An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a Iron Age Europe, European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman Republic, Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age ...

, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretching from Britain and

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

in the west to the edge of the Hungarian Plain in the east. These settlements continued to be used until the Romans conquered Southern and Western Europe. Many subsequently became Roman-era towns and cities, whilst others were abandoned. In regions north of the rivers

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, such as most of

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

, where the populations remained independent from Rome, ''oppida'' continued to be used into the 1st century AD.

Definition

is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word meaning 'defended (fortified) administrative centre or town', originally used in reference to non-Roman towns as well as provincial towns under Roman control. The word is derived from the earlier Latin , 'enclosed space', possibly from the

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

, 'occupied space' or 'footprint'. In modern archaeological usage ''oppidum'' is a conventional term for large fortified settlements associated with the Celtic

. In his '' Commentarii de Bello Gallico'',

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

described the larger

Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

settlements he encountered in

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

during the Gallic Wars in 58 to 52 BC as ''oppida''. Although he did not explicitly define what features qualified a settlement to be called an ''oppidum'', the main requirements emerge. They were important economic sites, places where goods were produced, stored and traded, and sometimes Roman merchants had settled and the

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

s could obtain supplies. They were also political centres, the seat of authorities who made decisions that affected large numbers of people, such as the appointment of Vercingetorix as head of the Gallic revolt in 52 BC. Manching model 1

Caesar named 28 ''oppida''. By 2011, only 21 of these had been positively identified by historians and archaeologists: either there was a traceable similarity between the Latin and the modern name of the locality (e.g. Civitas Aurelianorum-

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Alesia). Most of the places that Caesar called oppida were city-sized fortified settlements. However,

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, for example, was referred to as an ''oppidum'', but no fortifications dating to this period have yet been discovered there. Caesar also refers to 20 ''oppida'' of the Bituriges and 12 of the Helvetii, twice the number of fortified settlements of these groups known today. That implies that Caesar likely counted some unfortified settlements as ''oppida''. A similar ambiguity is in evidence in writing by the Roman historian Livy, who also used the word for both fortified and unfortified settlements. Manching model 2

In his work ''Geographia'',

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

listed the coordinates of many Celtic settlements. However, research has shown many of the localisations of Ptolemy to be erroneous, making the identification of any modern location with the names he listed highly uncertain and speculative. An exception to that is the ''oppidum'' of ''Brenodurum'' at

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, which was confirmed by an archaeological discovery. In archaeology and prehistory, the term ''oppida'' now refers to a category of settlement; it was first used in that sense by Paul Reinecke, Joseph Déchelette and in reference to Bibracte, Manching, and Závist. In particular, Dehn suggested defining an oppidum by four criteria: # Size: The settlement has to have a minimum size, defined by Dehn as . # Topography: Most ''oppida'' are situated on heights, but some are located on flat areas of land. # Fortification: The settlement is surrounded by a (ideally uninterrupted) wall, usually consisting of three elements: a facade of stone, a wooden construction and an earthen rampart at the back. Gates are usually pincer gates. # Chronology: The settlement dates from the late

: the last two centuries BC. Celtic Oppidum 1st century B

In current usage, most definitions of ''oppida'' emphasise the presence of fortifications, so they are different from undefended farms or settlements, and urban characteristics, marking them as separate from

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

s. They are often described as 'the first cities north of the Alps', though earlier examples of urbanism in temperate Europe are also known. The 2nd and 1st centuries BC places them in the period known as La Tène. A notional minimum size of has often been suggested, but that is flexible and fortified sites as small as have been described as ''oppida''. However, the term is not always rigorously used, and it has been used to refer to any hill fort or circular rampart dating from the La Tène period. One of the effects of the inconsistency in definitions is that it is uncertain how many ''oppida'' were built. In European archaeology, the term ''oppida'' is also used more widely to characterize any fortified prehistoric settlement. For example, significantly older hill-top structures like the one at Glauberg (6th or 5th century BC) have been called ''oppida''. Such wider use of the term is, for example, common in the Iberian archaeology; in the descriptions of the Castro culture it is commonly used to refer to the settlements going back to the 9th century BC. The Spanish word , also used in English, means 'a walled settlement' or 'hill fort', and this word is often used interchangeably with ''oppidum'' by archaeologists.

Location and type

According to pre-historian John Collis, oppida extend as far east as the Hungarian plain where other settlement types take over. Around 200 ''oppida'' are known today. Central Spain has sites similar to oppida, but while they share features such as size and defensive ramparts the interior was arranged differently. ''Oppida'' feature a wide variety of internal structures, from continuous rows of dwellings ( Bibracte) to more widely spaced individual estates ( Manching). Some ''oppida'' had internal layouts resembling the '' insulae'' of Roman cities (Variscourt). Little is known, however, about the purpose of any public buildings. The main features of the oppida are the walls and gates, the spacious layout, and usually a commanding view of the surrounding area. The major difference with earlier structures was their much larger size. Earlier hill forts were mostly just a few hectares in area, whilst ''oppida'' could encompass several dozen or even hundreds of hectares. They also played a role in displaying the power and wealth of the local inhabitants and as a line of demarcation between the town and the countryside. According to Jane McIntosh, the "impressive ramparts with elaborate gateways ... were probably as much for show and for controlling the movement of people and goods as for defense".McIntosh (2009), p. 156 Some of the ''oppida'' fortifications were built on an immense scale. Construction of the 7km-long ' at Manching required an estimated 6,900 m³ of stones for the façade alone, up to 7.5 tons of iron nails, 90,000 m³ of earth and stones for the fill between the posts and 100,000 m³ of earth for the ramp. In terms of labour, some 2,000 people would have been needed for 250 days. The 5.5km-long of Bibracte may have required 40 to 60

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s of mature oak woodland to be clear-felled for its construction. However, size and construction of ''oppida'' varied considerably. Typically ''oppida'' in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

were much larger than those found in the north and west of France. Typically ''oppida'' in Britain are small, but there is a group of large oppida in the south east; though oppida are uncommon in northern Britain, Stanwick stands out as an unusual example as it covers . Dry stone walls supported by a bank of earth, called Kelheim ramparts, were characteristic of oppida in central Europe. To the east, timbers were often used to support the earth and stone ramparts, called '' Pfostenschlitzmauer'' (post slot wall) or " Preist-type wall". In western Europe, especially Gaul, the '' murus gallicus'' (a timber frame nailed together, with a stone facade and earth/stone fill), was the dominant form of rampart construction. Dump ramparts, that is earth unsupported by timber, were common in Britain and were later adopted in France. They have been found in particular in the north-west and central regions of France and were combined with wide moats ("Type Fécamp"). Oppida can be divided into two broad groups, those around the Mediterranean coast and those further inland. The latter group were larger, more varied, and spaced further apart. In Britain the ''oppidum'' of '' Camulodunon'' (modern

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, built between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD), tribal capital of the Trinovantes and at times the Catuvellauni, made use of natural defences enhanced with earthworks to protect itself.Crummy, Philip (1997) City of Victory; the story of Colchester – Britain's first Roman town. Published by Colchester Archaeological Trust () The site was protected by two rivers on three of its sides, with the River Colne bounding the site to the north and east, and the Roman River forming the southern boundary; the extensive bank and ditch earthworks topped with palisades were constructed to close off the open western gap between these two river valleys.Denney, Patrick (2004) Colchester. Published by Tempus Publishing () These earthworks are considered the most extensive of their kind in Britain, and together with the two rivers enclosed the high status farmsteads, burial grounds, religious sites, industrial areas, river port and coin mint of the Trinovantes.

History

Prehistoric Europe saw a growing population. According to Jane McIntosh, in about 5,000 BC during the Neolithic between 2 million and 5 million people lived in Europe;McIntosh (2009), p. 349 in the late (pre-Roman) Iron Age (2nd and 1st centuries BC) it had an estimated population of around 15 to 30 million. Outside Greece and Italy, which were more densely populated, the vast majority of settlements in the Iron Age were small, with perhaps no more than 50 inhabitants. While hill forts could accommodate up to 1,000 people, ''oppida'' in the late Iron Age could reach as large as 10,000 inhabitants. Corent oppidum 1

''Oppida'' originated in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Most were built on fresh sites, usually on an elevated position. Such a location would have allowed the settlement to dominate nearby trade routes and may also have been important as a symbol of control of the area. For instance at the ''oppidum'' of Ulaca in Spain the height of the ramparts is not uniform: those overlooking the valley are considerably higher than those facing towards the mountains in the area. The traditional explanation is that the smaller ramparts were unfinished because the region was invaded by the Romans; however, archaeologist John Collis dismisses this explanation because the inhabitants managed to build a second rampart extending the site by to cover an area of . Instead he believes the role of the ramparts as a status symbol may have been more important than their defensive qualities. While some ''oppida'' grew from hill forts, by no means all of them had significant defensive functions. The development of ''oppida'' was a milestone in the urbanisation of the continent as they were among the first large settlements north of the Alps that could genuinely be described as towns or cities (earlier sites include the 'Princely Seats' of the Hallstatt period). Caesar pointed out that each tribe of Gaul would have several ''oppida'' but that they were not all of equal importance, implying a form of settlement hierarchy, with some ''oppida'' serving as regional capitals. This is also reflected in the archaeological evidence. According to Fichtl (2018), in the first century BC Gaul was divided into around sixty (the term used by Caesar) or 'autonomous city-states', which were mostly organized around one or more ''oppida''. In some cases, "one of these can be regarded effectively as a capital." ''Oppida'' continued in use until the Romans began conquering Iron Age Europe. Even in the lands north of the River Danube that remained unconquered by the Romans, ''oppida'' were abandoned by the late 1st century AD. In conquered lands, the Romans used the infrastructure of the ''oppida'' to administer the empire, and many became full Roman towns. This often involved a change of location from the hilltop into the plain.

Examples

By modern country.

Belgium/Luxembourg/Netherlands

* Oppidum Aduaticorum/Atuatucorum, location undetermined, Belgium *Canteleux, Huissignies, Chièvres, Wallonia, Belgium *Cheslé, Bérisménil, Samrée La Roche-en-Ardenne, Wallonia, Belgium *Chession, Han-sur-Lesse, Rochefort, Wallonia, Belgium * Flobecq, Wallonia, Belgium * Gilly-Ransart,

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, Wallonia, Belgium *Gougnies,

Gerpinnes Gerpinnes (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 the municipality had 12,660 inhabitants. The total area is 47.10 km2, giving a population density Population density (in agricu ...

, Wallonia, Belgium *Orchimont, Vresse-sur-Semois, Wallonia, Belgium *Sinsin, Somme-Leuze, Wallonia, Belgium * Titelberg, Luxembourg * Caestert, possibly Atuatuca Tungrorum, on the Walloon/Flemish/Dutch border, Belgium/Netherlands

Czech Republic

* * Hostýn *, Radíč * České Lhotice * Staré Hradisko Population estimate 5,000. * Stradonice * Třísov * Nevězice *, 170 ha. Population estimate 3,400. See reconstructed model of the acropolis in 450 BC.

France

* Alesia * Ambrussum * Oppidum d’Altimurium near Murviel-lès-Montpellier * Bibracte (Mont Beuvray), 135 ha * Bracquemont, Haute-Normandie * Cenabum, Orléans * La Chaussée-Tirancourt, Picardie * La Cheppe, Champagne-Ardenne * Corent * Divodurum, ancestor of present-day

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

, oppidum of the Mediomatrici * * Oppidum d'Ensérune * Oppidum d'Entremont * Oppidum of Moulay * Oppidum de Nages * Oppidum de Marduel * Gergovia, 75 ha * Oppidum de Gondole *Jœuvres, Saint-Jean-Saint-Maurice-sur-Loire * Langres, Champagne-Ardenne * Montlaurès * * Pech Maho * Salon-de-Provence *

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

* Uxellodunum * Vesontio, Besançon

Germany

* Alcimoennis, Kelheim, 600 ha * * Donnersberg, 240 ha * Dünsberg *, Creglingen * Heidengraben, 1,700 ha * Hohenasperg * Glauberg (controversial, not dating to the 1st/2nd century BC) * Manching, 380 ha * Martberg * Milseburg * Staffelberg, known as Menosgada * Oppidum Steinsburg

Great Britain

* Calleva Atrebatum ( Silchester), England * Camulodunum, (

) England * Oram's Arbour (

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

), England * Ratae Corieltauvorum (

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

), England * Traprain Law, Scotland * Verlamion, England * Noviomagus Reginorum, (

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

), England

Hungary

*Budapest- Gellért Hill *Velem-Szentvid, Velem

Portugal

* Citânia de Briteiros * Óbidos * Castro Culture of Portugal

Serbia

*Čarnok, near Vrbas * Židovar

Slovakia

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

* Devín

Spain

* List of castros in Asturias * List of castros in the Basque Country * List of castros in Cantabria * List of castros in Castile and León * List of castros in Galicia * Castro culture

Switzerland

* Basel-Münsterhügel *Bern (Brenodurum) * Mont Vully, Bas-Vully * Zürich-Lindenhof

References

Notes Bibliography * Collis, John (2000), "'Celtic' Oppida", in Hansen, Mogens Herman, ''A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures'', Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, pp. 229–240, * Collis, John (2010)
"Why do we still dig Iron Age ramparts?"
(PDF), ''Collection Bibracte'' 19: 27–36, * Jones, Stephen (2001) ''Deconstructing the Celts: a skeptic's guide to the archaeology of the Auvergne''. British Archaeological Reports. Oxford: Archaeopress. *McIntosh, Jane (2009) ''Handbook of Life in Prehistoric Europe'' (paperback ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Woolf, Greg (July 1993)
"Rethinking the Oppida"
''Oxford Journal of Archaeology'' 12: 223–234

External links

Multi-lingual site on European oppida
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Europe Celtic archaeological sites Former populated places Iron Age Europe La Tène culture