Two coin treasures found in Limburg indicate that
Julius Caesar has actually waged war in our country.
Members of the
Celtic tribe, the Eburons who lived here at the time, would have hidden their
money in the ground for fear of the
Roman general.
Part of these coins was found at the end of last year in Sittard-Geleen. Today, Caesar's death, these two new coin treasures have been presented in the Limburgs Museum.
Julius Caesar was already in the Netherlands in
his book De Bello Gallico, but there was never more evidence than that. "That is why many historians doubted whether he was really here during the Gallic War.
His texts were taken with a grain of salt. It was more regarded as a big name," says Nico Roymans, professor of archeology at the Free University and researcher of coin treasures.
Hiding your
money en masse indicated crisis or war.
Nico Roymans, professor of archeology
"These coin treasures, found in various places in Sittard-Geleen, prove that something very bad happened at the time," says Roymans. "The coins come from exactly the same year that
Caesar wrote that he was here. The coins date from the year 51 BC. The more coins we find, the more that indicates a large group of people hiding their coins. That strengthens the image that
Caesar actually came to war here. "
Julius Caesar connoisseur Jona Lendering finds it an interesting find. "Although of course you can never say for sure that the inhabitants of this
area put their
money in the ground because of
Caesar, we can link the discovery of the coins and the texts from De Bello Gallico," he explains. According to Lendering, it would be "very coincidental" if people hid their
money during the same period for completely different reasons. "The massive hiding of your
money indicated a crisis or war."
Assassination
Historian Tom Buijtendorp, who wrote the book
Caesar in the
Low Countries, says he sees these coin treasures as an additional confirmation "or rather a refinement" of the data that already existed about Caesar's murder in our country. "The discovery suggests that
Caesar went all the way to the
north of Maastricht to destroy the Eburones. Ten years ago people
still looked at you crazy when you said
Caesar really came to the Netherlands. Finding more art treasures makes the theory that he has been here more likely. "
According to Buijtendorp, this is additional evidence that proves that
Caesar has really been booming here in the Netherlands. "The fact that so much
money was put into the ground indicates that people were terribly scared. They have been driven out or killed because they have never been able to dig up the
money."