Template:Short description Template:Distinguish The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *Aiduoi, 'the Ardent'; Template:Langx) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in what is now the region of Burgundy during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic, as well as other Gallic tribes. In 121 BC, they appealed to Rome against the Arverni and Allobroges. During the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), they gave valuable though not whole-hearted support to Caesar, before eventually giving lukewarm support to Vercingetorix in 52. Although they were involved in the revolts of Iulius Sacrovir in 21 AD and Vindex in 68 AD, their aristocracy became highly Romanized under the Empire.Template:Sfn
NameEdit
They are mentioned as Ardues (Ἄρδυες) by Polybius (2nd c. BC),<ref>Polybius. Historíai, 3:47:3.</ref> Haedui by Cicero (mid-1st c. BC) and Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),<ref>Cicero. Epistulae ad Atticum, 1:19:2.; Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 1:11:2</ref> Haeduos by Livy (late 1st c. BC),<ref>Livy. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 5:34:3.</ref> Aedui by Pliny (mid-1st c. AD),<ref>Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:107.</ref> Aidúōn (Αἰδύων) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),<ref>Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:8:12.</ref> and as Aídouoi (Aἴδουοι) by Cassius Dio (3rd c. AD).<ref>Cassius Dio. Rhōmaïkḕ Historía, 38:32.</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb, s.v. Aedui and Haedui.</ref>
The ethnonym Aedui is a Latinized form of Gaulish *Aiduoi (sing. *Aiduos), which means 'the Ardent ones'. It derives from the Celtic stem *aidu- ('fire, ardour'; cf. Old Irish áed 'fire', Welsh aidd 'ardour'; also the Irish deity Aéd or Aodh), itself from Template:Langx ('firewood'; cf. Sanskrit édhas 'bonfire', Latin aedes 'building, temple'; cf. also Ancient Greek Aether 'god of the upper sky' and Aethra 'bright sky', from aíthō 'to ignite, to kindle').Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
GeographyEdit
TerritoryEdit
The territory of the Aedui was situated between the Saône and Loire rivers, in a strategic position regarding trade routes. It included most of the modern départements of Saône-et-Loire and Nièvre, the southwestern-part of Côte-d'Or between Beaune and Saulieu, and the southern part of Yonne around Avallon,Template:Sfn corresponding to the Saône plains, the Morvan granitic massif, and the low Nivernais plateau, from east to west.Template:Sfn They dwelled between the Arverni in the west, the Segusiavi and Ambarri in the south, the Sequani in the east, and the Lingones and Senones in the north.Template:Sfn
SettlementsEdit
Three oppida are known from the end of the La Tène period: Vieux-Dun (Dun-les-Places), Le Fou de Verdun (Lavault-de-Frétoy), and Bibracte, which occupied a central position in the Aedian economic system.Template:Sfn
During the Roman period, Bibracte was abandoned for Augustodunum ('fortress of Augustus'; modern-day Autun).Template:Sfn
Ancient sourcesEdit
The country of the Aedui is defined by reports of them in ancient writings. The upper Liger formed their western border,<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> separating them from the Bituriges. The Arar formed their eastern border, separating them from the Sequani.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> The Sequani did not reside in the region of the confluence of the Dubis and the Arar, and of the Arar into the Rhodanus, as Caesar says that the Helvetii, traveling southward along the pass between the Jura Mountains and the Rhodanus, which belonged to the Sequani, plundered the territory of the Aedui.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> These circumstances explain an apparent contradiction in Strabo, who in one sentence says that the Aedui lived between the Arar and the Dubis, and in the next, that the Sequani lived across the Arar (eastward).<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref>
HistoryEdit
Pre-Roman periodEdit
Burgundy is situated in the heartland of the early La Tène culture (see Vix Grave). By the early 3rd century BC, the emergence of settlements with diversified functions, along with the creation of sanctuaries, suggest the beginning of a civilization centered around the oppidum.Template:Sfn
Roman periodEdit
Outside of the Roman province and prior to Roman rule, Gaul was occupied by self-governing tribes divided into cantons, and each canton was further divided into communes. The Aedui, like other powerful tribes in the region, such as the Arverni, Sequani, and Helvetii, had replaced their monarchy with a council of magistrates called grand-judges. The grand-judges were under the authority of a senate. This senate was made up of the descendants of ancient royal families. Free men in the tribes were vassals of the heads of these families, in an exchange of military, financial, and political interests.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
According to Livy (v. 34), the Aedui took part in the expedition of Bellovesus into Italy in the sixth century BC. Before Caesar's time, they had attached themselves to the Romans and were honoured with the title of brothers and kinsmen of the Roman people.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> When the Sequani, their traditional rivals, defeated and massacred the Aedui at the Battle of Magetobriga in 63 BC, with the assistance of the Germanic chieftain Ariovistus, the Aedui sent the druid Diviciacus to Rome with an appeal to the senate for help; but his mission was unsuccessful.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |
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- A. E. Desjardins, Géographie de la Gaule, ii. (1876–1893)
- T. R. Holmes, Caesar's Conquest of Gaul (1899).</ref>
After his arrival in Gaul in 58 BC, Caesar restored the independence of the Aedui. In spite of this, they subsequently joined the Gallic coalition against Caesar (B. G. vii. 42), but after the surrender of Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia, the Aedui gladly returned to their allegiance. Augustus dismantled their capital, Bibracte, on Mont Beuvray, and constructed a new town with a half-Roman, half-Gaulish name, Augustodunum (modern Autun).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In AD 21, during the reign of Tiberius, the Aedui revolted under Julius Sacrovir, and seized Augustodunum, but they were soon put down by Gaius Silius (Tacitus Ann. iii. 43–46). The Aedui were the first of the Gauls to receive from the emperor Claudius the distinction of jus honorum, thus being the first Gauls permitted to become senators.<ref name="test">Peoples, Nations and Cultures. General Editor Prof John Mackenzie. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 2005.</ref>
Until Claudius (41–54 AD), the Aedui were the first northern Gallic people to send senators to Rome.Template:Sfn
The oration of Eumenius, in which he pleaded for the restoration of the schools of his native Augustodunum, suggests that the district was then neglected. The chief magistrate of the Aedui in Caesar's time was called the Vergobretus (according to Mommsen, "judgment-worker"). He was elected annually, and possessed powers of life and death, but was forbidden to go beyond the frontiers of his territory. Certain clientes, or small communities, were also dependent upon the Aedui.<ref name="EB1911"/>
ReligionEdit
The Temple of Janus was located just outside the Aedian town of Augustodunum. It probably dates back to the second half of the 1st century AD.Template:Sfn
At the end of the La Tène period, religious convergences occurred between the Aedui and the neighbouring Lingones and Sequani in the Saône-Doubs area, as evidenced by the similarity in the practices at the sanctuaries of Nuits-Saint-Georges (Aedui), Mirebeau-sur-Bèze (Lingones) and Mandeure (Sequani).Template:Sfn
Political organizationEdit
According to Julius Caesar, the Aedui were one of the strongest Gallic tribes, in rivalry with the Helvetii, Sequani, Remi, and Arverni. Furthermore, the Aedui seemed to work in a semi-republican state, with the powerful Vergobret at least slightly being at the will of the people, similar to the senators of Rome.<ref name="Hamm">Template:Cite book</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
Primary sourcesEdit
BibliographyEdit
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Further readingEdit
Template:Celts Template:Gallic peoples Template:Authority control