| Gallia Celtica | |
|---|---|
| Cultural region of Gaul | |
 Map with the approximate location of the Celtica region ofGaul before the Roman conquest | |
| Demonym | Celts |
| Today part of | France, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany |
Gallia Celtica, meaning "Celtic Gaul" inLatin, was acultural region ofGaul inhabited byCelts, located in what is nowFrance,Switzerland,Luxembourg and the west bank of theRhine River inGermany.
According to Romanethnography andJulius Caesar in his narrativeCommentaries on the Gallic War (Commentarii De Bello Gallico), Gaul was divided into three main regions:Belgica,Aquitania and Celtica. The inhabitants of Belgica were calledBelgae, those of Aquitania were calledAquitani. The inhabitants of the Celtica region called themselvesCelts[1] in their own language, and were later calledGalli by Julius Caesar:
All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are calledCelts, in ours Galli, the third.
A similar definition is given byPliny the Elder:[2]
The whole of Gaul that is comprehended under the one general name of Comata, is divided into three groups of people, which are more especially kept distinct from each other by the following rivers. From the Scaldis to the Sequana it isBelgica; from the Sequana to the Garumna it isCeltica or Lugdunensis; and from the Garumna to the promontory of the Pyrenæan range it isAquitanica, formerly called Aremorica.
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incoluntBelgae, aliamAquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum linguaCeltae, nostra Galli appellantur.
Gallia omnis Comata uno nomine appellata in tria populorum genera dividitur, amnibus maxime distincta. a Scalde ad SequanamBelgica, ab eo ad GarunnamCeltica eademque Lugdunensis, inde ad Pyrenaei montis excursumAquitanica, Aremorica antea dicta. Universam oram.
