05-01-2020, 09:40 PM
So for anyone unfamiliar with the term, Oppida’s as I understand it were urban settlements in pre-roman Gaul, Hispania, the British Isles and Germania. Much like Roman, Greek and Persian towns of antiquity and the later Medieval era these Oppida’s served as seats of political power for the Celtic-Germanic elite, as well as centers of commerce, industry, communication and presumably any other services one could expect to find in a town or city.
There seems to be a frustrating lack of information on these Celtic cities as well as their historical development throughout antiquity and the early medieval period immediately following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Wikipedia (the fountain of moderately accurate information I’m aware ?) states that in while in western Europe these settlements were largely supplemented by roman towns and later cities, in Germania they remained before falling out of use in the 1st century AD.
For the life of me I cannot fathom why these Germanic towns would have fallen out of use after the 1st Century AD if this is indeed accurate. Celtic and Germanic societies before and during the rise of the Roman Empire were what I can best describe as agrarian cattle rustlers, with the majority of the population supporting itself by raising crops and livestock whilst the ruling military elite plundered whatever surplus existed from neighboring tribes. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that in a pre-urbanized and industrial society where 90% of the population only have access to very limited goods, the opportunity to profit from theft or protection rackets would be minimal. This entire dynamic of this entire economic model would have been completely shifted however once the Roman Empire replaced the Celtic tribes west and south of the Rhine and Danube as unless I’m mistaken, the main impact of the rise of the Roman Empire on the Germanic tribes was to unify them against a common enemy. This resulted in the rise of the tribal ‘confederations’ far larger, better organized and better equipped than anything the Roman Empire had faced before, as the vast riches and resources that could flow into Germania through legitimate trade, subsidies or war plunder would have eliminated the need for induvial tribes to raid each other.
With this in mind, does anyone know why Celtic Oppida’s allegedly fell out of use after the 1st Century AD when looking at things logically, the increased opportunities for trade and war plunder contact with such a wealthy neighbor would have provided should have made these towns flourish. The only answer I can come up with is that increased reliance on cheaply manufactured roman goods and the ability of Roman Emperor’s to single out induvial Germanic peoples with ‘sanctions’ would have made inferior Celtic industries redundant, stripping Oppida’s of their work forces as blacksmiths and artisans switched to agriculture to support themselves.
Is this a correct assessment, or does anyone else know anything on this subject? (And thank-you in advance)
There seems to be a frustrating lack of information on these Celtic cities as well as their historical development throughout antiquity and the early medieval period immediately following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Wikipedia (the fountain of moderately accurate information I’m aware ?) states that in while in western Europe these settlements were largely supplemented by roman towns and later cities, in Germania they remained before falling out of use in the 1st century AD.
For the life of me I cannot fathom why these Germanic towns would have fallen out of use after the 1st Century AD if this is indeed accurate. Celtic and Germanic societies before and during the rise of the Roman Empire were what I can best describe as agrarian cattle rustlers, with the majority of the population supporting itself by raising crops and livestock whilst the ruling military elite plundered whatever surplus existed from neighboring tribes. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that in a pre-urbanized and industrial society where 90% of the population only have access to very limited goods, the opportunity to profit from theft or protection rackets would be minimal. This entire dynamic of this entire economic model would have been completely shifted however once the Roman Empire replaced the Celtic tribes west and south of the Rhine and Danube as unless I’m mistaken, the main impact of the rise of the Roman Empire on the Germanic tribes was to unify them against a common enemy. This resulted in the rise of the tribal ‘confederations’ far larger, better organized and better equipped than anything the Roman Empire had faced before, as the vast riches and resources that could flow into Germania through legitimate trade, subsidies or war plunder would have eliminated the need for induvial tribes to raid each other.
With this in mind, does anyone know why Celtic Oppida’s allegedly fell out of use after the 1st Century AD when looking at things logically, the increased opportunities for trade and war plunder contact with such a wealthy neighbor would have provided should have made these towns flourish. The only answer I can come up with is that increased reliance on cheaply manufactured roman goods and the ability of Roman Emperor’s to single out induvial Germanic peoples with ‘sanctions’ would have made inferior Celtic industries redundant, stripping Oppida’s of their work forces as blacksmiths and artisans switched to agriculture to support themselves.
Is this a correct assessment, or does anyone else know anything on this subject? (And thank-you in advance)
Real Name: Tim Hare
