The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish language: * Aiduoi, 'the Ardent'; ) were a Gauls tribe dwelling in what is now the region of Burgundy during the Iron Age and the Roman Empire.
The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic, as well as other Gallic tribes. In 121 BC, they appealed to Rome against the Arverni and Allobroges. During the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), they gave valuable though not whole-hearted support to Caesar, before eventually giving lukewarm support to Vercingetorix in 52. Although they were involved in the revolts of Julius Sacrovir in 21 AD and Vindex in 68 AD, their aristocracy became highly Romanized under the Empire.
Name
They are mentioned as
Ardues (Ἄρδυες) by
Polybius (2nd c. BC),
[Polybius. Historíai, 3:47:3.] Haedui by
Cicero (mid-1st c. BC) and
Julius Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),
[Cicero. Epistulae ad Atticum, 1:19:2.; Julius Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 1:11:2] Haeduos by
Livy (late 1st c. BC),
[Livy. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 5:34:3.] Aedui by Pliny (mid-1st c. AD),
[Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:107.] Aidúōn (Αἰδύων) by
Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),
[Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:8:12.] and as
Aídouoi (Aἴδουοι) by
Cassius Dio (3rd c. AD).
[Cassius Dio. Rhōmaïkḕ Historía, 38:32.][, s.v. Aedui and Haedui.]
The ethnonym Aedui is a Latinized form of Gaulish * Aiduoi (sing. * Aiduos), which means 'the Ardent ones'. It derives from the Celtic stem *aidu- ('fire, ardour'; cf. Old Irish áed 'fire', Welsh language aidd 'ardour'; also the Irish deity Aéd or Aodh), itself from ('firewood'; cf. Sanskrit édhas 'bonfire', Latin aedes 'building, temple'; cf. also Ancient Greek Aether 'god of the upper sky' and Aethra 'bright sky', from aíthō 'to ignite, to kindle').
Geography
Territory
The territory of the Aedui was situated between the Saône and
Loire rivers, in a strategic position regarding trade routes. It included most of the modern départements of Saône-et-Loire and Nièvre, the southwestern-part of Côte-d'Or between
Beaune and
Saulieu, and the southern part of
Yonne around
Avallon, corresponding to the Saône plains, the
Morvan granitic massif, and the low
Nivernais plateau, from east to west. They dwelled between the
Arverni in the west, the
Segusiavi and
Ambarri in the south, the
Sequani in the east, and the
Lingones and
Senones in the north.
Settlements
Three
Oppidum are known from the end of the La Tène period: Vieux-Dun (
Dun-les-Places), Le Fou de Verdun (Lavault-de-Frétoy), and
Bibracte, which occupied a central position in the Aedian economic system.
During the Roman period, Bibracte was abandoned for Augustodunum ('fortress of Augustus'; modern-day Autun).
Ancient sources
The country of the Aedui is defined by reports of them in ancient writings. The upper
Loire formed their western border,
[.] separating them from the
Bituriges Cubi. The Arar formed their eastern border, separating them from the
Sequani.
[.] The Sequani did not reside in the region of the confluence of the
Doubs and the Arar, and of the Arar into the Rhodanus, as Caesar says that the
Helvetii, traveling southward along the pass between the
Jura Mountains and the Rhodanus, which belonged to the Sequani, plundered the territory of the Aedui.
[.] These circumstances explain an apparent contradiction in
Strabo, who in one sentence says that the Aedui lived between the Arar and the Dubis, and in the next, that the Sequani lived across the Arar (eastward).
[.]
History
Pre-Roman period
Burgundy is situated in the heartland of the early La Tène culture (see
Vix Grave).
By the early 3rd century BC, the emergence of settlements with diversified functions, along with the creation of sanctuaries, suggest the beginning of a civilization centered around the
oppidum.
Roman period
Outside of the Roman province and prior to Roman rule,
Gaul was occupied by self-governing tribes divided into cantons, and each canton was further divided into communes. The Aedui, like other powerful tribes in the region, such as the
Arverni,
Sequani, and
Helvetii, had replaced their monarchy with a council of magistrates called grand-judges. The grand-judges were under the authority of a senate. This senate was made up of the descendants of ancient royal families. Free men in the tribes were
vassals of the heads of these families, in an exchange of military, financial, and political interests.
of the Aedui, first century BC, 1.94 grams. Hotel de la Monnaie.|300x300px]]
According to Livy (v. 34), the Aedui took part in the expedition of Bellovesus into Italy in the sixth century BC. Before Caesar's time, they had attached themselves to the Ancient Rome and were honoured with the title of brothers and kinsmen of the Roman people.[.] When the Sequani, their traditional rivals, defeated and massacred the Aedui at the Battle of Magetobriga in 63 BC, with the assistance of the Germanic peoples chieftain Ariovistus, the Aedui sent the Druidry Diviciacus to Rome with an appeal to the Roman Senate for help; but his mission was unsuccessful.[ This cites:
]
-
A. E. Desjardins, Géographie de la Gaule, ii. (1876–1893)
-
T. R. Holmes, Caesar's Conquest of Gaul (1899).
After his arrival in Gaul in 58 BC, Caesar restored the independence of the Aedui. In spite of this, they subsequently joined the Gallic coalition against Caesar ( B. G. vii. 42), but after the surrender of Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia, the Aedui gladly returned to their allegiance. Augustus dismantled their capital, Bibracte, on Mont Beuvray, and constructed a new town with a half-Roman, half-Gaulish name, Augustodunum (modern Autun).
In AD 21, during the reign of Tiberius, the Aedui revolted under Julius Sacrovir, and seized Augustodunum, but they were soon put down by Gaius Silius (Tacitus Ann. iii. 43–46). The Aedui were the first of the Gauls to receive from the emperor Claudius the distinction of jus honorum, thus being the first Gauls permitted to become senators.[Peoples, Nations and Cultures. General Editor Prof John Mackenzie. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 2005.]
Until Claudius (41–54 AD), the Aedui were the first northern Gallic people to send senators to Rome.
The oration of Eumenius, in which he pleaded for the restoration of the schools of his native Augustodunum, suggests that the district was then neglected. The chief magistrate of the Aedui in Caesar's time was called the (according to Theodor Mommsen, "judgment-worker"). He was elected annually, and possessed powers of life and death, but was forbidden to go beyond the frontiers of his territory. Certain clientes, or small communities, were also dependent upon the Aedui.
Religion
The Temple of Janus was located just outside the Aedian town of
Augustodunum. It probably dates back to the second half of the 1st century AD.
At the end of the La Tène period, religious convergences occurred between the Aedui and the neighbouring Lingones and Sequani in the Saône-Doubs area, as evidenced by the similarity in the practices at the sanctuaries of Nuits-Saint-Georges (Aedui), Mirebeau-sur-Bèze (Lingones) and Mandeure (Sequani).
Political organization
According to Julius Caesar, the Aedui were one of the strongest Gallic tribes, in rivalry with the
Helvetii,
Sequani,
Remi, and
Arverni. Furthermore, the Aedui seemed to work in a semi-republican state, with the powerful
Vergobret at least slightly being at the will of the people, similar to the
Roman Senate.
See also
-
List of peoples of Gaul
-
Jublains archeological site
Primary sources
Bibliography
Further reading
