TheHelvii (also Elui,ancient Greek Ἑλουοί) were a relatively smallCelticpolity west of theRhône river on the northern border ofGallia Narbonensis. Their territory was roughly equivalent to theVivarais, in the modernFrench department ofArdèche. Alba Helviorum was their capital, possibly the Alba Augusta mentioned byPtolemy,[1] and usually identified with modern-dayAlba-la-Romaine (earlier Aps). In the 5th century the capital seems to have been moved toViviers.[2]
From the mid-2nd to mid-1st century BC, Helvian territory was on the northern border of theRoman province ofGallia Transalpina (later the Narbonensis). As a border people, the Helvii played a crucial if limited role in theGallic Wars under the leadership ofGaius Valerius Caburus, who had heldRoman citizenship since 83 BC, and his sonsTroucillus andDomnotaurus.[3]Julius Caesar calls the Helvii acivitas,[4] a polity with at least small-scale urban centers (oppida),[5] and not apagus ("sub-tribe").
They are mentioned asHelvii byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[6] and asE̓louoì (Ἐλουοὶ) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD).[7][8]
Thesource of the riverLoire (LatinLiger) was located in Helvian territory, near their northern border along the crest of theCévennes, where their lands were contiguous with those of theGabali and theVellavii; to the east, the Rhône offers a natural boundary, despite some indications that their holdings extended across the river.[citation needed]
The ridge between the riversArdèche andCèze was likely their southern border, delimiting their territory from that of theVolcae Arecomici, though it is also possible that the Ardèche itself served this purpose. To the northeast, they were neighbors to theSegovellauni, separated perhaps by a ridge between the riversEyrieux and theOuvèze.[9]
In the 70s BC, following thecivil war between the faction ofSulla and the remnants of the supporters ofMarius andCinna, the Roman generalQuintus Sertorius refused to yieldSpain to the Sullandictatorship. His secession sparked theSertorian War, during which Celtic polities in Mediterranean Gaul were subjected totroop levies and forced requisitions to support the military efforts ofMetellus Pius,Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great"), and other Roman commanders against the rebels. Some Celts, including perhaps the Helvii andVolcae Arecomici, supported Sertorius. After the renegade Roman was assassinated, Metellus and Pompeius were able to declare a victory, and the Helvii and Volcae were forced to cede a portion of their lands to the Greek city-state Massilia (present-dayMarseille), a loyal independent ally of Rome for centuries, located strategically at the mouth of the riverRhône and the staunch supporter of Pompeius.[10]
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During Caesar's Gallic Wars, none of the Galliccivitates within the Narbonese province joined thepan-Gallic rebellion of 52 BC, nor engaged in any reported acts of hostility against Roman forces. The Helvian Valerii, in fact, play a key role in securing Caesar'srear militarily againstVercingetorix, who sent forces to invade Helvian territory.[11] In his 1861 history of theVivarais,[12]Abbé Rouchier conjectured that Caesar, seeing the strategic utility of Helvian territory on the border of the Roman province along a main route into central Gaul, cultivated the Valerii by redressing the punitive measures taken against them by Pompeius. Caesar mentions the land forfeiture in hisBellum Civile, while discreetly omitting any actions taken by his loyal Helvian friends against Rome in the 70s.
During theRoman civil wars of the 40s, Massilia chose to maintain its longstanding relationship with Pompeius even in isolation, as the Gallic polities of the Narbonensis continued to support Caesar.[13] The Massiliots were besieged and defeated by Caesar, and as a result lost their independence, as well as the land, Caesar implies, that they had taken from the Helvii.[14]
During his dictatorship, Caesar was criticized by political rivals for what were perceived as overly generous grants of citizenship to the Gauls and for admitting even "trouser-wearing Gauls"[15] to theRoman senate. These new Gallic senators were most likely fromCisalpine Gaul (northern Italy), which had become so Romanized that after 42 BC it was no longer assigned as a province and was administered by the same forms ofmunicipal government as the rest of theItalian peninsula[16] (seeAnnexing Cisalpine Gaul).Ronald Syme, however, pointed out that a few Narbonese Gauls are known to have been highly educated, second-generation Roman citizens who were eminently qualified for senatorial rank. Among those named by Syme was the HelvianGaius Valerius Troucillus.[17]
