The Carnutes (Latin Carnuti), a powerful Celtic people in the heart of independent Gaul, dwelled in a particularly extensive territory between the Sequana (Seine) and the Liger (Loire) rivers. Their lands later corresponded to the dioceses of Chartres, Orleans and Blois, that is, the greater part of the modern departments of Eure-et-Loir, Loiret, Loir-et-Cher. The territory of the Carnutes had the reputation among Roman observers of being the political and religious center of the Gallic nations. The chief fortified towns were Cenabum (mistakenly "Genabum"), the modern Orleans, where a bridge crossed the Loire, and Autricum (or Carnutes, thus Chartres). The great annual Druidic assembly mentioned by Caesar took place in one or the other of these towns. Livy's history records the legendary tradition that the Carnutes had been one of the tribes which accompanied Bellovesus in his invasion of Italy during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Celts redirects here. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... The Seine (pronounced in French) is a major river of north-western France, and one of its commercial waterways. ... Loire is a département in the east-central part of France occupying the Loire Rivers upper reaches. ... This article is about Orléans, France; for other meanings see Orleans (disambiguation). ... Chartres is a town and commune of France, préfecture (capital) of the Eure-et-Loir département. ... In the Celtic religion, the modern words Druidry or Druidism denote the practices of the ancient druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ... Bellovesus was a shape galli of the legend. ... Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I) was the legendary fifth King of Rome, said to have reigned from 616 BC to 579 BC. According to Livy, Tarquinius Priscus came from the Etruscan city of Tarquinii and was originally named Lucumo (it is now thought that...

A map of Gaul in the 1st century BC, showing the relative positions of the Celtic tribes.

In the 1st century BCE, the Carnutes minted coins, usually struck with dies, but sometimes cast in an alloy of high tin content called "potin." Their coinage turns up in hoards well outside their home territories, in some cases so widely distributed in the finds that the place of coinage is not secure. The iconography of their numismatics includes the motives of heads with traditional Celtic torques; a wolf with a star; a galloping horse; the triskelion. Many coins show an eagle, with the lunar crescent, with a serpent or with a wheel with six or four spokes or a pentagrammatic star, or beneath a hand holding a branch with berries, holly perhaps. The wheel with four spokes forms a cross within a circle, an almost universal image since neolithic times. Sometimes the circle is a ring of granules. It would be easy to make too much of the symbol as it appears on coinage, but among the Celts, rather than a solar symbol it may represent the cycle of the year divided in its four seasons [1]. See Cross. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (787x799, 169 KB) Map of Gallia (58 BC) with important Tribes, Towns, Rivers etc. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (787x799, 169 KB) Map of Gallia (58 BC) with important Tribes, Towns, Rivers etc. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Iconography usually refers to the design or creation of images and more specifically to the historical study of art which aims at the identification, description and the interpretation of the content of images. ... Numismatics is the scientific study of money and its history in all its varied forms. ... Torque applied via an adjustable end wrench Relationship between force, torque, and momentum vectors in a rotating system In physics, torque can informally be thought of as rotational force or angular force which causes a change in rotational motion. ... The armoured triskelion on the flag of the Isle of Man Triskelion (or triskele, from Greek τρισκελης three-legged) is a symbol consisting of three bent human legs, or, more generally, three interlocked spirals, or any similar symbol with three protrusions exhibiting a symmetry of the cyclic group C3. ... Serpent is a word of Latin origin (serpens, serpentis) which is ultimately derived from the Sanskrit term serp, that is normally substituted for snake in a specifically mythic or religious context, in order to distinguish such creatures from the field of biology. ... A pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as pentalpha or pentangle) is a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. ... Species Ilex ambigua - Sand Holly Ilex amelanchier - Swamp Holly Ilex aquifolium - European Holly Ilex bioritsensis Ilex buergeri Ilex canariensis - Small-leaved Holly Ilex cassine - Dahoon Holly Ilex centrochinensis Ilex ciliospinosa Ilex colchica Ilex collina Ilex corallina Ilex coriacea Ilex cornuta - Chinese Holly Ilex crenata - Japanese Holly Ilex cyrtura Ilex decidua... A Greek cross (all arms of equal length) above a saltire, a cross rotated by 45 degrees For other uses, see Cross (disambiguation). ...

In the time of Caesar the carnutes were dependents of the Remi, who on one occasion interceded for them. In the winter of 58 - 57 BCE, Caesar imposed a protectorate over the Carnutes and set up his choice of king, Tasgetius, picked from the ruling clan. Within three years, the Carnutes had assassinated the puppet king. On February 13, 53 BCE the Carnutes of Cenabum massacred all the Roman merchants stationed in the town as well as one of Caesar's commissariat officers. The uprising was swiftly a general one throughout Gaul, under the leadership of Vercingetorix. Cenabum was burnt by Caesar, the men put to the sword and women and children sold as slaves, and the booty distributed among his soldiers, an effective way of financing the conquest of Gaul. During the war that followed, the Carnutes were able to send 12,000 fighting men to relieve Alesia, but shared in the defeat of the Gallic army. Having attacked the Bituriges Cubi, who appealed to Caesar for assistance, they were forced to submit. Cenabum, however, remained a mass of ruins garrisoned by two Roman legions for years. The Remi were a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul in the 1st century BC. They occupied the northern Champagne plain, on the southern fringes of the Forest of Ardennes, between the rivers Mosa (Meuse) and Matrona (Marne), and along the river valleys of the Aisne and its tributaries the... February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Statue of Vercingetorix by Bartholdi, on Place de Jaude, in Clermont-Ferrand Vercingetorix (pronounced in Gaulish) died 46 BC), chieftain of the Arverni, led the great Gallic war against Roman imperialism in 52 BC. His name in Gaulish means over-king of the marching men; the marching men would now... Battle of Alesia Conflict Gallic Wars Date September 52 BC Place Alesia, near modern Alise-Sainte-Reine (France) Result Roman victory The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia was a conflict fought in September 52 BC around the Gallic oppidum of Alesia, a major town centre and hill fort... The Bituriges (Bituriges-Cubi) was a tribe with its capital at Bourges (Avaricum). ...

After they had been pacified, though not Romanized, under Augustus, the Carnutes, as one of the peoples of Gallia Lugdunensis, were raised to the rank of civitas soda or foederati, retaining their own self-governing institutions, continuing to mint coins, and only bound to render military service to the emperor. Up to the 3rd century Autricum (later Carnutes, whence Chartres) was the capital, but in 275 Aurelian refounded Cenabum ordaining it no longer a vicus but a civitas and named it Aurelianum or Aurelianensis urbs (thus eventually "Orleans"). Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis, 120 AD Gallia Lugdunensis was a province of the Roman Empire roughly encompassing the regions of Brittany, Normandy and the area around Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris) in what is now the modern country of France. ... Foederatus early in the history of the Roman Republic identified one of the tribes bound by treaty (foedus), who were neither Roman colonies nor had they been granted Roman citizenship (civitas) but were expected to provide a contingent of fighting men when trouble arose. ... Lucius Domitius Aurelianus (September 9, 214–275), known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor (270–275), was the second of several highly successful soldier-emperors who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth. ... In the history of the Roman empire, civitas (pl. ...

See Livy, v.34; Julius Caesar, Belli Gall. v. 25, 29, vii. 8, II, 75, viii. 5, 31 (see under "cenabuns); Strabo Geographia iv.2 - 3; Ptolemy Geographia, ii.8. A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ... Gāius Jūlius Caesar (IPA: ;[1]), July 12 or July 13, 100 BC – March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in world history. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; c. ...

External links

• Monnayage des Carnutes: detailed illustrations of numismatics
• Coins minted by the Carnutes, 1st century BCE
• Histoire de la ville d'Orléans": map of the Carnutes territory (in French)
• R. Boutrays, Urbis gentisque Carnutum historia 1624
• A. Desjardins, Géographie historique de la Gaule, ii, I876 1893