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Introduction The first to third century The harbours Late antiquity Christianity |
In 58 BC Helvetians wanted to migrate from east to west, crossing the river Rhône at Genève (Genava), to the south of Lac Léman. The events are described by Caesar in his Gallic War:
Erant omnino itinera duo, quibus itineribus domo exire possent. Unum per Sequanos, angustum et difficile, inter montem Iuram et flumen Rhodanum, vix qua singuli carri ducerentur, mons autem altissimus impendebat, ut facile perpauci prohibere possent. Alterum per provinciam nostram, multo facilius atque expeditius, propterea quod inter fines Helvetiorum et Allobrogum, qui nuper pacati erant, Rhodanus fluit isque non nullis locis vado transitur. Extremum oppidum Allobrogum est proximumque Helvetiorum finibus Genava. Ex eo oppido pons ad Helvetios pertinet. Allobrogibus sese vel persuasuros, quod nondum bono animo in populum Romanum viderentur, existimabant vel vi coacturos ut per suos fines eos ire paterentur. Omnibus rebus ad profectionem comparatis diem dicunt, qua die ad ripam Rhodani omnes conveniant. Is dies erat a. d. V. Kal. Apr. L. Pisone, A. Gabinio consulibus.
Caesari cum id nuntiatum esset, eos per provinciam nostram iter facere conari, maturat ab urbe proficisci et quam maximis potest itineribus in Galliam ulteriorem contendit et ad Genavam pervenit. Provinciae toti quam maximum potest militum numerum imperat (erat omnino in Gallia ulteriore legio una), pontem, qui erat ad Genavam, iubet rescindi. Ubi de eius adventu Helvetii certiores facti sunt, legatos ad eum mittunt nobilissimos civitatis, cuius legationis Nammeius et Verucloetius principem locum obtinebant, qui dicerent sibi esse in animo sine ullo maleficio iter per provinciam facere, propterea quod aliud iter haberent nullum, rogare ut eius voluntate id sibi facere liceat. Caesar, quod memoria tenebat L. Cassium consulem occisum exercitumque eius ab Helvetiis pulsum et sub iugum missum, concedendum non putabat. Neque homines inimico animo, data facultate per provinciam itineris faciundi, temperaturos ab iniuria et maleficio existimabat. Tamen, ut spatium intercedere posset dum milites quos imperaverat convenirent, legatis respondit diem se ad deliberandum sumpturum, si quid vellent, ad Id. April. reverterentur.There were only two possible routes for the departure from their home. One went through the land of the Sequani, between the Jura mountain range and the Rhône. It was narrow and difficult, so that the waggons could hardly pass in single file, and the high mountain which loomed over it meant that a handful of men could easily block the pass. The other, which went through our province, was far quicker and easier because the Rhône, which flows between the lands of the Helvetii and those of the Allobroges (who had recently been pacified), can be forded at several points. The furthermost town of the Allobroges, on the border with the Helvetii, is Genava. A bridge connects the town with the Helvetii, who reckoned they coud either persuade the Allobroges to allow them a passage through their land (for they did not as yet appear to be reconciled to the Roman people), or force them to do so. Once everything was ready for the migration the Helvetii fixed a date by which everyone was to assemble by the bank of the Rhône. The date was 28 March, in the consulship of Lucius Piso and Aulus Gabinius.
When news came to Caesar that the Helvetii were trying to journey through our province he hurried his departure from Rome, and by the longest forced marches possible he made for Transalpine Gaul and reached Genava. He ordered the whole province to supply as many men as possible (for in Transalpine Gaul there was only one legion), and gave orders for the bridge at Genava to be destroyed. When the Helvetii heard of his arrival they sent their most aristocratic citizens to him as envoys, headed by Nammeius and Verucloetius, to explain their intention of marching, without doing any harm, through the province - for they had no other route. They asked his agreement to their action. Caesar remembered how the consul Lucius Cassius had been killed and his army beaten by the Helvetii and sent under the yoke, and decided to refuse. Nor did he believe that these men, hostile as they were, would refrain from doing harm and damage if allowed to march through the province. Even so, he told the envoys that he would take a while to consider, and that they should if they so wished return on 13 April. Thus a space of time would elapse in which the soldiers he had ordered could muster.Caesar, De Bello Gallico I,6-7. Translation Carolyn Hammond. Not much later a Roman settlement started to develop next to the Celtic oppidum. The ruins are buried below the modern city. Some standing remains were unfortunately torn down in the past: a gate on the Rue de la Tour-de-Boël around 1460, and another gate, the Arcade du Bourg-de-Four, in 1840.
The Arcade du Bourg-de-Four before its demolition in 1840.
Lithograph by Jean-Charles Aymonier in the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Genève.Roman walls, objects and inscriptions have emerged for centuries, in the 20th century investigated especially by Louis Blondel (1885-1967), the first director of the cantonal archaeological service in Geneva. Bronze and (fragments of) stone sculptures are preserved in the Musée d'art et d'histoire in Genève. The ancient context of these objects is not known.
Bronze head, found in 1715. First half of the first century.
W. 0.16, h. 0.20. Photo: Musée d'art et d'histoire, Genève.
Bronze statuette of the Celtic deity Sucellus, protector of artisans and farmers.
Found in the late 17th century. Photo: Musée d'art et d'histoire, Genève.
SEVVAE VE
RECVNDAE
FIL(iae)For Sevva,
daughter of
Verecunda.Tombstone of Sevva, found in 1917. Bust with a waning and a waxing moon.
First century. Limestone. W. 0.60, h. 1.27, d. 0.40. EDCS-13302031.
Musée d'art et d'histoire, Genève. Photo: Bossert-Neukom 2004, Taf. 16 nr. 20.
Introduction
The first to third century
The harbours
Late antiquity
Christianity
Literature
Deonna 1920; Blondel 1925; Deonna 1925; Deonna 1942; Sauter-Bonnet 1971; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 398-406; Bonnet et al. 1989; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 123-131; Bossert-Neukom 2004, Teil I.
[22-Nov-2023]
