Galba ( fl. mid-1st century BC) was a king (rex) of the Suessiones, a Celtic polity of Belgic Gaul, during the Gallic Wars. When Julius Caesar entered the part of Gaul that was still independent of Roman rule in 58 BC, a number of Belgic polities formed a defensive alliance and acclaimed Galba commander-in-chief. [1] Caesar recognizes Galba for his sense of justice (iustitia) and intelligence (prudentia). [2]
Galba as a Roman cognomen is associated with a branch of the gens Sulpicia . Although the most famous bearer is the Emperor Galba in the 1st century AD, a Servius Sulpicius Galba also served under Caesar in Gaul. [3] Suetonius says that in Gaulish Galba means "fat" [4] (compare Old Irish golb, "paunchy, fat"), and Galba is usually regarded as Celtic in origin. [5] Since physical fitness was a requirement of Gallic fighting men, who might be fined if they reported for duty overweight, the Celtic name is likely either to have lost the connotations of its original meaning, or in regard to a king to refer to "fat times" or prosperity.[ citation needed ]
Ambiorix was, together with Cativolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul, where modern Belgium is located. In the nineteenth century Ambiorix became a Belgian national hero because of his resistance against Julius Caesar, as written in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico.
Gaul was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of 494,000 km2 (191,000 sq mi). According to Julius Caesar, who took control of the region on behalf of the Roman Republic, Gaul was divided into three parts: Gallia Celtica, Belgica, and Aquitania.
The Nervii were one of the most powerful Belgic tribes of northern Gaul at the time of its conquest by Rome. Their territory corresponds to the central part of modern Belgium, including Brussels, and stretched southwards into French Hainault. During their first century BC Roman military campaign, Julius Caesar's contacts among the Remi stated that the Nervii were the most warlike of the Belgae. In times of war, they were known to trek long distances to take part in battles. Being one of the northerly Belgic tribes, with the Menapii to the west, and the Eburones to their east, they were considered by Caesar to be relatively uncorrupted by civilization. According to Tacitus they claimed Germanic descent. According to Strabo they were of Germanic origin.
The Belgae were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth by Julius Caesar in his account of his wars in Gaul. Some peoples in southern Britain were also called Belgae and had apparently moved from the continent. T. F. O'Rahilly believed that some had moved further west and he equated them with the Fir Bolg in Ireland. The Roman province of Gallia Belgica was named after the continental Belgae. The term continued to be used in the region until the present day and is reflected in the name of the modern country of Belgium.
The Remi were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the Aisne, Vesle and Suippe river valleys during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their territory roughly corresponded the modern Marne and Ardennes and parts of the Aisne and Meuse departments.
The Eburones were a Gallic-Germanic tribe dwelling in the northeast of Gaul, in what is now the southern Netherlands, eastern Belgium and the German Rhineland, in the period immediately preceding the Roman conquest of the region. Though living in Gaul, they were also described as being both Belgae and Germani.
The Suessiones were a Belgic tribe, dwelling in the modern Aisne and Oise regions during the La Tène and Roman periods.
The Venetī were a Gallic tribe dwelling in Armorica, in the northern part of the Brittany Peninsula, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
The Atuatuci were a Gallic-Germanic tribe, dwelling in the eastern part of modern-day Belgium during the Iron Age.
The Caletes or Caleti were a Belgic or Gallic tribe dwelling in Pays de Caux, in present-day Normandy, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Publius Licinius Crassus was one of two sons of Marcus Licinius Crassus, the so-called "triumvir", and Tertulla, daughter of Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus. He belonged to the last generation of Roman nobiles who came of age and began a political career before the collapse of the Republic. His peers included Marcus Antonius, Marcus Junius Brutus, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, the poet Gaius Valerius Catullus, and the historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus.
The Andecavi were a Gallic tribe dwelling in Aremorica during the Roman period.
Gaius Valerius Caburus was a leader of the Helvii, a relatively small Celtic polity whose territory was more or less equivalent to the Vivarais, on the northern border of Gallia Transalpina. Caburus was granted Roman citizenship in 83 BC by Gaius Valerius Flaccus during his governorship of Gaul. The date of his last known activity indicates that he was probably between the ages of twenty and thirty at the time, and almost certainly under thirty-five. Caburus took his patron's gentilic name, as was customary for naturalized citizens.
The Gauls were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their homeland was known as Gaul (Gallia). They spoke Gaulish, a continental Celtic language.
Lucterius was a leader of the Cadurci, a Celtic people whose territory was located around Cahors in the modern French department of Lot. In the 50s BC, the Cadurci were under the rule of the Arverni, the civitas of Vercingetorix, under whom Lucterius served during the last stages of the Gallic Wars. In his memoirs, Julius Caesar calls him a man of unsurpassed boldness.
Gaius Valerius Troucillus or Procillus was a Helvian Celt who served as an interpreter and envoy for Julius Caesar in the first year of the Gallic Wars. Troucillus was a second-generation Roman citizen, and is one of the few ethnic Celts who can be identified both as a citizen and by affiliation with a Celtic polity. His father, Caburus, and a brother are named in Book 7 of Caesar's Bellum Gallicum as defenders of Helvian territory against a force sent by Vercingetorix in 52 BC. Troucillus plays a role in two episodes from the first book of Caesar's war commentaries, as an interpreter for the druid Diviciacus and as an envoy to the Suebian king Ariovistus, who accuses him of spying and has him thrown in chains.
The Helvii were a relatively small Celtic polity west of the Rhône river on the northern border of Gallia Narbonensis. Their territory was roughly equivalent to the Vivarais, in the modern French department of Ardèche. Alba Helviorum was their capital, possibly the Alba Augusta mentioned by Ptolemy, and usually identified with modern-day Alba-la-Romaine. In the 5th century the capital seems to have been moved to Viviers.
Tasgetius, the Latinized form of Gaulish Tasgetios or Tasgiitios, was a ruler of the Carnutes, a Celtic polity whose territory corresponded roughly with the modern French departments of Eure-et-Loir, Loiret, and Loir-et-Cher. Julius Caesar says that as Roman proconsul he made Tasgetius king in reward for his support during the Gallic Wars. His reign would have begun in late 57 BC, following Caesar's campaign against the Belgic civitates in northern Gaul that year; it ended with his assassination in 54 BC. The overthrow of a king appointed by Caesar was one of the precipitating events that led to the pan-Gallic rebellion of 52 BC under the Arvernian leader Vercingetorix.
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a quaestor of the Roman Republic in 54 BC. He was the elder son of Marcus Crassus who formed the political alliance known as the "First Triumvirate" with Pompeius Magnus and Julius Caesar. His mother was Tertulla, the daughter of Marcus Varro Lucullus. His father and his younger brother, Publius, died at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, after which time Marcus continued to be a partisan of Caesar.
The Sotiates were a Gallic-Aquitani tribe dwelling in the region surrounding the modern town of Sos (Lot-et-Garonne) during the Iron Age and the Roman period.