Oppidum (plural oppida) is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint." For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. ...

Julius Caesar described the larger Iron Age settlements he encountered in Gaul as oppida and the term is now used to describe the large pre-Roman towns that existed all across Western and Central Europe. Many oppida grew from hill forts although by no means did all of them have significant defensive functions. Oppida surrounded by earthworks are known as enclosed oppida. For other uses, see Julius Caesar (disambiguation). ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... 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. ... A hill fort is a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for military advantage. ... Earthworks can refer to: Civil engineering earthworks based on moving massive quantites of soil; The Earthworks audio equipment company; The novel Earthworks by Brian Aldiss; The earthworks style of art. ... An enclosed oppidum was a type of large, late Iron Age settlement, or oppidum surrounded by an encircling bank and ditch. ...

The development of oppida was a milestone in the urbanisation of the continent as they were the first large settlements north of the Mediterranean that could genuinely be described as towns. Caesar pointed out that each tribe of Gaul would have several oppida but that they were not all of equal importance, perhaps implying some form of hierarchy. Urbanization is the degree of or increase in urban character or nature. ... Mediterranean redirects here. ... Ronda, Spain Main street in Bastrop, Texas, United States, a small town A town is a community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. ... A map of Gaul showing the relative position of the tribes. ... A hierarchy (in Greek: , derived from — hieros, sacred, and — arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is a subordinate to a single other element. ...

In conquered lands, the Romans used the infrastructure of the oppida to administer the empire and many became full Roman towns. This often involved a change of location from the hilltop into the plain.

Examples

• Bibracte (Mont Beuvray), France
• Salon-de-Provence, France
• Oppidum d'Ensérune, France
• Manching, Germany
• Alcimoennis, Germany
• Stradonice, Bohemia
• Óbidos, Portugal
• Basel-Münsterhügel, Switzerland
• Traprain Law, Scotland
• Mesa de Miranda, Spain
• Maiden Castle, England
• Verlamion, England
• Nanstallon, Cornwall
• Glauberg, Germany

In the mediaeval Kingdom of Hungary, oppidum was the legal Latin term for market towns (mezőváros in Hungarian), which were of lesser status than free royal towns but more important than villages. ^[1] Bibracte, a Gaulish oppidum or fortified city, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. ... Salon-de-Provence is a town and commune of the Bouches-du-Rhône département in southeastern France, 43°38N, 5°06E. Its principal claim to fame is as the place where Nostradamus died and is buried. ... The Oppidum dEnserune is an ancient hill-town (or Oppidum) near the village of Nissan-lez-Enserune, France located between Béziers and Narbonne close to the RN9 and Canal du Midi. ... The oppidum of Manching was a town-like Celtic settlement in the late Iron Age - or La Tène - in Bavaria, Germany. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... District Leiria Mayor   - Party Telmo Henrique Correia Daniel Faria PSD Area 142. ... Traprain law from the Garleton Hills Traprain Law is a hill about 221m (724 feet) in elevation, located 6km (4 miles) east of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. ... Maden Castle from the north Maiden Castle is a hill fort, mostly dating from the Iron Age, situated 2 miles south of Dorchester, in Dorset, England. ... Verlamion, or Verlamio (settlement above the marsh), was the capital of the Catuvellauni tribe in Iron Age Britain from approximately 20 BC until shortly after the Roman invasion of 43 AD. It was founded on the site of modern day St Albans. ... Nanstallon is a small village in North Cornwall, United Kingdom, two kilometres west of Bodmin. ... The Glauberg is a hill near the village of Glauburg in the Wetteraukreis, some 30 km. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The market town is a medieval phenomenon. ... In the Holy Roman Empire, an Imperial Free City (in German: Freie Reichsstadt) was a city formally responsible to the Emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which belonged to a territory and were thus governed by one of the many princes and dukes...

Further reading

• Collis, John (1984) Oppida, earliest towns north of the Alps. Sheffield
• Garcia, Dominique (2004) La Celtique Méditeranée: habitats et sociétés en Languedoc et en Provence, VIII^e - II^e siècles av. J.-C. chapter 4 La « civilisation des oppida » : dynamique et chronologie. Paris, Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-286-4

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References