Titelberg (Luxembourgish : Tëtelbierg) is the site of a large Celtic settlement or oppidum in the extreme south west of Luxembourg. In the 1st century BCE, this thriving community was probably the capital of the Treveri people. The site thus provides telling evidence of urban civilization in the century before the Roman conquest. [1]
The site lies some 3 km to the south west of Pétange and 3 km north west of Differdange on a bare plateau some 390 m above sea level. It is surrounded by steep forested slopes which run down to the Chiers, a hundred meters below. It can be reached from Niedercorn by taking the road to Roudenhaff and making a right turn towards the Fond de Gras.
The Celts inhabited large areas of Europe from the Danube to the Rhine and Rhône during the 6th to 1st centuries BCE, a period sometimes referred to as La Tène after a site in Switzerland where continental Celtic remains were first discovered. It was around 100 BCE that the Treveri, one of the Celtic tribes, came into a period of prosperity. They constructed a number of settlements or oppida near the Moselle valley in what is now southern Luxembourg, western Germany and eastern France. [2] Titelberg was by far the largest of the Treveri settlements, no doubt as a result of its proximity to two of the most important Celtic roads, one from the south connecting the Rhone to the upper Moselle and the north, the other leading to Reims and the west. Another attraction were the iron ore which could be mined in the immediate vicinity and fertile lands.
Covering an area of some 50 ha, the oval-shaped Titelberg plateau is approximately 1 km long (NW to SE) and 500 m wide. It was occupied continuously for 700 years from about 300 BCE. There is evidence of sporadic settlements dating back even further, perhaps to 2000 BCE or before. From the 1st century BCE and during the Gallo-Roman period, foundations of masonry replaced the earlier, less durable constructions. These, together with the 9-m high earthen ramparts around the periphery, clearly demonstrate the importance of the Celtic oppidum which appears to have been the seat of the Treveri chiefs. [3]
Although some interest had been shown in the site in 1928, serious archaeological excavations began in 1968 and continue today. These have been coordinated by Luxembourg's National Museum of History and Art with the assistance of specialists from the University of Missouri in the 1960s. In particular, the digs have unearthed the main residential area in the centre of the plateau and the public or recreational area, a few hundred meters to the south east. Both are located to the west of the farm road through the site which loosely follows the path of the main Celtic road that connects the two gates of the oppidum. There is also evidence of metal working and coin-minting activities long before the Roman conquest. [4]
While there is evidence that the site was probably inhabited as far back as 2000 BCE, the beginnings of urban civilization can certainly be traced back to the 2nd century BCE when there were bronze-working shops at the site. In the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, the oppidum had become a civilized community trading with other Gallic centres. The Treveri nobles appear to have occupied the dwellings at the centre of the plateau. The Celtic tombs excavated in the vicinity, specifically at Clemency, at Scheierheck near Goeblange and at Kreckelbierg near Nospelt contain a range of articles including wine flagons, spurs, knives, lances and oil lanterns testifying to the aristocracy of those buried. [5]
The entire site was originally surrounded by 10 m high, reinforced ramparts of Murus Gallicus type, with fortified doors at either end of the main road through the site. The ramparts then collapsed over the years due to the lack of maintenance after the Roman conquest.
A deep ditch, 4 m wide, perpendicular to the road, separated the residential space from the public space. The residential area covering about 30 ha consisted of rectangular houses, 14 m long by 8 m wide, built of light masonry. They were equipped with fireplaces and sometimes ovens. Trenches to drain rain water among the houses were also discovered. In the public space, the remains of a large hall, 14 m square, have been found, but no dwellings were discovered. This could have been a meeting place for political, economical and/or religious purposes.
One of the most important finds on Titelberg has been a huge number of Celtic coins which come not only from the Treveri themselves but from several other Celtic tribes. This indicates that it was a centre of trade and commerce during the Celtic period. In addition, facilities for minting coins have also been excavated close to the residential area and appear to have been used over an extended period.
A very large number of both Celtic and Gallo-Roman fibulae have also been found on the site. In a multitude of different shapes and sizes, these bronze clasps, sometimes hinged, were used either as ornamental brooches or for holding garments together. [6]
About 20 years after the Roman conquest, the Celtic oppidum was completely reworked and at least two streets perpendicular to the main were constructed. The houses too were replaced with Roman buildings which had stone foundations and cellars.
The Treveri, despite their conflictual relationship with the Roman world, apparently adopted Roman culture and religion fairly quickly, even long before the Roman conquest. Titelberg, though no longer a capital, became a prosperous vicus with a range of activities, especially metal working. In particular, minting of coins and smelting extended at least until around 337 as one of the coins found at the site of the smelter bears the likeness of Constantine II. [7] In the former public area, a square-shaped monumental Gallo-Roman edifice was built among dwellings and later transformed into a traditional Gallo-Roman fanum, a square-shaped temple with a roofed porch on all sides of its sacred room.
Titelberg resembles a number of other Celtic oppidum sites. In particular, Bibracte, probably the capital of the Aedui, near Autun in France has similar dimensions and fortifications. Manching in Bavaria is a considerably larger site and Ensérune near Béziers in southern France also has a hilltop position.
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age, succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under considerable Mediterranean influence from the Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul, the Etruscans, and the Golasecca culture, but whose artistic style nevertheless did not depend on those Mediterranean influences.
In Gallo-Roman religion, Ancamna was a goddess worshipped particularly in the valley of the river Moselle. She was commemorated at Trier and Ripsdorf as the consort of Lenus Mars, and at Möhn as the consort of Mars Smertulitanus. At Trier, altars were set up in honour of Lenus Mars, Ancamna and the genii of various pagi of the Treveri, giving the impression of Lenus Mars and Ancamna as tribal protectors honoured in an officially organized cult. Among the few statuettes left as votive offerings at the sanctuary of Mars Smertulitanus and Ancamna at Möhn is one of a genius cucullatus like those offered to the Xulsigiae at the Lenus Mars temple complex in Trier.
An oppidum is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. Oppida are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretching from Britain and Iberia in the west to the edge of the Hungarian Plain in the east. These settlements continued to be used until the Romans conquered Southern and Western Europe. Many subsequently became Roman-era towns and cities, whilst others were abandoned. In regions north of the rivers Danube and Rhine, such as most of Germania, where the populations remained independent from Rome, oppida continued to be used into the 1st century AD.
The Treveri were a Germanic or Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle in modern day Germany from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringes of the Silva Arduenna, a part of the vast Silva Carbonaria, in what are now Luxembourg, southeastern Belgium and western Germany; its centre was the city of Trier, to which the Treveri give their name. Celtic in language, according to Tacitus they claimed Germanic descent. They contained both Gallic and Germanic influences.
Bibracte, a Gallic oppidum, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. It was located near modern Autun in Burgundy, France. The material culture of the Aedui corresponded to the Late Iron Age La Tène culture.
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Intarabus was a Gaulish god in the pantheon of the Treveri and some neighbouring peoples. His name is known from nine inscriptions from a relatively compact area in what are now Belgium, Luxembourg, western Germany and eastern France. He may have been the tutelary deity of one of the three pagi (subdivisions) of the Treveri. In most cases, Intarabus is invoked alone – without any synthesis to a Roman deity, and without accompanying female deities. However, one inscription invokes him as Mars Intarabus, noting that a fanum and simulacrum of this god had been restored at Trier. Meanwhile, another inscription from Mackwiller in Alsace gives Intarabus the epithet Narius. An inscription at Ernzen in Germany has his name as [In]tarabus, while another from Foy-Noville, invokes Entarabus in conjunction with the Genius Ollodagus.
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