Maps of Gaul

Cives,

One of the most interesting things about De Bello Gallico is that it gives a surprisingly concise definition of where things are in relation to each other.  Taking the idea from the Etruscans, they used straight lines, mountain ranges, and rivers to define territory.

Here are some useful maps I have been able to find:

With the end of the semester surprisingly close already, I believe that any map work will have to be done last.  What I think will be useful will be an interactive one based on the first map up there, which shows Caesar's movements quite well.  Also, it shows a useful time stamp for his movements, making his eight-year campaign much easier to understand.

Now that Voyant is working for me again, here's Book 5:

The end of this book is quite interesting.  Like previous chapters, it ends with a Roman victory, and generally follows the pattern of Caesar being mentioned, at least relative to the beginning and end.  However, even though the book ends with a Roman victory, the stage is set for all of Gaul to rise up against the Romans.  Book 6, however, follows a different pattern for Caesar:

Here we have the largest difference in any other book thus far.  In the middle is a long section on the culture and government of Gaul and Germany.  It focuses on how often they wage war, the social power of the druids, as well as their religion, which Caesar put into Roman terms.  Now, this is based on a conversation I had some years ago, but here Caesar talks about how these people worship Mercury moreso than other Gods, and the best explanation as to how he came to that conclusion is that he is referring to Odin, or rather, Wodin.

The Romans get bloodied here, albeit it is the loss of two cohorts, but even at the end here Caesar finds a way to come out on top.  Both the Senones and Carnutes betrayed Caesar, were defeated, and the instigator of the conspiracy was put to death, "after the custom of our ancestors."

Edit: I just had a funny thought about this strange interpolation of cultural information about the Gauld and Germans.  I think that Caesar is trying to make himself look better at the end to keep the pattern going.  Now, why do I think this?  Well, earlier in this life, Caesar held several religious positions, one of which was that of pontifex maximus, or "greatest priest."  The Roman calendar, before Caesar changed it, was a mess, and there was an entire month that could be shoved in whenever one needed extra time to do something...like win an election.  He had to be conscious of this, and the sudden dip is explained by the notion of him "buying time."  How the next book falls out might affirm this.

There is not much left for these charts, and the situation will only get worse from here, but, while it is the case that this chapter is different from every other because that pattern is missing, it would seem that here Caesar only has the heights or is not mentioned at all, which might suggest what he thought about his successes during this particular year in campaign.

More to come shortly,

Dominic Martyne