Caesar on the Gauls // Roman Primary Source (58 - 49 BC)

Here we have Julius Caesar's views on the peoples he crushed in his campaigns to the west through which he made his name - the Gauls. Foreign and backwards to Caesar, modern archaeological evidence has shown that they were actually a city building culture far more advanced than he gave them credit for.

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— Music courtesy of:-
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Thanks to:

William R. Shepherd; William Shepherd

derivative work: Sémhur (talk)

[pridefulobserver]

"Gods, I hate Gauls, my grandfather hated them too... even before they put out his eyes"

[SpencerTaylorOnline]

Regardless of whether you think Caesar was a dictator or a genius, or both, we can all agree that he kept outstanding notes.

[Cu-Co]

Any content on the PICTS would be appreciated.

[Admiral_Apparent]

Caesar: Hippitus Hoppitus, your lands are now my Propitus (granted this is indeed paraphrased and lacks the nuance of proper classical Latin)

[GeneralOlde]

Dude was too proud to bring up Asterix.

[NWOTheories]

I thought Asterix was Ceasar's biggest headache?😆

[mariocassina]

Literally every single student of latin in history (me included) has translated it ...fond memories of my early teenagerhood

[Fenristhegreat]

Congrats on 100k subscribers, well deserved.

[kdog]

I've often wondered why the continental Celtic tribes were wiped out when the Germanic tribes were not. They seem to have been relatively similar in terms of cultural and military prowess. Then recently I came across a quote by Napoleon Bonaparte, "You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war." The Gauls were destroyed remarkably quickly, France and Spain are effectively peninsulas, and there was no sprawling hinterland for them to retreat into and regroup, as was the case for the Germanic, and later, the Slavic tribes. After centuries of virtually constant warfare against the Romans, their technology caught up, militarily of not scientifically, and ultimately that is the only technology that truly matters, as Emperor Honorius could tell you.

[tinkmarshino]

outstanding... you always give such a personal touch to history.. it is much appreciated...

[trazwaggon]

Holy shit "gaul is divided into three parts"
"Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres"
This phrase is carved in my mind from all the times I've heard and read it in high school
This fragment of de bello gallico was the first source translation they made us do on my third year studying latin
Ahaha such fun memories

[ardilloardilloso]

"Something moves" -Roman: is this a Sythian?

[TheSaneHatter]

I actually had to read the original Latin in high school.

[HikmaHistory]

One of my favourite figures in history!

[angebrowne]

My paternal maternal ancestors were Hampshire (UK) settled Belgae. Word of mouth family history is that they crossed the Rheine to get away from the always warring tribes, then stopped them landing when they tried to follow. The Belgae didn't like war but when they had to they went for it full pelt.
My paternal G'mother was told that when the Belgae (in Britain) stopped fighting the Romans when it was discovered they would help get rid of the druids who were cruel, and too powerful. They became known as a client kingdom and life was better for them with the Romans. So much so that it was more like a co-operative as the Romans (in their area at least) were much less greedy than the druids.
The Belgae would find unused land and clear and settle upon it. Sometimes forest would belong to an already settled tribe and an agreement would be reached that the Belgae could buy it with work, even over several generations. Not work 5 days a week etc., as we do but as and when required. Maybe a couple of weeks building at times here and there, with crops, animals, defence, travel for trade, hunting, whatever. Plus they had to clear and work the land agreed upon for themselves, which could mean draining bogs, digging sticky blue malm, breaking up hard ragstone (later used for cobbles and hard on the feet), softer unstable chalk and greensand etc. Plus clear trees and various other growth. In fact it wasn't until after our tribal ancestors began to make these isles habitable and ready for them to build yet another great civilisation upon that Romans then others later wanted to invade.
The Belgae didn't much like their Atrebate cousins who would invade and take, causing ill feeling among other tribes.
There is a lot more I was taught. Too much for here. However, maybe that is of interest to some.
Btw, all the tribes DID have writing. Embossed on thin metal sheets. Gold for the most important Treatise and Marriages between tribes. The metal was melted for re-use when the document was no longer wanted. Our people in these isles weren't ignorant and stupid as the Victors stories told. Far from it. The cruelty was that of the evil druids that for some reason the new age brigade romanticise and imagine were only nature loving tree huggers. From what I was told, helping get rid of them was the best thing the Romans did for us and a lot of tribes were very pleased for their help in that. Might not have done it without them. A lot of tribal fighting had been because of druids.

[theunion]

I click on these videos so hard when I see them, it’s finger breaking

[watarimono]

"Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres" - sic dictum est a Caesare!

[Artur_M.]

This famous beginning of Commentarii de Bello Gallico always makes me think about a song "Classical History Lesson" by Polish singer, songwriter and poet Jacek Kaczmarski, in which he used the opening sentence in original Latin, followed by the even more iconic phrase "Ave Caesar morituri te salutant!" as a refrain.

Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres
Quarum unam incolunt Belgae aliam Aquitani
Tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae nostra Galli appellantur
Ave Caesar morituri te salutant!

Europe reverberates heavy legion's march
inevitable spelling for the Republic crash
Gaul hills from mixed blood turn into a marsh
-Julius Caesar writes his memoirs!

Gallia est omnis divisa [...]

Let us, Oh Caesar, when we take the world
to rape, pillage, satiate all the desires
-simple are requests of the troops
and Julius Caesar's silence doesn't forbid games!

Gallia est omnis divisa [...]

Civilising conquered peoples in a new law
Crosses growing from Rhein to the Nile
complaints, cries and lament around the known world
-Julius Caesar polishes his lapidary style!

Gallia est omnis divisa [...]


The translation is taken from lyricstranslate.com, done by a user going by the nick Svarozhyc with some minor edits by me, so it's far from perfect.
Here you can hear the original:

[thebrocialist]

Interestingly, recent ancient DNA analyses of genomic material obtained from the remains of Romans and other ancient Italic peoples (e.g. Latin, Etruscan, Ligurian tribes) have shown that the Romans of Caesar’s time shared more in common genetically with modern Northern Iberian, Southern French and Southwestern British populations than they do with contemporary Italians.

[SPSSkals]

4:05 In Latvian we call God "Dievs".