Gallia Celtica

This article is about the geographical region of Gaul. For the academic journal devoted to Celtic studies, see Celtica (journal).
Map with the approximate location of the Celtica region of Gaul before the Roman conquest.

Gallia Celtica, meaning "Celtic Gaul" in Latin, was a cultural region of Gaul inhabited by Celts, located in what is now Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and the west bank of the Rhine in Germany.

According to the Roman ethnography and Julius Caesar in his narrative Commentaries on the Gallic War, Gaul was divided into three main regions: Belgica, Aquitania and Celtica. The inhabitants of Belgica were called Belgae, those of Aquitania were called Aquitani. The inhabitants of the Celtica region called themselves Celts[1][2] in their own language, and were later called Gauls by Julius Caesar:

“ All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third. ”

A similar definition is given by Pliny the Elder:[3]

“ The whole of Gaul that is comprehended under the one general name of Comata, is divided into three groups of people, which are more especially kept distinct from each other by the following rivers. From the Scaldis to the Sequana it is Belgica; from the Sequana to the Garumna it is Celtica or Lugdunensis; and from the Garumna to the promontory of the Pyrenæan range it is Aquitanica, formerly called Aremorica. ”

Notes

  1. ↑ "Celtae" or "Celts" is the name used by the inhabitants of the Celtica region in their own language. "Galli" or "Gauls" was the Roman name given by Julius Caesar to the inhabitants of the Celtica region of Gaul in his narrative "Commentaries on the Gallic War".
  2. ↑ Caesar, Julius. "Commentarii de bello Gallico". Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur.
  3. ↑ Pliny the Elder. "Naturalis Historia (4.17 / 4.31)". Gallia omnis Comata uno nomine appellata in tria populorum genera dividitur, amnibus maxime distincta. a Scalde ad Sequanam Belgica, ab eo ad Garunnam Celtica eademque Lugdunensis, inde ad Pyrenaei montis excursum Aquitanica, Aremorica antea dicta. Universam oram.