The first contact with the Romans goes
back to 118 B.C. This is when Consul Domitius Ahenobarbus
builds the Via Domitia between Nimes and Narbonne to re-enforce
his ties with Italy and Spain and his colonisation up to
Toulouse. This resulted in an uneasy rather than confrontational
situation between the two countries. This situation worsened
when Caesar kicked out the Gaulles. His war with the Gaulles
confronted the Rutenes who were left with serious options.
They signed a major alliance with the powerful tribe of Arvernes,
the head of the opposition to Rome. When the gallic King,
Vercingetorix was victorious in Gergovie, as most of the
gallic tribes were, the Rutenes pronounced Vercingetorix
as supreme commander of the armies having played a patriotic
card and assured the defence of the gallic civilisation.
12,000 Rutene warriors joined the army with the intention
of assisting in the break up of Alesia’s seat. In French
history this terrible defeat of Alesia served to cement together
the nation of France.
Rome definitely prefered seduction to punishment. Two Roman legions occupied
Rouergue after Alesia’s fall, to prevent any uprising. With the Gauls, Rome
had shown it’s ability to manage the conquered peoples. Therefore, in Rourgue,
the Romans initially leant on the local aristocrats. They authorised the issue
of coins on which the image of the local lords might have appeared. This was
total vanity. The War Lord Tapinos struck coins in Larzac imprinted with his
own portrait. Once the political awareness of the Rutenes was rescinded Rouergue
becomed integrated with the Roman province of Aquitane.
The most tangible signs of the Roman civilisation were the grand
villas and large estates, sometimes as large as 1000 hectares,
normally situated near the byroads. The road which linked Rodez
and Millau also connected with the Via Domitia thus giving access
to all of the Roman Empire. Millau became one of the largest
centres of production of pottery in the Roman Empire. In Gaufresenque
the rectangular ovens were up to seven metres high and took
up to 40,000 pots in one firing.
Towards the end of the Roman Empire barbaric tribes advanced
from the north east and left in their wake massacre and desolation.
During this dreadful time, however, new hope was kindled, with
a vision of Christianity. Saint-Amans was the first to preach
in Rouergue. He converted the Rutenes and became the Bishop
of Rodez establishing temporal sites of power which remained
for many centuries. A legacy from the Roman period is the suffix
AC which is found at the end of a number of names of towns and
villages in Aveyron.
***
©aveyron.com - 2001-2007 All rights reserved
|
