oppidum

Information about oppidum

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."

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.

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.

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

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]

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, VIIIe - IIe siècles av. J.-C. chapter 4 La « civilisation des oppida » : dynamique et chronologie. Paris, Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-286-4

References

1. ^ [1]
Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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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.
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Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. Although the existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for a long time, there has been debate about many specific
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Gaius Julius Caesar
Dictator of the Roman Republic

Reign October, 49 BC–March 15, 44 BC
Full name Gaius Julius Caesar
Born 12 July 100 BC - 102 BC
Rome, Roman Republic
Died 15 March 44 BC (aged 57)
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Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in some past societies often including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs
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Gaul (Latin: Gallia) 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
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A hill fort is a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for military advantage. The fortification usually follows the contours of the hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external
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Earthworks can refer to:
  • Earthworks (archaeology) "lumps and bumps" on the landscape showing archaeological features;
  • Earthworks (engineering) in civil engineering based on moving massive quantites of soil;
  • Earthworks (corporation), audio equipment company;

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An enclosed oppidum was a type of large, late Iron Age settlement, or oppidum surrounded by an encircling bank and ditch. They differ from hillforts through being not necessarily sited on high ground and through being permanent settlements with a strong economic function.
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Urbanization or Urbanisation (see difference in spelling) means the removal of the rural characteristics of a town or area, a process associated with the development of civilisation.
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Mediterranean is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. It covers an approximate area of 2.
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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. Usually, a "town" is thought of as larger than a village but smaller than a "city".
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See also:

Introduction

After completing the conquest of Gaul, Rome converted most of these tribes into civitates, making for the administrative map of the Roman provinces of Gaul.
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hierarchy (in Greek: Ἱεραρχία, derived from ἱερός — hieros, 'sacred', and
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Infrastructure is generally structural elements that provide the framework supporting an entire structure. The term has diverse meanings in different fields, but is perhaps most widely understood to refer to roads, airports, and utilities.
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Bibracte, a Gaulish oppidum or fortified city, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. It was situated near modern Autun in Burgundy, France.
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Commune of
Salon-de-Provence

The Fontaine Moussue in Salon-de-Provence, by night

Location

Coordinates

Administration
Country
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The Oppidum d'Enserune 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.
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Oppidum of Manching (German: Oppidum von Manching) was a large Celtic proto-urban or city-like settlement at modern-day Manching (near Ingolstadt), Bavaria (Germany). The settlement was founded in the 3rd century BC and existed until circa 50-30 BC.
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Alcimoennis (aka Alkimoennis) was a Celtic Oppidum, or hill fort, located on the Michelsberg hill, dominating the peninsula between the Danube and Altmühl rivers in northern Bavaria, Germany, above the modern city of Kelheim.
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Locations:
  • Óbidos, a town in Portugal
  • Óbidos, a city in Brazil
Software:
  • Obidos, a web page rendering engine developed by Amazon.com.

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Traprain Law is a hill about 221m (724 feet) in elevation, located 6km (4 miles) east of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the site of an oppidum or hill fort, which covered at its maximum extent about 16 ha (40 acres) and must have been a veritable town.
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Glauberg is a Celtic oppidum in Hesse, Germany consisting of a fortified settlement and several burial mounds. Archaeological discoveries in the 1990s place the site among the most important early Celtic centres in Europe.
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Kingdom of Hungary (short form: Hungary; Hungarian: Magyarország, long form Magyar Királyság) was a state in Central Europe that existed from 1000 to 1946 interrupted several times by short periods of anarchy or changes in form of government.
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This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers.
Please [improve the article] or discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since December 2006.
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Hungarian (magyar nyelv listen   (help info ) ) is a Finno-Ugric language (more specifically an Ugric language) unrelated to most other languages in Europe.
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free imperial city (in German: freie Reichsstadt) was a city formally ruled by 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 (Fürsten)
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John Collis, (born 1944 in Winchester) is a British prehistorian. His first dig was in Longbridge Deverill with the Hawkes. He studied in Praha (with E. Soudská), Tübingen (with W. Kimmig) and Cambridge and was awarded his Ph.D. in Cambridge, where he taught from 1963-1970.
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