by Graham Robb
41 The so-called Celtic cross: e.g. Rees, 36.
41 ‘the centre of the whole of Gaul’: BG, VI, 13.
42 a small island in the Atlantic Ocean: Quatrefages, II, 296 (Montmeillan).
42 a headland near Carnac: Bougard. Other previously unrecognized Mediolana: Mions in the south-eastern suburbs of Lyon, whose inhabitants are called Miolands, and le Mayollant (formerly Meolanum), a collection of farm buildings further in the same direction.
43 Peutinger Map: Bibliotheca Augustana; Fortia d’Urban (1845); Talbert; Talbert et al. For other ancient ‘itineraries’: Fortia d’Urban (1845); Miller; Parthey et al.; Ptolemy (2000 and 2006).
44 In Vadé’s reconstruction: Vadé (1972–74, 1976 and 2000).
44 ‘Unless the maps deceive us’: Vadé (2000), 34.
45 mystery would be solved by archaeology: Guyonvarc’h (1961), 157.
45 the Mediolanum near Pontcharra: Faure-Brac, 302. The original source probably showed two separate routes to Lyon – a longer but easier route by Forum Segusiavum (Feurs), and the route by Mediolanum, which would have been on the eastern side of the Tarare Hill. Drivers changed horses near Pontcharra and the hamlet of Miollan (in this part of France, a recognizable mutation of ‘Mediolanum’).
46 the city of Saintes: Maurin et al., 61.
47 cartographic analysis: Vion, 69; also C. Marchand in Chouquer, ed., III, 68–70. A good example is Moislains (Somme).
4. The Mediolanum Mystery, II
49 ‘in summum venire non potuit’: Trousset, 135.
50 about forty place names: Watson, 244–48.
50 the Greek ‘nemos’: ‘Nemos’ (`wood’) is unknown in Gaulish. For a Gaulish speaker, a wood was a ‘uidua’ or a ‘ceto’.
50 ‘altars horrible on massive stones upreared’: Lucan, III, 399–411. (Tr. E. Ridley.)
51 Two terminal points were chosen: Bailey and Devereux; Woolliscroft, 155 (on the importance of Bar Hill).
52 the black-faced sheep: Reynolds, 189.
55 local groups of ‘middle’ places: e.g. in the Marne, the region to the east of Albi, the valley of the Isère, and the lands of the Gallaeci in north-western Spain.
55 A few had even been Mediolana themselves: Meilen, Switzerland (by Mittelberg); Melaine (below Mont Moyen, formerly ‘Mons medianus’); Molien (by Monts Moyens); Montméal (Montemedio, Montmialon); Montmeillant, Ardennes (Monte Meliano); Montmélian, Oise (Mediolano Mon[te]); Montmélian, Seine-et-Marne (Monte Medio); Mont Milan, Côte-d’Or (by Montmoyen).
55 dubious chiselled stone: Harley and Woodward, 207. The Camp de César at the Butte Mauchamp lies west of Guignicourt.
55 a Greek unit of measurement: M. Guy, in Arcelin et al., 443.
56 patterning effects of catchment areas: on Bronze Age shrines as territorial markers: Delor, 99–100.
56 alignments of ditches and stones: on prehistoric alignments: Burl; Hoskin; Maravelia; Thom.
57 signs of cosmopolitan luxury: Provost et al. (1992), 78.
58 ‘Montes medii’ and Mediolana place names: primarily from maps and the following: Amé; Bayerri y Bertomeu; C. de Beaurepaire; F. de Beaurepaire (1981 and 1986); Bouteiller; Boutiot; Boyer and Latouche; R. Boyer; Brun-Durand; Cappello and Tagliavini; Carré de Busserolle; Charrié; Chassaing; Chazaud; Clouzot; Dauzat and Rostaing; Deshayes; Dufour; Falc’hun and Tanguy; Gasca Queirazza; Gauchat; Germer-Durand; Goggi; Gourgues; Grässe; Gysseling; Haigneré; Hamlin and Cabrol; Hippeau; Jaccard; Jespers; Lambert; Lecler; Lepage; Liénard; Longnon (1891 and 1920–29); Maître; Malsy; Marichal; Mastrelli Anzilotti; Matton; Menche de Loisne; Menéndez Pidal; Merlet; Nègre (1959 and 1990–98); Nicolaï; Olivieri (1962 and 1965); Perrenot; Pesche; Philipon; Pilot de Thorey; Poret; Quantin; Quilgars; Raymond; Rédet; Rigault; Rivet and Smith; Roland; J.-H. Roman; Rosenzweig; Roserot (1903 and 1924); Sabarthès; Smith; Soultrait; Soyer; Stein; Stoffel; Suter; E. Thomas; Vallée and Latouche; Villar; Vincent (1927 and 1937); Watson; Williamson.
59 its origin is obscure: e.g. Williamson, 46.
59 isolated finds: Brun and Mordant, 512.
59 the river Garonne: Giumlia-Mair, 105 (Greeks objects of the sixth and third centuries BC have been found along the Rhone and the Loire, but not the Garonne).
59 reluctant to colonize: e.g. Pilet-Lemière, 17 (Manche département).
60 directed heating-jets: Jope, 400; also Northover.
61 ‘Ii regem Celtico dabant’: Livy, V, 34.
5. Down the Meridian
65 the Celtic god of light: on Celtic gods: e.g. Aldhouse-Green (1991); Brunaux (2000); Hodeneder; Jufer and Luginbühl; Jullian, II, 5.
65 waits for the tide to go out: Wagenvoort, 116.
65 the tidal island of Ictis: Diodorus Siculus, V, 22, 2; Pliny, IV, 16 (104).
66 Gold coin of the Aedui: Gorphe, 140–41.
67 nothing from the pre-Roman period: Pichon (2009), 29.
69 noticed geometrical patterns: Agache (1997), 557; also Agache (1961).
70 ‘the tribal capital’: The same theory, based on coins: D. Bayard, in Ben Redjeb, 109.
71 ‘Roman’ roads of northern France: The ‘Roman’ road north of Samarobriva points at the original capital of the Suessiones, not at their Roman capital (Soissons). It passes through a field called ‘Danse des Fées’ on the outskirts of Amiens. The straight section of road west of Samarobriva is included because of the field-names ‘Chaussée’ and ‘Les Câtelets’.
72 ‘They worship above all’: BG, VI, 17. Caesar’s description is matched by the agnomen of the Irish Lugh: ‘samildánach’.
73 Promontorium Celticum: Pliny, IV, 20 (111).
74 St Martin’s shrines: Dessertenne, 133 (on the saint’s sunwise ‘leaps’); also Hamerton, 59 (at Bibracte).
75 ‘hollow altars’: Brunaux (2000), 94–95; also Brunaux (1986).
75 ‘a rather peculiar aesthetic effect’: http://www.arbre-celtique.com/encyclopedie/sanctuaire-de-gournay-sur-aronde-937.htm.
76 Mont César: Woimant, 119.
76 site of a Celtic necropolis: Graves, 7.
76 Bratuspantium: BG, II, 13; also Forbes; Holmes, 400–402.
77 the capital of the . . . Parisii: Abert, 23–25 and 65–67.
77 ‘island in the river Sequana’: BG, VII, 57.
77 an ‘insula’ rather than a peninsula: Abert, 25.
78 the name ‘Merlin’: on some ‘Merlin’ place names: Vadé (2008), 60–61.
79 municipal website: http://ot.chateaumeillant.free.fr/bienvenue.htm.
80 a gilded statue: Costello, 36.
81 African pool-diggers: Krausz, n. 20.
81 against fire and battering-rams: Colin, 115; Ralston, 76.
84 ‘the Pillar of the Sun’: Avienus, vv. 638–39.
6. The Size of the World
87 Antikythera: Price; also Allen; Freeth; Moussas; Weinberg et al.
87 so many spectacular finds: Weinberg et al.
88 observations of the Metonic cycle: Kruta (2000), 348.
88 The exact purpose: Allen.
89 horologium solarium: Pliny, VII, 60 (213); also Gibbs, 10; Pattenden, 100.
90 the sky would fall in: Strabo, IV, 4, 4 and VII, 3, 8.
90 Aristotle had recently praised: Athenaeus, XIII, 576.
90 The traveller’s name was Pytheas: see especially Cunliffe (2002); Roller, ch. 4; and notes below.
91 ‘where the starry light declines’: Avienus, v. 199.
91 Euthymenes: Roller, 15–19.
91 the celestial pole: Hipparchos, quoting Pytheas (see Dicks); also Cunliffe (2002), 60.
91 Cap Croisette: Rawlins.
92 Corbilo: Strabo, IV, 2, 1.
92 Lampaul-Ploudalmézeau: Giot and Colbert de Beaulieu, 324–25.
92 bartering tokens: Giot and Colbert de Beaulieu, 330.
92 According to one source: Strabo, II, 4, 1.
92 calculated his latitude: Roller, 71.
93 ‘on which one can neither walk nor sail’: Strabo, II, 4, 1.
93 ‘co
mplete savages’: Strabo, II, 5, 8.
93 ‘If judged by the science’: Strabo, IV, 5, 5.
95 A scientifically produced map of the world: on ancient cartography: Beazley; Dilke; Harley and Woodward; Janni; Peterson; Talbert and Unger; Thomson; Wallis and Robinson.
95 Eratosthenes of Cyrene: Eratosthenes; Lelgemann; Russo, 68–69; Tavernor, 18–19.
96 caused by the moon: Aetios, from Pseudo-Galen: Cunliffe (2002), 102; Roller, 77.
97 The oikoumene: Borysthenes and the Pillars of Hercules are within 66 and 13 seconds of the exact times respectively.
98 zones of latitude called klimata: Ptolemy (2000), 9–10.
98 the Greek astronomer Hipparchos: Dicks, 253–55; Heath, II, 346.
99 Alexander’s high-speed couriers: Pliny, II, 73 (181).
99 the dioptra: Hero of Alexandria (description of dioptra, late first century ad); see also Frontinus (1971); Heath, II, 256 and 345; Lewis; Trousset.
100 ten minutes in a twelve-hour period: Houston.
100 day lengths reported by Pliny: Pliny, VI, 39 (213–15, 217–18).
100 clockwork miracles: The Antikythera Mechanism might have measured longitude: Moussas.
101 Eudoxus of Kyzikos: Posidonius, III, 115–18; Roller, 107–14.
101 the ‘Gorillai’ tribe: Hanno; Roller, 132.
101 The people of Belerion: Diodorus Siculus, V, 22, 1.
101 Isles of the Blessed: Hesiod, 165–70; Konrad; Roller, 44–50.
102 the island of Corvo: Roller, 49–50.
102 ‘Persistent enquiries’: BG, V, 12–13.
103 ‘the obstacle of the Cévennes’: BG, VII, 56. Caesar had also decided to support Labienus. He probably crossed the Cévennes (BG, VII, 8) by the Col de la Chavade on the route of the modern N102, rather than by the Croix du Pal (the traditionally identified route, more in keeping with Caesar’s exaggeration of the difficulties).
104 ‘ascertained fact’: Tacitus, Agricola, 10.
104 ‘We do not have our enemy’s knowledge’: Tacitus, Agricola, 33.
104 ‘a scanty band’: Tacitus, Agricola, 32.
105 sailing the unmapped seas: on seafaring Celts: Cunliffe (2002), 68–69, 91–92, 103–106; McGrail.
105 Veneti tribe: BG, III, 8.
106 Maps did exist: Tacitus, Agricola, 10; Pliny, III, 5 (43); Strabo, III, 1, 3.
7. The Druidic Syllabus, I: Elementary
107 They had all heard about Druids: on the Druids (in addition to references below): Aldhouse-Green (1997); Brunaux (2000); Hofeneder; Jullian, II, 4; Le Roux and Guyonvarc’h; Piggott; Ross; J. Webster.
107 leaning on his shield: Anon., 3, 2.
107 with tears in his eyes: BG, I, 20.
107 Wild Germans: BG, I, 31.
107 Trojan descent: see Braund.
108 the will of the gods: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 3.
108 the sacred mistletoe: Pliny, XVI, 95 (249).
108 ‘If there really are Druids . . .’: Cicero (1923 and 2006), I, 41.
108 ‘physiologia’: Cicero (1923 and 2006), I, 41; also Strabo, IV, 4, 4.
108 long white beards: Livy, V, 41; also Florus, I, 7, 14.
109 ‘a circuitous itinerary’: BG, I, 41.
109 Some young people: BG, VI, 14.
109 under Druidic tuition for twenty years: BG, VI, 14.
109 Viridomarus had ‘humble origins’: BG, VII, 39.
109 Druids mentioned by the poet: Ausonius, V, 4 and 10 (‘Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium’).
110 ‘[flocked] to the Druids’: BG, VI, 13.
110 ‘in caves and secret woods’: Mela, III, 15.
110 ‘Pythagoras himself’: Hippolytus of Rome, I, 2.
110 Cabillonum: Rebourg et al. (1994), I, 127.
110 the roads around Autun: Rebourg (1998).
110 ‘the noblest progeny of the Gauls’: Tacitus, Annals, III, 43.
111 outlawed by imperial decrees: summary in J. Webster, 11.
111 a scale map of the world: Talbert and Unger, 113.
111 teaching at Bayeux and Bordeaux: Ausonius, V, 4 and 10; Booth.
112 ‘You will never see’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XII, 9.
112 ‘maximum et copiosissimum’: BG, I, 23.
113 an up-to-date description: J. Webster, 6–10.
113 ‘learn by heart’: BG, VI, 14.
113 ‘cast letters to their relatives’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 28, 6.
113–14 the Irish Dindsenchas: Pennick, 130.
114 ‘The Three Wives of Arthur’: from The Welsh Triads.
114 ‘Gaul is divided into three parts’: BG, I, 1.
114 ‘From the Pyrenees to the Garonne’: Mela, III, 15.
114 ‘The Druids relate’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 4–6.
116 ‘Dysgogan derwydon’: Ross, 430.
116 ‘They wish above all’: BG, VI, 14; also Diodorus Siculus, V, 28, 6; Strabo, IV, 4, 4.
117 the only Druid teaching: Mela, III, 15.
117 ‘The Druids express their philosophy’: Diogenes Laertius, I, 6.
117 a Welsh triad: Similarity first pointed out in The Gentleman’s Magazine, January 1825, p. 8.
117 ‘Stranger,’ he said: Lucian of Samosata, ‘Herakles’.
8. The Druidic Syllabus, II: Advanced
119 ‘they perform none of their religious rites’: Pliny, XVI, 95 (249). According to Maximus of Tyre, ‘the Celtic image of Zeus is a lofty oak’: Maximus of Tyre, 21 (oration 2; sometimes numbered 8 or 38).
119 ‘to hear the lofty oak’: Odyssey, 14.326–28.
119 ‘discovered’ (‘reperta’) in Britain: BG, VI, 13.
120 ‘The Celtic Druids’: Hippolytus of Rome, I, 2 and 22.
120 Celtic art: e.g. Buchsenschutz (2002) – especially article by M. Bacault and J.-L. Flouest; Jope; Kruta (2004); Lenerz-de Wilde (1977).
120 ‘for offerings should be rendered’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 4.
120 ‘conducted investigations’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 8.
121 fibrous qualities of wrought iron: Jope, 400.
123 The symbols are astronomical: Faintich; Fillioux.
123 the constellation of Ursa Major: The Celts would not have been alone in seeing the Great Bear as a horse: Gibbon.
123 ‘The Celt was a clever adaptor’: Kilbride-Jones, 39.
123 he burst out laughing: Diodorus Siculus, XXII, 9, 4.
123 pink-granite basin: Almagro Gorbea and Gran Aymerich; Goudineau and Peyre, 40–44; Romero; R. White.
124 Druid mathematics: on ancient mathematics generally: Guillaumin; Heath; W. Richardson.
124 the Mont de Fer: P. Boyer, in Almagro Gorbea and Gran Aymerich, 252.
125 Gournay-sur-Aronde: Brunaux (1985–94).
126 unburned on the battlefield: Silius Italicus, III, 340–49.
127 ‘tight trousers akin to cycling shorts’: Ritchie, 51.
127 British structural archaeologist: Carter.
127 a French archaeologist: Toupet.
128 Celtic subrectangular enclosures: Bittel et al.; Brunaux (1986 and 1991); Cunliffe (2005); Downs; Fauduet et al.; Wieland et al.
128 greater feats of engineering: Reynolds, 196.
129 ‘bound together in fellowships’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 8.
130 they turned to the right: Posidonius, in Athenaeus, IV, 36.
130 string construction of the ellipse: West, 710.
130 medicinal properties of plants: Pliny, XXIV, 62–63 (103–104).
130 instrument similar to the lyre: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 8.
131 settlement of debts: Mela, III, 15.
131 ‘Often, when two armies approach’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 5; also Strabo, IV, 4, 4; generally, Dio Chrysostom, Discourse XLIX, 7.
131 ‘Celtic women’: Plutarch (1931), I, 6; Polyaenus, VII, 50.
131 The Druids discuss: BG, VI, 14.
131 ‘Hi terrae mundique’: Mela, III, 15. On ‘mun
dus’ as ‘universe’: Puhvel.
132 solar-lunar calendar: Le Contel and Verdier; Olmsted.
132 division of the inhabited world by Ephorus: Strabo, I, 2, 28.
9. Paths of the Gods
137 the mouth of the Borysthenes: ‘Borysthenes’ referred either to the river Dnieper or to a town near its mouth. It was mentioned both as a latitude and a longitude point: Pliny, VI, 39 (218); Strabo, I, 4, 4; also Roller, 80.
138 Celtiberian coins: Boutiot, iii. At ‘La Muraille (or ‘Les Murailles’) du Diable’, a thick dry-stone wall may once have belonged to a promontory fort: Ournac et al., 137.
138 Balbianas: Boutiot, 29.
139 ‘the hearth and metropolis’: Diodorus Siculus, IV, 19, 2. Diodorus is sometimes said to have invented the fame of Alesia to flatter its destroyer, Julius Caesar, but since his Bibliotheca Historica ends in 60 BC and the details are consistent with Celtic legend, the reference to Caesar’s victory is probably a later interpolation.
139 ‘locus consecratus’: One of the oldest conundrums of Gaulish geography: e.g. Jullian, II, 4 n. 65. Caesar sites the ‘sacred place’ ‘in the lands of the Carnutes – a region held to be the middle of the whole of Gaul’ (BG, VI, 13). Knowing how long it took to reach Carnutia (the region of Chartres and Orléans) from the Alps and from the British Ocean, neither Caesar nor the Druids are likely to have considered this the centre of Gaul. Perhaps the annual councils were hosted by different tribes, each capital being considered the symbolic centre of Gaul for the occasion, or perhaps a scribe substituted the Carnutes, mentioned earlier in Book VI, for the unfamiliar Mandubii of Alesia, who do not appear until Book VII. (There are no manuscripts of De Bello Gallico older than the ninth century.)
139 the Mandubii: on the tribe’s cultural distinctness (revealed by pottery): P. Barral et al., in Garcia and Verdin, 282; Provost et al. (2009), 150.
140 The Fossé des Pandours: Fichtl and Adam; Flotté and Fuchs, 551–62.
141 whole-number ratio: on the Romans’ use of rational tangents: A. Richardson.
142 Archimedes: Tavernor, 19.
143 capital of the Rediones: Leroux and Provost, 26 and 178. On hill forts of northern France: Wheeler and Richardson, and relevant volumes of CAG.
