Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of theRomanization ofGauls under the rule of theRoman Empire inRoman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation ofRoman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context.[1] The well-studied meld of cultures[2] inGaul gives historians a model against which to compare and contrast parallel developments of Romanization in other less-studiedRoman provinces.
Interpretatio romana offered Roman names forGaulish deities such as the smith-godGobannus;[3] however, of the Celtic deities, only the horse-patronessEpona penetrated Romanized cultures beyond the confines of Gaul.[4]
Thebarbarian invasions began in the late 3rd century and forced upon Gallo-Roman culture fundamental changes in politics, economic underpinning and military organization. TheGothic settlement of 418 offered a double loyalty, as Western Roman authority disintegrated at Rome. The plight of the highly-Romanized governing class[5] is examined by R.W. Mathisen,[6] the struggles of bishopHilary of Arles by M. Heinzelmann.[7]
Into the 7th century, Gallo-Roman culture would persist particularly in the areas ofGallia Narbonensis that developed intoOccitania,Cisalpine Gaul,Orléanais, and to a lesser degree,Gallia Aquitania. The formerly-Romanized northern Gaul, once it had been occupied by theFranks, would develop intoMerovingian culture instead. Roman life, centered on the public events and cultural responsibilities of urban life in theres publica and the sometimes luxurious life of the self-sufficient ruralvilla system, took longer to collapse in the Gallo-Roman regions, where theVisigoths largely inherited the status quo in 418. The Gallo-Roman language persisted in the northeast into theSilva Carbonaria, which formed an effective cultural barrier with the Franks to the north and the east, and in the northwest to the lower valley of theLoire, where Gallo-Roman culture interfaced with Frankish culture in a city likeTours and in the person of that Gallo-Roman bishop confronted with Merovingian royals,Gregory of Tours. Based uponmutual intelligibility,David Dalby counts seven languages descended from Gallo-Romance:Gallo-Wallon,French,Franco-Provençal (Arpitan),Romansh,Ladin,Friulian, andLombard.[8] However, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing theRhaeto-Romance languages,Occitano-Romance languages andGallo-Italic languages.
Gaul was divided by Roman administration into three provinces, which were subdivided during the later 3rd-century reorganization underDiocletian, and divided between two dioceses, Galliae and Viennensis, under the Praetorian prefecture of Galliae. On the local level, it was composed ofcivitates, which preserved, broadly speaking, the boundaries of the formerly-independent Gaulish tribes, which had been organised in large part on village structures, which retained some features in the Roman civic formulas that overlaid them.
Over the course of the Roman period, an ever-increasing proportion of Gauls gainedRoman citizenship. In 212, theConstitutio Antoniniana extended citizenship to all free-born men in the Roman Empire.
During theCrisis of the Third Century, from 260 to 274, Gaul was subject toAlamannic raids during a civil war. In reaction to local problems, the Gallo-Romans appointed their own emperor,Postumus. The rule over Gaul,Britannia andHispania by Postumus and his successors is usually called theGallic Empire although it was just one set of many usurpers who took over parts of the Roman Empire and tried to become emperor. The capital wasTrier, which was used as the northern capital of the Roman Empire by many emperors. The Gallic Empire ended whenAurelian decisively defeatedTetricus I atChalons.
The pre-Christian religious practices of Roman Gaul were characterized bysyncretism of Graeco-Roman deities with their nativeCeltic,Basque orGermanic counterparts, many of which were of strictly local significance. Assimilation was eased byinterpreting indigenous gods in Roman terms, such as withLenus Mars orApollo Grannus. Otherwise, a Roman god might be paired with a native goddess, as withMercury andRosmerta. In at least one case, that of the equine goddessEpona, a native Gallic goddess was also adopted by Rome.
Easternmystery religions penetrated Gaul early on, which included the cults ofOrpheus,Mithras,Cybele andIsis.
Theimperial cult, centred primarily on thenumen ofAugustus, came to play a prominent role in public religion in Gaul, most dramatically at the pan-Gaulish ceremony venerating Rome and Augustus at the Condate Altar, nearLugdunum, annually on 1 August.
Gregory of Tours recorded the tradition that after the persecution under the co-emperorsDecius and Gratus (250–251), the future PopeFelix I sent seven missionaries to re-establish the broken and scattered Christian communities:Gatien to Tours,Trophimus to Arles,Paul to Narbonne,Saturninus to Toulouse,Denis to Paris,Martial to Limoges andAustromoine toClermont.[10]
In the 5th and the 6th centuries, Gallo-Roman Christian communities still consisted of independent churches in urban sites, each governed by abishop. Christians experienced loyalties that were divided between the bishop and the civil prefect, who operated largely in harmony within the late-imperial administration. Some of the communities had origins that predated the 3rd-century persecutions. The personal charisma of the bishop set the tone, as 5th-century allegiances forpagans and Christians switched from institutions to individuals. Most Gallo-Roman bishops were drawn from the highest levels of society as appropriate non-military civil roads to advancement dwindled, and they represented themselves as bulwarks of high literary standards and Roman traditions against theVandal andGothic interlopers. Other bishops drew the faithful to radical asceticism. Bishops often took on the duties of civil administrators after the contraction of the Roman imperial administration during the barbarian invasions of the 5th century by helping fund building projects and even acting as arbiters of justice in the local community. Miracles attributed to both kinds of bishops, as well as holy men and women, attractedcult veneration, sometimes very soon after their death. A great number of locally venerated Gallo-Roman and Merovingian saints arose from 400 to 750. The identification of the diocesan administration with the secular community, which took place during the 5th century in Italy, can best be traced in the Gallo-Roman culture of Gaul in the career ofCaesarius, bishop andMetropolitan ofArles from 503 to 543. (Wallace-Hadrill).
Before the Roman incursion, most of Gaul spoke Celtic dialects that are now considered to be theGaulish language with considerablevariation. The south-western region that would later becomeGascony spoke theAquitanian language, which may have been the parent language ofBasque;[11] further, parts of the coast near Marseille spokeLigurian with some Greek-speaking colonies on the Mediterranean coast, notably includingMassilia. In the northeastern zone ofBelgica, there may have been some presence ofGermanic languages, but that is disputed. During the late empire, there was some settlement in Gaul by tribes speaking Germanic orEastern Iranian languages, such as theAlans.
TheGaulish language is thought to have survived into the 6th century in France, despite considerable Romanization of the local material culture.[12] The last record of spoken Gaulish deemed to be plausibly credible[12] was whenGregory of Tours wrote in the 6th century (c. 560–575) that a shrine inAuvergne which "is calledVasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue" was destroyed and burnt to the ground.[13] Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape theVulgar Latin dialects that developed into French, with effects including loanwords andcalques (includingoui,[14] the word for "yes"),[15] sound changes,[16][17] and influences in conjugation and word order.[15][18][19]
TheVulgar Latin in the region of Gallia took on a distinctly local character, some of which is attested in graffiti,[19] which evolved into theGallo-Romance dialects which include French and its closest relatives. The influence ofsubstrate languages may be seen in graffiti showing sound changes that matched changes that had occurred earlier in the indigenous languages, especially Gaulish.[19] The Vulgar Latin in the North of Gaul evolved into thelangues d'oïl andFranco-Provencal, and the dialects in the South evolved into the modernOccitan andCatalan tongues. Other languages held to be Gallo-Romance include theGallo-Italic languages and theRhaeto-Romance languages.Latinepigraphy in Gaul has peculiarities such as the occasional variant⟨Ꟶ⟩ instead of⟨H⟩.[20]
Roman culture introduced a new phase of anthropomorphized sculpture to the Gaulish community,[21] synthesized with Celtic traditions of refined metalworking, a rich body of urbane Gallo-Roman silver developed, which the upheavals of the 3rd and the 5th centuries motivated hiding away inhoards, which have protected some pieces of Gallo-Roman silver, from villas and temple sites, from the universal destruction of precious metalwork in circulation. The exhibition of Gallo-Roman silver highlighted specifically Gallo-Roman silver from the treasures found atChaourse (Aisne),Mâcon (Saône et Loire), Graincourt-lès-Havrincourt (Pas de Calais), Notre-Dame d'Allençon (Maine-et-Loire) and Rethel (Ardennes, found in 1980).[22]
The two most Romanized of the three Gauls were bound together in a network ofRoman roads, which linked cities.Via Domitia (laid out in 118 BC), reached fromNîmes to thePyrenees, where it joined theVia Augusta at theCol de Panissars.Via Aquitania reached fromNarbonne, where it connected to the Via Domitia, to theAtlantic Ocean throughToulouse toBordeaux. Via Scarponensis connectedTrier toLyon throughMetz.
AtPérigueux, France, a luxurious Roman villa called theDomus of Vesunna, built round a garden courtyard surrounded by a colonnaded peristyle enriched with bold tectonic frescoing, has been handsomely protected in a modern glass-and-steel structure that is a fine example of archaeological museum-making (see external link).
Lyon, the capital of Roman Gaul, is now the site of theGallo-Roman Museum of Lyon (rue Céberg), associated with the remains of the theater andodeon of RomanLugdunum. Visitors are offered a clear picture of the daily life, economic conditions, institutions, beliefs, monuments and artistic achievements of the first four centuries of theChristian era. The "Claudius Tablet" in the Museum transcribes a speech given before the Senate by theEmperor Claudius in 48, in which he requests the right for the heads of the Gallic nations to participate in Roman magistracy. The request having been accepted, the Gauls decided to engrave the imperial speech on bronze.
InMetz, once an important town ofGaul, theGolden Courtyard Museums displays a rich collection of Gallo-Roman finds and the vestiges of Gallo-Roman baths, revealed by the extension works to the museums in the 1930s.
InMartigny,Valais, Switzerland, at theFondation Pierre Gianadda, a modern museum of art and sculpture shares space with Gallo-Roman Museum centered on the foundations of a Celtic temple.
Other sites include:
Le déclin du Gaulois et sa disparition ne s'expliquent pas seulement par des pratiques culturelles spécifiques: Lorsque les Romains conduits par César envahirent la Gaule, au 1er siecle avant J.-C., celle-ci romanisa de manière progressive et profonde. Pendant près de 500 ans, la fameuse période gallo-romaine, le gaulois et le latin parlé coexistèrent; au VIe siècle encore; le temoignage de Grégoire de Tours atteste la survivance de la langue gauloise.
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