:Bell. See also:Gall. ii. 4),, the Belgae were a people of See also:German origin, who had crossed the Rhine in See also:early times and driven out the Galli. But Caesar's own statement (B.G. i. 1) that the Belgae differed from the Celtae in See also:language, institutions and See also:laws, is too sweeping (see See also:Strabo iv. p. 176), at least as regards language, for many words and names are See also:common to both. In any See also:case, only the eastern districts would have been affected by invaders from over the Rhine, the See also:chief seat of the Belgae proper being in the west, the See also:country occupied by the Bellovaci, Ambiani and Atrebates, to which it is probable (although the See also:reading is uncertain) that Caesar gives the distinctive name See also:Belgium (corresponding to the old provinces of See also:Picardy and See also:Artois). The question is fully discussed by T. R.

See also:

Holmes (Caesar's See also:Conquest of Gaul, 1899), who comes to the conclusion that " when the Reman delegates told Caesar that the Belgae were descended from the Germans, they probably only meant that the ancestors of the Belgic conquerors had formerly dwelt in See also:Germany, and this is equally true of the ancestors of the Gauls who gave their name to the Celtae; but, on the other See also:hand', it is quite possible that in the See also:veins of some of the Belgae flowed the See also:blood of genuine German forefathers." W. Ridgeway (Early See also:Age of See also:Greece, 1901) considers that the Belgic tribes were See also:Cimbri, " who had moved directly across the Rhine into north-eastern Gaul." No definite number of Belgian tribes is given by Caesar; according to Strabo (iv. p. 196) they were fifteen in all. The Belgae had also made their way over to See also:Britain in Caesar's See also:time (B.G. ii. 4, v. 12), and settled in some of the See also:southern counties (Wilts, Hants and See also:Somerset). Among their towns were See also:Magnus See also:Portus (See also:Portsmouth) and Venla Belgarum (See also:Winchester). In 57 B.C., after the defeat of Ariovistus, the Belgae formed a See also:coalition against Caesar, and in 52 took part in the See also:general rising under Vercingetorix. After their final subjugation, Caesar combined the territory of the Belgae, Celtae and Aquitani into a single See also:province (Gallia Comata). See also:Augustus, however, finding it too unwieldy, again divided it into three provinces, one of which was Belgica, bounded on the west by the Seine and the Arar (See also:Saone); on the north by the North See also:Sea; on the east by the Rhine from its mouth to the Lacus Brigantinus (See also:Lake See also:Constance). Its southernmost See also:district embraced the west of See also:Switzerland. The See also:capital and See also:residence of the See also:governor of the province was Durocortorum Remorum (See also:Reims).

Under See also:

Diocletian, Belgica Prima (capital, See also:Augusta Trevirorum, See also:Trier) and Secunda (capital, Reims) formed part of the " See also:diocese " of Gaul. See A. G. B. Schayes, La Belgique et See also:les Pays-Bas avant et See also:pendant la domination romaine (2nd ed., See also:Brussels, 1877); H. G. Moke, La Belgique ancienne (See also:Ghent, 1855) ; A. Desjardins, Geographic historique de la Gaule, ii. (1878); T. R. Holmes, Caesar's Conquest of Gaul (1899); M. Ihm in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie, iii. pt.

1 (1897) ; J. See also:

Jung, " Geographie von Italien and dem Orbis See also:romanus " (2nd ed., 1897), in I. Mailer's Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft.

End of Article: BELGAE

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