Soissons - France - In Search of the Celts on Waymarking.com

[FR] Les Suessions etaient mentionné par César dans la La Guerre des Gaules, comme très étroitement allié aux Rèmes (peuple ayant pour capitale Reims). Cependant, lors de la Guerre des Gaules, ils prirent la tête de la coalition des Belges, alors que les Rèmes se rangèrent du côté des Romains.

Leur oppidum principal (ils en possédaient 12 selon César) Noviodunum, dont la localisation est objet de discussion (Villeneuve-Saint-Germain ou Pommiers) fut délaissé, au profit d'une ville nouvelle : Augusta Suessionum (ce nom fut donné en l'honneur de l'empereur Auguste), fondée à l'emplacement de Soissons.

Bien que les Suessions aient combattu César, grâce à l'intercession des Rèmes, la cité était considérée comme libre par les Romains.

La ville antique est mal connue, malgré de très nombreuses découvertes signalées depuis l'Époque moderne. Un seul monument est localisé, le théâtre fouillé partiellement au XIXe siècle. L'extension de l'occupation reste encore à préciser, mais elle est évaluée à 130 hectares, ce qui est considérable pour la Gaule. Les découvertes archéologiques donnent l'image d'une ville prospère.

[EN] Soissons enters written history under its Celtic name (as later borrowed in Latin), Noviodunum, meaning "new hillfort". At Roman contact, it was a town of the Suessiones, mentioned by Julius Caesar (B. G. ii. 12). Caesar (B.C. 57), after leaving the Axona (modern Aisne), entered the territory of the Suessiones, and making one day's long march, reached Noviodunum, which was surrounded by a high wall and a broad ditch. The place surrendered to Caesar.

Caesar recounts in his Gallic Wars that in 57 BC the Suessiones were ruled by Galba, and that in living memory of that time their king Diviciacus had exercised sovereignty over most of the Belgae and even parts of Britain.

Coinage minted by Belgic Gauls first appeared in Britain in the mid-second century bc with the coinage now categorized as the "Gallo-Belgic A" type. These finds lead scholars to suggest that the Suessiones had significant trade and migration into Britain during the second and first centuries prior to Roman conquest.

From 457 to 486, under Aegidius and his son Syagrius, Noviodunum was the capital of the "Kingdom of Soissons," until it fell to the Frankish king Clovis I in the Battle of Soissons.

Soissons was the birthplace of the Frankish Prince Charlemagne, in the year 747, son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon.

Admission Fee (local currency): Free Opening days/times: 24 x 7 Web Site: [Web Link] Condition: Place name

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/01/2010 lapinblanc visited it