Dear Friends of ancient
History!
Recently, a friend gave me a small silver
drachm of the
Volcae Tectosages. This gives me the occasion to write something about this
Celtic people. But first the coin.
The coin:Celtic tribes in
Gaul,
Volcae Tectosages, 2nd-1st century BC.
AR -
Drachm, 3.33g, 12.57mm
Obv.:
Head in cubist
style n.l.
Rev.:
Cross with elliptical
symbols in 3 corners and an
axe in the fourth.
Ref.: Monnaies XV 241;
De La Tour 3132
almost VF
So-called Monnaies a la Croix, Cubist
type.
Pedigree:
ex Archer M. Huntington Coll., HSA 1001 57.5803
Note:Archer Milton Huntington (1870-1955) was a US multimillionaire philanthropist, museum founder, poet, bibliophile and Hispanist.
This is a coin of the Tectosages, a tribe of the
Celtic Volcae from southern
France, from the 1st century BC. The coins are modelled on the silver drachms of Rhoda, a
Spanish port city in the northeast. Originally, the
obverse showed a
portrait of
Ceres left and the
reverse the so-called "
Rose of Rhoda". In the abstract
style that was characteristic of the
Celts, this became a more cubist
portrait and the rose petals became humps until it developed into the
cross with various objects in the angles.
The TectosagesEarly on I wondered why the statue of the "Dying
Gaul", which is now in the Capitoline Museums in
Rome, dates from 230/220 BC, although
Caesar only conquered
Gaul in 57-53 BC, almost 200 years later. This contradiction should be clarified here.
Eratosthenes (276/273 - about 194) already knew the Tectosages and then they were mentioned by Livius and in detail by
Caesar. According to the
Celtic scholar Helmut Birkhan, their name
comes from the Latin "
tecto-sag = looking for a roof (a
home)", so their name was given to them by the
Romans. Among the Germanic peoples, the Volces were called
Welsche. This is where the term
Welschland for Romanic countries
comes from and
still today
Welschschweiz for
French western
Switzerland or the name of the walnut, which is actually oming from
Welsche nut.
Migration to GaulThe
Volcae were an important
Celtic people and originally came from the
area north of the Danube and east of the river Rhine, which in ancient times was called the
Hercynia silva (= Hercynian Forest). At that time, this included the entire
area from the Black Forest to the Thuringian Forest. Between 250 and 230 BC they invaded
Gaul and turned to southern
Gaul. Around 215-200 they appeared on the
banks of the Garonne and finally occupied
Gallia Narbonensis north of the Pyrenees, between the Rhone, the Garonne and the Cevennes, today's Languedoc. They were made up of various tribes, including the
Volcae Arecomici, whose capital was
Nemausus (Nimes), and the
Volcae Tectosages, whose capital was
Tolosa (Toulouse). When they took over the country, they destroyed the Iberian
oppida there, but took over their coins. Livius describes how Hannibal passed through their territory on
his march to
Rome. In 121/118 they were subjugated by the
Romans, but were given a certain autonomy (Strabo). In the
Roman civil war they stood against
Pompeius, as we can read in
Caesar. They were Romanised, absorbed into the Celto-Roman culture and disappeared from
history. The problem of the
Celts was that they were never able to form a unified people. This contradicted their innate desire for freedom.
Migration to GreeceThe
history of the Tectosages would be incomplete, however, without mentioning the migration to
Greece, which finally ended in
Asia Minor. In 258(?) another
part of the
Volcae set off to the southeast. The Tektosages also took
part in this migration. Under the leadership of Brennus, they travelled through
Thrace, bypassing Thermopylae and reaching
Delphi, where they plundered the temple. In the process, huge treasures fell into their
hands, the so-called "
Gold of Tolosa", because they brought it to Toulouse and sank them in a lake there. However, this may also be pure fantasy. This Brennus, however, is different from the one who after the battle of the Allia ("
dies ater") sacked
Rome ("
Vae victis!") in 387 BC. Therefore, it is also assumed today that Brennus was not a person, but a
Celtic rulership title. Finally, in 277, they were defeated by Antigonos Gonatas at
Lysimacheia and retreated to
Thrace.
The GalatiansAnother
part of the
Celts who
had invaded
Greece was invited by Nicomedes I of
Bithynia to
help him as mercenaries against
his brother Zipoites. They then invaded
Asia Minor. There were about 20,000 of them, half of them warriors. After Nicomedes
had released them, they began to ravage the lands of
Asia Minor. For example, the great temple of
Apollo at
Didyma fell victim to them. The Tectosages devastated the territory of the Phrygians. In 268 BC, Antiochos I went to war against them. In the so-called "
elephant battle" he won against the numerically superior Galatians, as they were now called, by using war elephants. Afterwards he assigned them permanent residences (
Wikipedia).
The 3 large peoples that made up the Galatians (= Gauls!) were the Tolistobogians around Gordion and Pessinus, the Tectosages with their 3 sub-tribes Ambitouti, Toutobodiaci and Voturi around Ankyra (today's
Ankara), and the Trokmer around
Tavium. These cities were repeatedly besieged by the Galatians, but not conquered. This
area was named
Galatia after them.
Galatia was agriculturally difficult, too hot in summer and too cold in the long winters. So the Galatians continued to live by raiding and plundering neighbouring areas and began to spread out. In the process, they came into conflict with the empire of
Pergamon under the Attalids. Under Attalus I the Tolistobogians were defeated in 230, and in 228 these and the Tectosages.
The famous sculptures "
The Dying Gaul" in the Capitoline Museums in
Rome and "
The Gaul Ludovisi", who kills himself and
his wife, today in the Museo Nazionale Romano, also date from this period. Both sculptures were
part of a large
victory monument erected in the Temple of
Athena in
Pergamon. The sculptures found in the Ludovisian Gardens in
Rome are
Roman marble copies of the original Greek bronzes.
The depiction of both sculptures does not humiliate the enemy, but presents him as a warrior to be taken seriously. This, of course, enhances the glory of the
victor.
After further victories of
his son Eumenes II over the Galatians, the famous
Zeus altar was erected on the castle
hill of
Pergamon, which is now in the Pergamonmuseum on Museum Island in
Berlin. The
altar's
frieze depicts the
Gigantomachia, the battle between the Olympic gods and the giants. This
frieze celebrates the
victory of Eumenes over the Galatians - one recognises some
Celtic weapons carried by giants - but it is at the same time an exaggeration and celebrates the
victory of Greek civilisation over barbarism.
After the Tolistobogians
had attacked 196
Lampsakos, its inhabitants called for
help from the
Romans. Antiochos III, an enemy of the
Romans, allied himself with the Galatians against the
Romans. The latter, however, succeeded in forcing the Tolistobogians to take refuge in their refuge on Mount Olympos, and the Tectosages to to entrench themselves on the mount Magaba near Ankyra. There they were almost completely destroyed and sold into slavery.
After that, the Galatians
had to give up their raids and stay within their borders. They became loyal followers of the
Romans. Thus they fought against Mithradates VI, whom, however, they recognised as lord after
his victories (
Pauly), After
Sulla's
victory in 86, Mithradates
had the entire Galatian
nobility murdered, except for 3 tetrarchs. In 64/63 Pompey reorganised the situation: instead of 4 tetrarchs for each tribe, he put one at the
head of each tribe and made
Galatia a client state of
Rome. After
Caesar's death, Deiotaros united the Tectosages with the other Galatians and became their common
king. After the death of their last
king Amyntas,
Augustus made
Galatia a
Roman province in 25 BC, ruled by imperial legates.
Galatia always provided the
Romans with
good troops and as late as 200 AD with noble leaders, e.g.
Roman consuls such as 155 AD the Galatian Gaius Iulius
Severus.
There are even
Roman coins on which the Tektosages are mentioned by name. This is a
provincial coin of
Titus (69-79 a.d.) from
Sebaste in
Phrygia with the
legend ΣΕΒΑΣΤΗΝΩΝ ΤΕΚΤΟΣΑΓΩΝ, SNG of Aulock 6132 (Kölner Münzkabinett Tyll Kroha Nachfolger, Auktion 112, Los 186):
Paul's Letter to the GalatiansThe New Testament preserves a letter of Paul to the Galatians, which he wrote to the Gentile Christians of
Galatia around 100 AD. At that time, they were strongly influenced by Jewish-Christian missions. In this letter he strongly opposed the observance of
Jewish rites and circumcision. Paul, on the other hand, insisted that the character of salvation came only from faith and could not be acquired through the observance of laws. This incendiary letter ultimately prevented Christianity from becoming a Jewish-Christian sect.
The Galatians retained their
Celtic customs for a long time. Thus they offered human sacrifices and fought naked,
as is reported and as they are also depicted on the surviving sculptures. They wore mighty
red moustaches, which they coloured white with plaster, and a twisted gold ring around their necks, the torques. This seems to have been a sign of power among the
Celts.
But not only the
Celtic men were brave warriors. Plutarch (45-125) portrays in
his "
Moralia" Kamma as an example of strength of character and marital
fidelity. Kamma, an
Artemis priestess, was the wife of the Tolistobogian
king Sinatus, who was killed by Sinorix. Afterwards he forced Kamma to marry him. At the wedding, it was customary for both to drink from the same
goblet. Kamma
had poisoned it beforehand, so that she judged her husband's murderer, but also committed suicide herself, which she preferred to a violent marriage. The painting «L’Empoisonnement de Camma et Synorix» (c. 1650) of the
French painter Charles Poerson (1609-1667) depicts this scene.
Telesphoros, the Pergamenian companion of
Asklepios, was adopted from the
Celtic hooded deity
Cucullatus. In 400 AD,
Celtic is said to have
still been spoken in
Phrygia, as reported by the
church father Jerome: Besides Greek, they spoke a language similar to the language of the Treverians! Nothing remains of the language of the Galatians today except for a few place and personal names that go back to
Celtic.
I have added the following pics:
(1) The wanderings of the Tectosages (David Descamps,
Wikipedia)
(2) "The Dying
Gaul" (BeBo86,
Wikipedia)
(3) "The
Gaul Ludovisi" (
Wikipedia)
(4) Charles Poerson "L’Empoisonnement de Camma et Synorix"
(5)
Phrygia,
Sebaste,
Titus,
SNG von Aulock 6132
Sources:(1) Gaius
Julius Caesar, De bello Gallico
(2) Gaius
Julius Caesar, De bello civile
(3) Plutarch, Moralia
(3) NT, Paul, Letter to the Galatians.
Secondary literature:(1) Der Kleine
Pauly(2)
Robert Forrer, Keltische Numismatik der Rhein- und Donaulande, 1908 (I have not read this. A reprint of volume 1 costs 108.-).
(3)
Wikipedia: Tectosages,
Volcae, Galatians.
(4) wikimoneda.com/croix.php
(5) de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Tektosagen
(6) de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolistobogier
(7) de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Galatia_1
(8) de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Deiotarus_2
I
hope you enjoy this article
Jochen