THE ANCIENT PATHS

Portolan charts – mostly Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries – were cartographic equivalents of the ancient periploi (here). They show what could be achieved, even at sea and with few more refinements than were available in the late Iron Age. The main innovation was the compass. This was not strictly necessary for a land survey and it introduced the complication of magnetic as opposed to true north.

The charts were not consciously based on a projection of the world, but the data (sailors’ knowledge of distances and directions) naturally produced a proto-Mercator projection (Mercator’s map dates from 1569), in which straight lines cross all meridians at the same angle and allow the navigator to follow the same bearing from start to finish.

Albino de Canepa’s chart (Genoa, 1489), reproduced here in schematic form with five lines emphasized, is grossly distorted to the north of France but surprisingly accurate in other areas. It was probably pieced together from different maps, each one more or less consistent with itself, which would explain the northward rotation of Italy. The second map shows the five emphasized lines on a modern Mercator projection. The portolan charts gave bearings in increments equivalent to 11.25° (based on a compass rose divided into 32). The bearings in France and Iberia on Canepa’s chart are skewed several degrees to the west but accurate to within one point of a 32-point compass.

x ‘Note on Celtic origins’: During the writing of this book, I was told that because my hair is dark and my parents Scottish, I must be Celtic. Hearing this, a German friend protested that the Celts were blond and came from the region of Bavaria. Another friend told me of a Spaniard whose red hair and freckles are thought to mark her out as a Celt. Many people still agree with Tacitus (early second century AD) that dark-skinned, curly-haired natives of western Britain and the Iberian Peninsula are ethnically Celtic. The ancient Celts themselves seem to have believed that they had no single origin. (See the map on this page.) Population movements suggested by genetic analyses may predate the appearance of Celtic culture by thousands of years (Cunliffe and Koch, 110). The fact that Ireland was not noticeably invaded after the late Bronze Age and yet became Celtic (here) is a reminder that, as an archaeological and historical term, ‘Celtic’ refers to the cultural and linguistic traits shared by the majority of the Iron Age inhabitants of western Europe, not to a particular ethnic group with a propensity for making war and a superhuman ability to populate half a continent within a few generations.

xii a professor of literature: Vadé (1972–74).

xii the Professor of Geography: Planhol, 15 and 24–25.

xiii heaving like a lung: Strabo, II, 4, 1 (perhaps referring to a type of jellyfish).

xiv ‘ley lines’: Watkins.

xvi ‘a river called the Arar’: BG, I, 12.

xvii ‘They converse with few words’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 1.

3 ‘at the extreme west of Europe’: Herodotus, II, 33; also IV, 49. On classical sources: Koch and Carey; Rankin.

5 One tale in particular: The account of Herakles’ journey is based on the following: Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 6 (father of the Celts); Avienus, v. 322 (Sacred Promontory); Cassius Dio, XIII, 21 (Bebruces); Diodorus Siculus, IV, 18, 5 (sea-monsters), IV, 19, 1–2 (Alesia), IV, 19, 3–4 (Alps), V, 24, 2–3 (Alesia, Galates) and V, 26, 2 (honeycombs); Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I, 41 (Spain to the Alps; building of cities and roads); Hesiod, 289–94 (Erytheia); Hyginus, I, 2, 6 (Ligurians); Justinus, XXIV, 4 (Alps); Livy, V, 34 (Alps) and XXI, 37 (attributes the creation of a col to Hannibal: also Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 10, 11; Appianus, VII, 2; cf. Diodorus Siculus, IV, 19, 3); Lucian of Samosata, ‘Herakles’ (Ogmios); Mela, II, 76 (the Crau); Nepos, Hannibal, III (Alps); Parthenius of Nicaea, XXX (Celtine); Seneca (1984), 7 (Lyon); Silius Italicus, III, 420–40 (Bebruces, Pyrenea); Stephen of Byzantium, Ethnika (Nemausos, Nîmes); Strabo, IV, 1, 7 (the Crau, which stretched as far north as the Carpentras plain). On the Via Heraklea: Clavel, 419; Dellong, 95; Duch; Knapp; Lugand and Bermond, 64; Plácido; Pseudo-Aristotle, in Aristotle (1980). On Hercules: Benoît (1949 and 1965); Carrière; Hofeneder, I, 82, 106 and 162; Moitrieux; Rawlings. Eustathius (V, 281) mentions two sons of Herakles, Celtus and Iber, progenitors of the Celts and Iberians; also Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XIV, 1.

5 a tribe called the Andosini: Polybius, III, 35. ‘Andosini’ and ‘Andorra’ may come from a Pyrenean Celtic god, Andossus, who was related to Hercules and Lugh: Benoît (1949), 114–15; Knapp, 111; Lajoye, 56.

5 a temple to Hercules: mentioned by Ephorus (c. 350 BC); contradicted in ignorance by Strabo (c. 7 BC), III, 1, 4. On ancient pilgrimage: Dillon; Fear.

7 Buccacircius: ‘Ventus cercius . . . buccam implet’ (Gellius, II, 22, 29). Boucocers (Buccacircio) is the name of two sites in the Aude: Adams, 227; Jullian, VI, 1, 1 n. 15; Nègre (1990–98), I, 1147. ‘When he was living in Gaul, the divine Augustus had a temple built and dedicated to [the Mistral]’: Seneca (1971–72), V, 17, 5.

9 Emain Macha: Warner, 31 (from Annála Ríoghachta Éireann).

10 Ogmios: Lucian of Samosata, ‘Herakles’; Le Roux.

10 ‘come from remote regions’: Pliny, XXI, 31 (57).

11 founded by a son of Herakles: Stephen of Byzantium (listed in Ethnika).

11 A cognitive psychologist: Boroditsky.

13 the Etruscans: Aveni and Romano; Frontinus (1971), 10–11.

14 Herakles was also a sun god: e.g. Macrobius, I, 20, 11; Porphyry, in Eusebius of Caesarea, III, 11.

14 pocket-sized votive wheels: e.g. over seventy thousand at La Villeneuve-au-Châtelot (Aube): Birkhan, 578.

14 ‘he measured the whole earth’: Philostratus, V, 4.

15 ‘From Italy as far as the country of the Celts’: Pseudo-Aristotle, in Aristotle (1980). On the road to the Hesperides and Herakles as a guide of dead souls: Wagenvoort, 115; also Knapp. Avienus (v. 322) applies the name ‘Via Herculis’ to the Sacred Promontory.

15 the centuriation of Agathe: Max Guy in Arcelin et al., 443; Nickels et al.; also Chouquer (1980 and 2005); Clavel.

16 Astronomical observations: on ancient astronomy: Aveni (1989); Burl; James Evans; Kelley and Milone; Kendall and Hodson.

16 the story of Massalia’s foundation: Athenaeus, XIII, 576 (from Aristotle); Justinus, XLIII, 3–4; Livy, V, 34; Plutarch, ‘Solon’, in Plutarch (1914–26), I; Silius Italicus, XV, 169–72; Strabo, IV, 1, 4; also Jullian, I, 5, 3.

16 A colony was founded: on Greek influence in Gaul: Cary; Cunliffe (1988); Rothé and Tréziny.

17 a city called Heraklea: Pliny, III, 4 (33); a Celtic Heraklea (location unknown) is listed in Stephen of Byzantium’s Ethnika.

17 ‘on tiptoe in expectation of war’: Livy, XXI, 20.

18 in the region of Andorra: Rico (84) points out the plausibility of an inland route; also Jullian, I, 2, 2 n. 36.

18 names of Celtic origin in Iberia: Two other maps on the same theme: Lenerz-de Wilde, in Aldhouse-Green (1996), 534; Villar, 180.

18 the temple of Melqart-Herakles: Fear, 319–20.

19 ‘a hero [Herakles]’: Polybius, III, 48.

19 ‘the way had seemed long to no one’: Livy, XXI, 30.

19 ‘unintelligible and meaningless sounds’: Polybius, III, 36.

19 Roquemaure: e.g. Jullian, I, 11, 5 n. 82; Wickham, 30–32.

19 ‘marched up the bank’: Polybius, III, 47.

20 the old ‘Elephant’ inn: Whymper, 52.

20 Hannibella: Hoyte.

20 the Col de Montgenèvre: Mahaney et al. suggest this col as Hannibal’s ‘intended path’ (42); also Jullian, I, 11, 12 n. 219. On Mons Matrona: Ganet et al., 130–31. The Matrona is cited in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 10, 6, and in the anonymous Itinerarium Burdigalense (early fourth century).

21 Herculean sanctuary of Deneuvre: Hamm, 176–79.

22 Ora Maritima (‘Sea Coasts’): Avienus; Saulcy.

22 ‘Solis columna’: Avienus, v. 638.

22 Cassiterides or ‘Tin Islands’: see Ramin.

23 the horreum: see Bromwich, 85–87.

24 gold jewellery: Diodorus Siculus, V, 27, 3.

24 undiluted wine: e.g. Athenaeus, IV, 36 (from Posidonius); Polyaenus, VIII, 25.

24 moustaches trailed in the soup: Diodorus Siculus, V, 28, 3.

24 the best cut of meat: Athenaeus, IV, 40 (from Posidonius).

24 throwing them into the river: The Greek Anthology, 9.125.

24 swallowed by the waves: Aristotle (2011), III, 1229 b; Aelian, XII, 23; see also Rankin, 56.

24 ‘raging with outlandish lust’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 32, 7.

24 flabby Celtic youths: Strabo, IV, 4, 6.

24 slashed to ribbons with a sword: Strabo, IV, 4, 3.

24 Greek philosopher Posidonius: Strabo, IV, 4, 5.

25 the ‘alces’: BG, VI, 27.

25 ‘because of our short stature’: BG, II, 30.

25 St Jerome: Jerome, II, 7.

25 the dozen words that entered English: Charles-Edwards, 729–30.

25 lead curse-tablets: Delamarre (2003), 47, 332 and 334.

25 etched on spindle-whorls: Delamarre (2003), 335, 217, 133 and 331; see also Duval et al.

26 wheelwright of Blair Drummond: A. Harding, 165–67.

27 Marseille to Boulogne in thirty days: Diodorus Siculus, V, 22, 4.

27 chariots . . . found in graves: Verger; also Cunliffe (1999), 58–59.

27 their technology amazed the Romans: a list of Roman references in Napoléon III, II, 18 n. 5; see also Arrian of Nicomedia, Tactics, 37; Jullian, II, 7 nn. 64–65.

27 ‘la Dame de Vix’: Egg and Franz-Lanord; Rolley.

28 ‘in about fifteen days’: BG, II, 2.

29 entering or leaving a tribal territory: Jullian, II, 2, 7 and n. 94.

29 Roman roads can usually be distinguished: e.g. Chouquer (2005), 36; Jullian, II, 7, 3; Robert et al.; also Castellvi; Chevallier (1997); Gendron.

29 the Gaulish oppidum of Vermand: Fichtl (1994), 108 (with other examples); also Pichon (2002), 479.

30 used by the Romans: on Roman occupation of oppida: Todd, and p. 72 above.

31 ‘Gaul was now at peace’: BG, VI, 44 and VII, 1.

31 ‘The report was conveyed’: BG, VII, 3.

32 appetite for news: BG, IV, 5; also Diodorus Siculus, V, 28, 5.

33 ‘innumerable horns and trumpets’: Polybius, II, 29.

35 a Gaulish word, ‘equoranda’: Aeberhardt; Billy, 133–34; Cravayat; Dauzat and Rostaing; Delamarre (2003), 163–64; Gendron, 86–87; Jullian, II, 2 n. 95; Lebel (1937 and 1956); Nègre (1990–98), I, 195–96; Provost, L’Indre-et-Loire, 115; Roger; Vannérus; Vincent (1927 and 1937).

36 a ‘sound-line’: This is consistent with Gaulish word-formation: e.g. ‘sonnocingos’ (sun-course) on the Coligny calendar.

36 ‘per agros regionesque’: BG, VII, 3; cf. VII, 46: ‘recta regione’ (‘in a straight line’).

37 ‘Make straight in the desert a highway’: Isaiah 40:3; also John 1:23. For Greek geometrical uses of ‘euqunate’: Mugler.

40 one of the commonest and oldest place names: Bayerri y Bertomeu et al.; Dauzat and Rostaing; Delamarre (2003), 220–21; Desbordes; Dowden, 274–75; Guyonvarc’h (1960 and 1961); Holder, II, 497–521; Longnon (1920–29); Nègre (1990–98), I, 189–90; Vincent (1937), 102–103.

40 must be a Latin term: Gasca Queirazza.

41 ‘a term of sacred geography’: Delamarre (2003), 221.

41 The so-called Celtic cross: e.g. Rees, 36.

41 ‘the centre of the whole of Gaul’: BG, VI, 13.

42 a small island in the Atlantic Ocean: Quatrefages, II, 296 (Montmeillan).

42 a headland near Carnac: Bougard. Other previously unrecognized Mediolana: Mions in the south-eastern suburbs of Lyon, whose inhabitants are called Miolands, and le Mayollant (formerly Meolanum), a collection of farm buildings further in the same direction.

43 Peutinger Map: Bibliotheca Augustana; Fortia d’Urban (1845); Talbert; Talbert et al. For other ancient ‘itineraries’: Fortia d’Urban (1845); Miller; Parthey et al.; Ptolemy (2000 and 2006).

44 In Vadé’s reconstruction: Vadé (1972–74, 1976 and 2000).

44 ‘Unless the maps deceive us’: Vadé (2000), 34.

45 mystery would be solved by archaeology: Guyonvarc’h (1961), 157.

45 the Mediolanum near Pontcharra: Faure-Brac, 302. The original source probably showed two separate routes to Lyon – a longer but easier route by Forum Segusiavum (Feurs), and the route by Mediolanum, which would have been on the eastern side of the Tarare Hill. Drivers changed horses near Pontcharra and the hamlet of Miollan (in this part of France, a recognizable mutation of ‘Mediolanum’).

46 the city of Saintes: Maurin et al., 61.

47 cartographic analysis: Vion, 69; also C. Marchand in Chouquer, ed., III, 68–70. A good example is Moislains (Somme).

49 ‘in summum venire non potuit’: Trousset, 135.

50 about forty place names: Watson, 244–48.

50 the Greek ‘nemos’: ‘Nemos’ (`wood’) is unknown in Gaulish. For a Gaulish speaker, a wood was a ‘uidua’ or a ‘ceto’.

50 ‘altars horrible on massive stones upreared’: Lucan, III, 399–411. (Tr. E. Ridley.)

51 Two terminal points were chosen: Bailey and Devereux; Woolliscroft, 155 (on the importance of Bar Hill).

52 the black-faced sheep: Reynolds, 189.

55 local groups of ‘middle’ places: e.g. in the Marne, the region to the east of Albi, the valley of the Isère, and the lands of the Gallaeci in north-western Spain.

55 A few had even been Mediolana themselves: Meilen, Switzerland (by Mittelberg); Melaine (below Mont Moyen, formerly ‘Mons medianus’); Molien (by Monts Moyens); Montméal (Montemedio, Montmialon); Montmeillant, Ardennes (Monte Meliano); Montmélian, Oise (Mediolano Mon[te]); Montmélian, Seine-et-Marne (Monte Medio); Mont Milan, Côte-d’Or (by Montmoyen).

55 dubious chiselled stone: Harley and Woodward, 207. The Camp de César at the Butte Mauchamp lies west of Guignicourt.

55 a Greek unit of measurement: M. Guy, in Arcelin et al., 443.

56 patterning effects of catchment areas: on Bronze Age shrines as territorial markers: Delor, 99–100.

56 alignments of ditches and stones: on prehistoric alignments: Burl; Hoskin; Maravelia; Thom.

57 signs of cosmopolitan luxury: Provost et al. (1992), 78.

58 ‘Montes medii’ and Mediolana place names: primarily from maps and the following: Amé; Bayerri y Bertomeu; C. de Beaurepaire; F. de Beaurepaire (1981 and 1986); Bouteiller; Boutiot; Boyer and Latouche; R. Boyer; Brun-Durand; Cappello and Tagliavini; Carré de Busserolle; Charrié; Chassaing; Chazaud; Clouzot; Dauzat and Rostaing; Deshayes; Dufour; Falc’hun and Tanguy; Gasca Queirazza; Gauchat; Germer-Durand; Goggi; Gourgues; Grässe; Gysseling; Haigneré; Hamlin and Cabrol; Hippeau; Jaccard; Jespers; Lambert; Lecler; Lepage; Liénard; Longnon (1891 and 1920–29); Maître; Malsy; Marichal; Mastrelli Anzilotti; Matton; Menche de Loisne; Menéndez Pidal; Merlet; Nègre (1959 and 1990–98); Nicolaï; Olivieri (1962 and 1965); Perrenot; Pesche; Philipon; Pilot de Thorey; Poret; Quantin; Quilgars; Raymond; Rédet; Rigault; Rivet and Smith; Roland; J.-H. Roman; Rosenzweig; Roserot (1903 and 1924); Sabarthès; Smith; Soultrait; Soyer; Stein; Stoffel; Suter; E. Thomas; Vallée and Latouche; Villar; Vincent (1927 and 1937); Watson; Williamson.

59 its origin is obscure: e.g. Williamson, 46.

59 isolated finds: Brun and Mordant, 512.

59 the river Garonne: Giumlia-Mair, 105 (Greeks objects of the sixth and third centuries BC have been found along the Rhone and the Loire, but not the Garonne).

59 reluctant to colonize: e.g. Pilet-Lemière, 17 (Manche département).

60 directed heating-jets: Jope, 400; also Northover.

61 ‘Ii regem Celtico dabant’: Livy, V, 34.

65 the Celtic god of light: on Celtic gods: e.g. Aldhouse-Green (1991); Brunaux (2000); Hodeneder; Jufer and Luginbühl; Jullian, II, 5.

65 waits for the tide to go out: Wagenvoort, 116.

65 the tidal island of Ictis: Diodorus Siculus, V, 22, 2; Pliny, IV, 16 (104).

66 Gold coin of the Aedui: Gorphe, 140–41.

67 nothing from the pre-Roman period: Pichon (2009), 29.

69 noticed geometrical patterns: Agache (1997), 557; also Agache (1961).

70 ‘the tribal capital’: The same theory, based on coins: D. Bayard, in Ben Redjeb, 109.

71 ‘Roman’ roads of northern France: The ‘Roman’ road north of Samarobriva points at the original capital of the Suessiones, not at their Roman capital (Soissons). It passes through a field called ‘Danse des Fées’ on the outskirts of Amiens. The straight section of road west of Samarobriva is included because of the field-names ‘Chaussée’ and ‘Les Câtelets’.

72 ‘They worship above all’: BG, VI, 17. Caesar’s description is matched by the agnomen of the Irish Lugh: ‘samildánach’.

73 Promontorium Celticum: Pliny, IV, 20 (111).

74 St Martin’s shrines: Dessertenne, 133 (on the saint’s sunwise ‘leaps’); also Hamerton, 59 (at Bibracte).

75 ‘hollow altars’: Brunaux (2000), 94–95; also Brunaux (1986).

75 ‘a rather peculiar aesthetic effect’: http://www.arbre-celtique.com/encyclopedie/sanctuaire-de-gournay-sur-aronde-937.htm.

76 Mont César: Woimant, 119.

76 site of a Celtic necropolis: Graves, 7.

76 Bratuspantium: BG, II, 13; also Forbes; Holmes, 400–402.

77 the capital of the . . . Parisii: Abert, 23–25 and 65–67.

77 ‘island in the river Sequana’: BG, VII, 57.

77 an ‘insula’ rather than a peninsula: Abert, 25.

78 the name ‘Merlin’: on some ‘Merlin’ place names: Vadé (2008), 60–61.

79 municipal website: http://ot.chateaumeillant.free.fr/bienvenue.htm.

80 a gilded statue: Costello, 36.

81 African pool-diggers: Krausz, n. 20.

81 against fire and battering-rams: Colin, 115; Ralston, 76.

84 ‘the Pillar of the Sun’: Avienus, vv. 638–39.

87 Antikythera: Price; also Allen; Freeth; Moussas; Weinberg et al.

87 so many spectacular finds: Weinberg et al.

88 observations of the Metonic cycle: Kruta (2000), 348.

88 The exact purpose: Allen.

89 horologium solarium: Pliny, VII, 60 (213); also Gibbs, 10; Pattenden, 100.

90 the sky would fall in: Strabo, IV, 4, 4 and VII, 3, 8.

90 Aristotle had recently praised: Athenaeus, XIII, 576.

90 The traveller’s name was Pytheas: see especially Cunliffe (2002); Roller, ch. 4; and notes below.

91 ‘where the starry light declines’: Avienus, v. 199.

91 Euthymenes: Roller, 15–19.

91 the celestial pole: Hipparchos, quoting Pytheas (see Dicks); also Cunliffe (2002), 60.

91 Cap Croisette: Rawlins.

92 Corbilo: Strabo, IV, 2, 1.

92 Lampaul-Ploudalmézeau: Giot and Colbert de Beaulieu, 324–25.

92 bartering tokens: Giot and Colbert de Beaulieu, 330.

92 According to one source: Strabo, II, 4, 1.

92 calculated his latitude: Roller, 71.

93 ‘on which one can neither walk nor sail’: Strabo, II, 4, 1.

93 ‘complete savages’: Strabo, II, 5, 8.

93 ‘If judged by the science’: Strabo, IV, 5, 5.

95 A scientifically produced map of the world: on ancient cartography: Beazley; Dilke; Harley and Woodward; Janni; Peterson; Talbert and Unger; Thomson; Wallis and Robinson.

95 Eratosthenes of Cyrene: Eratosthenes; Lelgemann; Russo, 68–69; Tavernor, 18–19.

96 caused by the moon: Aetios, from Pseudo-Galen: Cunliffe (2002), 102; Roller, 77.

97 The oikoumene: Borysthenes and the Pillars of Hercules are within 66 and 13 seconds of the exact times respectively.

98 zones of latitude called klimata: Ptolemy (2000), 9–10.

98 the Greek astronomer Hipparchos: Dicks, 253–55; Heath, II, 346.

99 Alexander’s high-speed couriers: Pliny, II, 73 (181).

99 the dioptra: Hero of Alexandria (description of dioptra, late first century ad); see also Frontinus (1971); Heath, II, 256 and 345; Lewis; Trousset.

100 ten minutes in a twelve-hour period: Houston.

100 day lengths reported by Pliny: Pliny, VI, 39 (213–15, 217–18).

100 clockwork miracles: The Antikythera Mechanism might have measured longitude: Moussas.

101 Eudoxus of Kyzikos: Posidonius, III, 115–18; Roller, 107–14.

101 the ‘Gorillai’ tribe: Hanno; Roller, 132.

101 The people of Belerion: Diodorus Siculus, V, 22, 1.

101 Isles of the Blessed: Hesiod, 165–70; Konrad; Roller, 44–50.

102 the island of Corvo: Roller, 49–50.

102 ‘Persistent enquiries’: BG, V, 12–13.

103 ‘the obstacle of the Cévennes’: BG, VII, 56. Caesar had also decided to support Labienus. He probably crossed the Cévennes (BG, VII, 8) by the Col de la Chavade on the route of the modern N102, rather than by the Croix du Pal (the traditionally identified route, more in keeping with Caesar’s exaggeration of the difficulties).

104 ‘ascertained fact’: Tacitus, Agricola, 10.

104 ‘We do not have our enemy’s knowledge’: Tacitus, Agricola, 33.

104 ‘a scanty band’: Tacitus, Agricola, 32.

105 sailing the unmapped seas: on seafaring Celts: Cunliffe (2002), 68–69, 91–92, 103–106; McGrail.

105 Veneti tribe: BG, III, 8.

106 Maps did exist: Tacitus, Agricola, 10; Pliny, III, 5 (43); Strabo, III, 1, 3.

107 They had all heard about Druids: on the Druids (in addition to references below): Aldhouse-Green (1997); Brunaux (2000); Hofeneder; Jullian, II, 4; Le Roux and Guyonvarc’h; Piggott; Ross; J. Webster.

107 leaning on his shield: Anon., 3, 2.

107 with tears in his eyes: BG, I, 20.

107 Wild Germans: BG, I, 31.

107 Trojan descent: see Braund.

108 the will of the gods: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 3.

108 the sacred mistletoe: Pliny, XVI, 95 (249).

108 ‘If there really are Druids . . .’: Cicero (1923 and 2006), I, 41.

108 ‘physiologia’: Cicero (1923 and 2006), I, 41; also Strabo, IV, 4, 4.

108 long white beards: Livy, V, 41; also Florus, I, 7, 14.

109 ‘a circuitous itinerary’: BG, I, 41.

109 Some young people: BG, VI, 14.

109 under Druidic tuition for twenty years: BG, VI, 14.

109 Viridomarus had ‘humble origins’: BG, VII, 39.

109 Druids mentioned by the poet: Ausonius, V, 4 and 10 (‘Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium’).

110 ‘[flocked] to the Druids’: BG, VI, 13.

110 ‘in caves and secret woods’: Mela, III, 15.

110 ‘Pythagoras himself’: Hippolytus of Rome, I, 2.

110 Cabillonum: Rebourg et al. (1994), I, 127.

110 the roads around Autun: Rebourg (1998).

110 ‘the noblest progeny of the Gauls’: Tacitus, Annals, III, 43.

111 outlawed by imperial decrees: summary in J. Webster, 11.

111 a scale map of the world: Talbert and Unger, 113.

111 teaching at Bayeux and Bordeaux: Ausonius, V, 4 and 10; Booth.

112 ‘You will never see’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XII, 9.

112 ‘maximum et copiosissimum’: BG, I, 23.

113 an up-to-date description: J. Webster, 6–10.

113 ‘learn by heart’: BG, VI, 14.

113 ‘cast letters to their relatives’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 28, 6.

113–14 the Irish Dindsenchas: Pennick, 130.

114 ‘The Three Wives of Arthur’: from The Welsh Triads.

114 ‘Gaul is divided into three parts’: BG, I, 1.

114 ‘From the Pyrenees to the Garonne’: Mela, III, 15.

114 ‘The Druids relate’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 4–6.

116 ‘Dysgogan derwydon’: Ross, 430.

116 ‘They wish above all’: BG, VI, 14; also Diodorus Siculus, V, 28, 6; Strabo, IV, 4, 4.

117 the only Druid teaching: Mela, III, 15.

117 ‘The Druids express their philosophy’: Diogenes Laertius, I, 6.

117 a Welsh triad: Similarity first pointed out in The Gentleman’s Magazine, January 1825, p. 8.

117 ‘Stranger,’ he said: Lucian of Samosata, ‘Herakles’.

119 ‘they perform none of their religious rites’: Pliny, XVI, 95 (249). According to Maximus of Tyre, ‘the Celtic image of Zeus is a lofty oak’: Maximus of Tyre, 21 (oration 2; sometimes numbered 8 or 38).

119 ‘to hear the lofty oak’: Odyssey, 14.326–28.

119 ‘discovered’ (‘reperta’) in Britain: BG, VI, 13.

120 ‘The Celtic Druids’: Hippolytus of Rome, I, 2 and 22.

120 Celtic art: e.g. Buchsenschutz (2002) – especially article by M. Bacault and J.-L. Flouest; Jope; Kruta (2004); Lenerz-de Wilde (1977).

120 ‘for offerings should be rendered’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 4.

120 ‘conducted investigations’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 8.

121 fibrous qualities of wrought iron: Jope, 400.

123 The symbols are astronomical: Faintich; Fillioux.

123 the constellation of Ursa Major: The Celts would not have been alone in seeing the Great Bear as a horse: Gibbon.

123 ‘The Celt was a clever adaptor’: Kilbride-Jones, 39.

123 he burst out laughing: Diodorus Siculus, XXII, 9, 4.

123 pink-granite basin: Almagro Gorbea and Gran Aymerich; Goudineau and Peyre, 40–44; Romero; R. White.

124 Druid mathematics: on ancient mathematics generally: Guillaumin; Heath; W. Richardson.

124 the Mont de Fer: P. Boyer, in Almagro Gorbea and Gran Aymerich, 252.

125 Gournay-sur-Aronde: Brunaux (1985–94).

126 unburned on the battlefield: Silius Italicus, III, 340–49.

127 ‘tight trousers akin to cycling shorts’: Ritchie, 51.

127 British structural archaeologist: Carter.

127 a French archaeologist: Toupet.

128 Celtic subrectangular enclosures: Bittel et al.; Brunaux (1986 and 1991); Cunliffe (2005); Downs; Fauduet et al.; Wieland et al.

128 greater feats of engineering: Reynolds, 196.

129 ‘bound together in fellowships’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 8.

130 they turned to the right: Posidonius, in Athenaeus, IV, 36.

130 string construction of the ellipse: West, 710.

130 medicinal properties of plants: Pliny, XXIV, 62–63 (103–104).

130 instrument similar to the lyre: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 8.

131 settlement of debts: Mela, III, 15.

131 ‘Often, when two armies approach’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 5; also Strabo, IV, 4, 4; generally, Dio Chrysostom, Discourse XLIX, 7.

131 ‘Celtic women’: Plutarch (1931), I, 6; Polyaenus, VII, 50.

131 The Druids discuss: BG, VI, 14.

131 ‘Hi terrae mundique’: Mela, III, 15. On ‘mundus’ as ‘universe’: Puhvel.

132 solar-lunar calendar: Le Contel and Verdier; Olmsted.

132 division of the inhabited world by Ephorus: Strabo, I, 2, 28.

137 the mouth of the Borysthenes: ‘Borysthenes’ referred either to the river Dnieper or to a town near its mouth. It was mentioned both as a latitude and a longitude point: Pliny, VI, 39 (218); Strabo, I, 4, 4; also Roller, 80.

138 Celtiberian coins: Boutiot, iii. At ‘La Muraille (or ‘Les Murailles’) du Diable’, a thick dry-stone wall may once have belonged to a promontory fort: Ournac et al., 137.

138 Balbianas: Boutiot, 29.

139 ‘the hearth and metropolis’: Diodorus Siculus, IV, 19, 2. Diodorus is sometimes said to have invented the fame of Alesia to flatter its destroyer, Julius Caesar, but since his Bibliotheca Historica ends in 60 BC and the details are consistent with Celtic legend, the reference to Caesar’s victory is probably a later interpolation.

139 ‘locus consecratus’: One of the oldest conundrums of Gaulish geography: e.g. Jullian, II, 4 n. 65. Caesar sites the ‘sacred place’ ‘in the lands of the Carnutes – a region held to be the middle of the whole of Gaul’ (BG, VI, 13). Knowing how long it took to reach Carnutia (the region of Chartres and Orléans) from the Alps and from the British Ocean, neither Caesar nor the Druids are likely to have considered this the centre of Gaul. Perhaps the annual councils were hosted by different tribes, each capital being considered the symbolic centre of Gaul for the occasion, or perhaps a scribe substituted the Carnutes, mentioned earlier in Book VI, for the unfamiliar Mandubii of Alesia, who do not appear until Book VII. (There are no manuscripts of De Bello Gallico older than the ninth century.)

139 the Mandubii: on the tribe’s cultural distinctness (revealed by pottery): P. Barral et al., in Garcia and Verdin, 282; Provost et al. (2009), 150.

140 The Fossé des Pandours: Fichtl and Adam; Flotté and Fuchs, 551–62.

141 whole-number ratio: on the Romans’ use of rational tangents: A. Richardson.

142 Archimedes: Tavernor, 19.

143 capital of the Rediones: Leroux and Provost, 26 and 178. On hill forts of northern France: Wheeler and Richardson, and relevant volumes of CAG.

145 greater margins of error: The line from Namur passes just south of Trier or Trèves, which became the Treveri’s Roman capital, and arrives at one of the biggest oppida in Europe, Heidengraben bei Grabenstetten. However, there is no sign that Trier was important in protohistory, and since Heidengraben covers more than sixteen hundred hectares, the coincidence is not especially remarkable.

145 cultural differences of ‘Germanic’ tribes: Caesar’s notion of a Rhine frontier was contradicted by Cicero and Tacitus: Deyber, 30.

146 Sena, in the British sea: Mela, III, 40; also Strabo, IV, 4, 6 (quoting Posidonius).

147 long-distance land surveyors: Harley and Woodward, 214; Roth Congès, 330–49.

147 fuzziness of the shadow: The operation is described by Hyginus Gromaticus. Ancient Egyptians used a gnomon with a bifurcated tip for greater accuracy (Isler, with illustrations). The same function might have been performed by the spokes of a solar wheel or by a Gaulish precursor of the ‘lanternes des morts’, which survive primarily in the Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. ‘Wheel towers’ (perhaps including the original Tour Magne in Nîmes) existed in Gallo-Roman times, associated with a ceremony in which a flaming wheel was launched from a hilltop temple (see Momméja) – for example, at Vernemetis (‘Great Sanctuary’), in the Gironde (but perhaps related to the imperial cult of Sol Invictus: e.g. Pettazzoni, 197).

147 portolan charts were so remarkably accurate: Harley and Woodward, 385–86. On projections: Balletti; Boutoura.

147 directional error is less than two metres: Trousset, 139; also Lewis, 245. On the thousand-kilometre-long Limes Tripolitanus: Goodchild and Perkins.

148 I-Hsing: Beer et al.

148 Some qanats: Stiros.

149 ‘[I came] from the Cover of the Sea’: adapted from Pennick, 130.

149 twelve towns and four hundred villages: BG, I, 5.

150 ‘Writing tablets were found’: BG, I, 29.

150 Scots who left their homeland: Devine.

150 the Gaulish diaspora: Livy, V, 33 ff.; Polybius, II, 17; also Diodorus Siculus, XIV, 113; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XIII, 11; Pliny, XII, 2 (5); Plutarch, ‘Camillus’, XV–XVII, in Plutarch (1914–26), II; Justinus, XXIV, 4. On the Celts in Italy: Chevallier (1983); Cunliffe (1992), 129–32; Cunliffe (1999), 75–78; Defente; Frey.

150 We have received the following account: Livy, V, 34 (also for Ambigatus and the crossing of the Alps).

152 the Tricastini’s territory: Harley and Woodward, 222–24; Walbank, 111.

153 Polybius gives a similar list: Polybius, II, 17.

153 Mezzomerico was once Mediomadrigo: Olivieri (1965), 218.

154 Tribal centres and the migration to Italy: Livy, V, 34–35; Polybius, II, 17; also Appianus, IV, 7; Athenaeus, VI, 25; Diodorus Siculus, XIV, 113; Florus, I, 7; Justinus, XXIV, 4; Pausanias, X, 19. At Évreux, the Saint-Michel hill is a probable oppidum. Angoulême is the likeliest site of a tribal centre in the region (J.-F. Buisson and J. Gomez de Soto, in Garcia and Verdin, 259). On oppida of the Ambarri: Buisson, 24, et passim. Mont Jovis: Chossenot et al. (2004), 311. Mont Milan: Bonnet; Lhermet; Trintignac et al., 292. On south-eastern tribes: Barruol. Oppida in the far west: Galliou and Philippe; Galliou et al. Oppida in Normandy: Bernouis; Cliquet and Gauthier; Delacampagne; Rogeret.

156 ‘the remotest parts of Illyricum’: Justinus, XXIV, 4.

156 Saint-Blaise: Benoît (1965); Gateau et al., 78 and 287–302; Trément. On Heraklea: Pliny, III, 4 (33). On ancient coastlines: Arnaud-Fassetta; Rothé et al., 716.

156 trading hub in the fifth century BC: Roure.

156 ‘fortified against the tribe of the Sallyes’: Strabo, IV, 1, 5.

157 the excavator of Olbia: Coupry.

157 one of the three most important towns: Provost (1999), 30/2, 532. The others were Ugernum (Beaucaire) and Nemausos (Nîmes).

158 The Lingones, whose Gaulish capital: The Reims–Aosta line bisects the oppidum of Andemantunum (Langres) but meets the Châteaumeillant–Alesia line 1.5 kilometres to the north at the nineteenth-century Fort de la Pointe de Diamant, which controlled the valley of the Marne and the road to Chaumont: this could be an earlier tribal capital. Nothing remains of pre-Roman Langres (Joly; Thévenard et al.).

158 the Poenina was impassable: Strabo, IV, 6, 7.

159 ‘Because the region was scorching hot’: Diodorus Siculus, XIV, 113, 3.

160 tribal centres of the Cenomani and the Carnutes: There are no clear signs of a pre-Roman oppidum at Le Mans (Bouvet et al., 61), nor at Orléans (Provost, Le Loiret, 84). Chartres was permanently occupied only from the time of the Roman conquest (Ollagnier and Joly, 114).

160 Five other tribes: Pollicini, 60–63, and Zanotto, 22 (Salassi); Polybius, II, 17 (Insubres); Olivieri (1965), 218 (Mediomatrici); Geoffrey of Monmouth: IX, 16 (Allobroges); Tacitus, Annals, XI, 23 (Veneti).

162 first recorded by Aristotle: Aristotle (1952 and 2000), I, 13.

162 The breadth of the forest: BG, VI, 25; Mela, III, 29.

162 ‘Impervious to the passage of time’: Pliny, XVI, 2 (6).

163 ‘Folk of the Hercynian Forest’: Pliny, III, 25 (148); Ptolemy (2006), II, 14.

163 ‘vague and secret paths’: BG, VI, 34.

163 ‘invia’ (‘trackless’): Mela, III, 24.

164 ‘many myriads of warriors’: Plutarch, ‘Camillus’, XV, in Plutarch (1914–26), II.

165 ‘The harmonious arrangement of the country’: Strabo, IV, 1, 14.

165 ‘know nothing of road measurements’: BG, VI, 25.

167 employed by Herod the Great: Josephus, 336 (Antiquities of the Jews, XV, 7, 3).

169 ‘driven from their homes’: Timagenes, in Ammianus Marcellinus, XV, 9, 4.

169 ‘Where did they come from?’: e.g. B. P. McEvoy and D. G. Bradley (on genetic analyses), in Cunliffe and Koch, 111.

170 ‘In days gone by’: BG, VI, 24.

171 crossing the Hellespont: Polybius, IV, 46; also Memnon, 11.

171 Drunemeton: Strabo, XII, 5, 1; also Livy, XXXVIII, 16.

171 Delphi: Appianus, X, 1, 4; Justinus, XXIV, 6–8; Livy, XXXVIII, 48; Pausanias, X, 19–23; Strabo, IV, 1, 13.

172 The battle tactics of the Celts: Pausanias, X, 21.

172 Latter-day Titans: Callimachus, Hymn to Delos.

174 ‘It was the lakes’: Strabo, IV, 1, 13 (from Posidonius); also Cassius Dio, XXVII, 90; Justinus, XXXII, 3.

174 ‘Many large rivers’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 25, 3.

175 ‘a pool of standing water’: Moret.

175 Pont des Demoiselles: Gaston Astre, quoted in Moret, 310.

176 near the town of Biturrita: The place was called Vindal(i)um, according to Livy and Strabo. On Bituitos, see also Eutropius, IV, 22 (in Justinus); Florus, I, 37, 5; Orosius, V, 14; Valerius Maximus, IX, 6, 3. The solar intersection confirms the identification by, among others, Fortia d’Urban (1808), 52–63; see also D. and Y. Roman, ch. 5. Etymology: Nègre (1990–98), I, 197.

176 ‘Seeing such small numbers’: Orosius, V, 14.

179 oppidum of Anseduna: Jannoray.

179 Marcus Fonteius: Cicero (2012), 13–15.

180 Louernios: Athenaeus, IV, 37; Strabo, IV, 2, 3.

180 tokens rather than treasures: on the history of Celtic coinage: Creighton; Cunliffe, ed.; Delestrée; Delestrée and Tache; Duval (1987).

182 ‘other hills of a similar height’: BG, VII, 69.

184 ‘for the first time’, says Caesar: BG, VII, 30.

185 coins found on the plateau of Gergovia: map based on information in Provost et al. (1994), 280–82; on oppida as centres of production and trade: Kruta (2006), 32–4; Wells, ‘Resources’, 225, and ‘Trade’, 240.

184 In 2004, a French archaeologist: Buchsenschutz (2004); on oppida superimposed on sanctuaries: Fichtl (2005), 154.

185 ‘the leaders of the Gauls’: BG, VII, 1.

187 exactly the right place: The Druidic system thus reconciles opposing views of ancient cartography as representation and idealization: e.g. Janni, 66–69.

188 the citadel of Namur: e.g. Napoléon III, II, 131–32 n. 1; other possible sites are the Montagne d’Hastedon in Namur, Huy (Mont Falhize), Lompret (‘Camp romain’) and Thuin (Bois du Grand Bon Dieu): see Roymans et al., 83–84.

188 traders who bought the Aduatuci: BG, II, 33.

188 ‘Upon receipt of Caesar’s letters’: BG, II, 35.

189 ‘the very great dangers’: BG, III, 1.

189 a river called the Tamesis: BG, V, 18.

189 Varro Atacinus: Hollis, 165 (my translation).

189 ‘a copious letter’: Cicero (1965), 113 (c. 1 July 54).

190 several letters at the same time: Plutarch (2011), 17.

190 treatise on the subject of analogy: Suetonius, ‘Julius Caesar’, 56.

190 mosaic squares: Suetonius, ‘Julius Caesar’, 46; also Goudineau (2000), 268.

190 Britain had been ‘dealt with’: Cicero (1965), 131 (between 24 October and 2 November 54).

190 a play called Erigone: Cicero (1988), 3.1.13; 3.5.7.

190 adding water to their wine: Cicero (2012), 4; quoted by Ammianus Marcellinus, XII, 4.

191 one hundred tons of wheat: Goudineau (2000), 249.

191 ‘to remedy the lack of corn’: BG, V, 24.

191 ‘not long after those events’: BG, V, 58.

191 ‘settle nearly all disputes’: BG, VI, 13.

191 a certain ‘Gutuater’: BG, VIII, 38. (Manuscripts disagree on the spelling: a summary of the discussion in Lamoine, 358, n. 241.)

191 Sacrovir: Tacitus, Annals, III, 40–46.

192 ‘the power that fed the rebellion’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 29.

192 ‘the custom of the Gauls’: BG, IV, 19.

192 ‘The Suebi’: BG, IV, 19.

193 The Gallic War and Gaulish strategy: on ‘Champ-de-Bataille’ (at the exact intersection of two solar paths): Thaurin, 285.

193 ‘But the enemy’: BG, II, 27.

193 battle of the Sambre: Turquin.

194 ‘The rest of the multitude’, BG, IV, 15.

194 massacre appalled Cato: Plutarch (2011), 22.

194 ‘humani generis iniuria’: Pliny, VII, 25 (92).

194 Gaulish agriculture: Buchsenschutz (2004); Burnham, 130; Chouquer (2005), 46; Reynolds, 180–84.

195 The 39,200 killed: BG, VII, 28.

195 estimate given by Plutarch: Plutarch (2011), 14; also Appianus, IV, 2; Velleius Paterculus, II, 47.

195 slaves shipped to the American colonies: Goudineau (2000), 325.

195 its literal sense: ‘depopulate’: BG, VIII, 24.

195 ‘the race and name of the Nervii’: BG, II, 28.

195 ‘their name and stirps’: BG, VI, 34.

195 ‘a great multitude of wreckers’: BG, III, 17.

196 ‘a young man of the highest ability’: BG, VII, 4.

196 Ambassadors were sent: BG, VII, 4.

196 ‘fickleness’ and ‘eagerness for political change’: BG, II, 1 and IV, 5.

196 ‘the finest of leaders’: BG, VII, 21.

197 ‘a small sword hanging in a temple’: Plutarch (2011), 26.

197 ‘The soldiers thought that they knew’: BG, VII, 52.

197 ‘Having achieved what he intended’: BG, VII, 47.

197 strangled in his cell: Cassius Dio, XL, 41.

197 ‘not even the whole earth’: BG, VII, 29.

197 ‘it appears to defy military custom’: Montaigne, II, 34.

198 ‘by popular vote’: BG, VII, 63.

198 From Bibracte, following the same line: An ancient route between Bibracte and Alesia (Provost et al. (2009), 298) is now a marked itinerary: http://www.bibracte-alesia.com/un_itineraire_culturel_important.php

198 ‘Why . . . did the leader of all the Gauls’: Montaigne, II, 34.

198 ‘the part of the hill that looks towards the rising sun’: BG, VII, 69.

198 a levy of all the tribes: BG, VII, 75.

199 dressed in chainmail: Musée des Antiquités Nationales, 214; on Celtic dress: Lloyd-Morgan.

199 the civilian population was evacuated: Cassius Dio, XL, 40.

199 He rode in a circle: Plutarch (2011), 27; also Florus, I, 45, 26.

200 ‘a man of the utmost audacity’: BG, VII, 5.

201 ‘to enter the province’: BG, VIII, 32.

201 ‘very steep and rugged cliffs’: BG, VIII, 33.

201 the Puy d’Issolud: Labrousse and Mercadier, 133–36. Attempts to identify the site: Champollion-Figeac; Holmes, 483–93; Jullian, III, 14 n. 137; etc.

202 A hamlet, first recorded in 1275: Courbin, 247.

202 the Bastard of Mauléon: Compayré, 325–26.

202 on the borders of the Cadurci and the Ruteni: The rebels left the oppidum to gather supplies ‘from the territory of the Cadurci’ (BG, VIII, 34). The oppidum itself was a dependency of Lucterius, who had previously recruited troops from the neighbouring Ruteni. The site’s only physical divergence from Hirtius’s account is the width of land joining the oppidum to the outside world: ‘almost 300 [Roman] feet’. The actual distance at Thuriès is 675 Roman feet. In almost vertical terrain, this could only have been an estimate.

202 ‘He reflected that . . .’: BG, VIII, 45.

203 ‘They attributed the drying-up of the well’: BG, VIII, 43.

204 his reputation for ‘lenitas’: BG, VIII, 44.

204 ‘And the land, lying as it does’: Diodorus Siculus, V, 25, 2.

208 a colossal statue of Mercury: Pliny, XXXIV, 18 (45–47); also Monceaux.

209 ‘for state purposes’: BG, VI, 16.

209 The exodus from the oppida: e.g. Brun et al.; Colin; Fichtl (2005), ch. 5.

209 Solar orientation in Roman towns and forts: Magli; also Le Gall.

209 The road that enters Amiens: Bayard and Massy, 96.

210 The streets of Reims: The pre-Roman orientations varied: Chossenot et al. (2010), 62. The route to the British Ocean is described in Léman; see also Strabo, IV, 6, 11.

210 the Roman towns of Autun, Metz and Limoges: Rebourg et al. (1993), 24–25, and Provost et al. (1993), 63–65 (Autun); Flotté, 70–74 (Metz); Perrier et al., 87 (Limoges). Sometimes, as on the plateau of Langres (home of the pro-Roman Lingones), alignments were determined by geographical force majeure.

210 ‘Those who wish to make a more assiduous study’: BG, VI, 13.

211 ‘infesting the roads’: BG, VIII, 47; see also VIII, 23.

211 Defeated by the deified Caesar: Frontinus (1925 and 1990): Strategemata, II, 13, 11.

212 a certain Bretannos: Parthenius of Nicaea, XXX.

215 ‘Their science crossed the ocean’: Pliny, XXX, 4 (13).

215 a ‘disciplina’: BG, VI, 13–14.

215 ‘The Britanni . . . fortify their tangled woods’: BG, V, 21.

216 The name is often found: Delamarre (2003), 252; Delamarre (2007) (‘Prito’, etc.); Holder, II, 1046–47; Morris-Jones, 4–6; Rivet and Smith, 280–82. There was also a German or Belgic goddess called Pritona.

218 ‘old but not old fashioned’: http://www.shropshiretourism.co.uk/whitchurch/.

218 The market town of Whitchurch: Brewer, 49; Rivet and Smith, 416 (identified with Mediolanum).

218 Mediobogdum: Shotter, 107; Smith, 383; cf. Rivet and Smith, 415.

220 the first Roman surveyors: Ferrar and Richardson, 15–16.

220 ‘which should run the whole length of the island’: Geoffrey of Monmouth, III, 5.

223 so many hill forts: e.g. Cunliffe (1993 and 2005); Forde-Johnston.

224 in this telling of the tale, Merlin: Geoffrey of Monmouth, VIII, 2. (Explanation of the identification with Merlin: http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artcit/caerdoward.htm.)

224 ‘a substantial ritual focus’: Dodd, 7.

225 ‘Lludd and Llevelys’: The Mabinogion, 128–33.

225 the Historia Brittonum: Nennius, 42.

229 intersection of three major tribal territories: Dodd, 11.

229 tribe of Oxubii: Pliny, III, 4 (35) and 5 (47); Polybius, XXXIII, 9–10; Strabo, IV, 1, 10.

229 a defensive enclosure or oppidum: Beckley and Radley, 17.

233 The causeway running the breadth of the kingdom: Other important forts (not shown): Twyn Cornicyll (Abertysswg), Coed y Bwnydd (Bettws Newydd) and Cholesbury Camp (Buckinghamshire). The line also bisects Stroud, Stanton Harcourt and Thame.

233 Belinus commanded another causeway: Geoffrey of Monmouth, III, 5.

234 ‘as though in accordance with some calculated plan’: Strabo, IV, 1, 14.

236 tribe called the Weogora: Mills (‘Worcester’).

237 ‘of extremely slight interest’: Beazley, II, 584.

238 the school of Autun: Eumenius, 20, 2 (c. ad 297); N. Lozovsky, in Talbert and Unger, 169–70.

238 the Four Royal Roads: Geoffrey of Monmouth, III, 5; Henry of Huntingdon, I, 7; Higden, I, 45; Robert of Gloucester, 7.

238 a rhetorical trope: Birkholz, 73.

238 ‘Two others he also made obliquely’: Geoffrey of Monmouth, III, 5.

241 to within a few paces: As Oliver Rackham observes of the Fosse Way: quoted in Davies (2005), 40; see also Lewis, 226.

241 an extensive survey: Ferrar; Ferrar and Richardson; Jones and Mattingly, 94–95; also Davies (1998 and 2005). Roman roads in Britain: Margary.

242 the Celtic port of Durobrivae: On an exact bearing of 53.13°, the line meets Watling Street west of Rochester at Cobham Park Roman villa, a possible Iron Age site. On the bearing of the road: Lewis, 226. On the importance of Chichester in the first century BC: Jersey.

244 ‘Lyne me clepeth eke . . .’: Robert of Gloucester, 7.

245 Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester): Fulford, Clarke and Taylor. For latest developments: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/silchesterdig/. The south-west – north-east alignment of the temple in Insula XXXV is also very close to the British solstice angle: illustration from St John Hope in Frere and Fulford (2002), 168.

246 Molmutius, King of the Britons: Higden, I, 45.

246 ‘leave no loophole for quibbles’: Geoffrey of Monmouth, III, 5.

248 almost featureless landscapes: Pryor, 372.

248 Iron Age tribal territories: on the association of dragons and other monsters with boundaries and borderlands: Semple, 114.

249 ‘I had horses, men, arms and wealth’: Tacitus, Annals, XII, 37.

249 ‘Caratacus toured the city’: Cassius Dio, LXI, 33.

250 ‘a citadel of perpetual tyranny’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 31.

250 The invasion of ad 43: e.g. Frere and Fulford (2001); Salway, ch. 4; G. Webster (1981 and 1993).

251 ‘a particularly ferocious’ people: Tacitus, Annals, XII, 33.

251 ‘luring’ other tribes: Tacitus, Annals, XII, 39.

251 ‘those who dreaded’: Tacitus, Annals, XII, 33.

252 ‘the haven of fugitives’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 29.

252 Mona is the oblique focus: on the Boudican revolt as diversion: Lucas, 106; G. Webster in Aldhouse-Green (1996), 633.

252 ‘powerful population’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 29.

253 ‘arduous and dangerous’: Tacitus, Agricola, 18.

253 ‘Indignant at the thought’: Cassius Dio, LX, 19.

253 ‘paralysed by fear’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 30.

254 ‘a crucial error’: La Bédoyère, 34.

254 an Iron Age settlement: Cunliffe (2005), 299.

254 ‘lapis fatalis’: Giraldus Cambrensis (1868 and 1978), II, 9. Somewhere in the vicinity, there was once an oak-grove called Cell y Dewiniaid (‘The Diviners’ Cell’) (Pennant, 176).

254 ‘in the lands of the Ordovices’: Tacitus, Annals, XII, 33.

255 ‘find a fatherless boy’: Geoffrey of Monmouth, VI, 19; Nennius, 40.

256 Caratacus ‘piled up stones’: Tacitus, Annals, XII, 33.

257 ‘utterly extinguished’: Tacitus, Annals, XII, 39.

257 ‘amidst a hostile population’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 33.

257 Poenius Postumus: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 37.

257 a date of AD 60–61: Cunliffe (1993), 217–18; G. Webster (1993), 108.

258 ‘Secret conspiracies’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 31.

258 strange occurrences: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 32.

258 Boudica, queen of the Iceni: on Boudica: Aldhouse-Green (2006); Hingley and Unwin; G. Webster (1999).

258 Boudica’s rabble-rousing speech: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 35.

258 ‘possessed of greater intelligence’: Cassius Dio, LXII, 2.

259 in a ‘harsh voice’: Cassius Dio, LXII, 2.

259 Wardy Hill: Hill and Horne.

259 ceremonial centre of Camulodunum: Dunnett and Reece.

260 Woolwich Power Station: Philp, 1 and 38–42.

260 ‘Constructed about 250 BC’: Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit press release: http://cka.moon-demon.co.uk/woolwich.htm.

262 London-to-Hastings road: Leigh, 151–53 and 195–97.

263 They faced the Britons: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 34.

263 ‘empty threats’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 36.

263 Tripontium on Watling Street: Lucas, 108–10.

263 ‘terrain analysis techniques’: Kaye.

263 ‘our soldiers’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 37.

263 the Romans ‘laid waste’: Tacitus, Annals, XIV, 38.

263 Boudica survived the battle: Cassius Dio, LXII, 12.

264 enclosure of the Iceni at Thetford: Sealey, 42; also Gregory, I, 196–99 (from a suggestion of G. Webster).

264 ‘sued for peace’: Tacitus, Agricola, 18.

264 ‘new peoples’: Tacitus, Agricola, 22.

264 ‘Caledonian natives’: Tacitus, Agricola, 25.

264 ‘a remedy for his grief’: Tacitus, Agricola, 29.

264 ‘Still buoyant’: Tacitus, Agricola, 29.

265 thirty contenders: Roman Scotland.

266 White Caterthun and Brown Caterthun: D. Harding, 91–92.

267 ‘terminus Britanniae’: Tacitus, Agricola, 23, 27, 30 and 33.

267 ‘There are no nations beyond us’: Tacitus, Agricola, 30.

267 ‘The flat country between’: Tacitus, Agricola, 35.

267 ‘equipment, bodies’: Tacitus, Agricola, 37.

267 ‘An enormous silence’: Tacitus, Agricola, 38.

268 olive oil that was used as lamp fuel: Potter and Johns, 154.

269 a hardy race of Caledonians: Cassius Dio, LXXVII, 12; also Herodian, III, 14, 6.

269 ‘a grand and memorable exploit’: Tacitus, Agricola, 28.

269 ‘red hair and long limbs’: Tacitus, Agricola, 11.

272 ‘complete savages’: Strabo, II, 5, 8.

272 ‘the livestock eat their fill’: Mela, III, 43.

272 ‘a very tall lighthouse’: Orosius, I, 2.

273 the deposed Irish chieftain: Tacitus, Agricola, 24.

273 ‘On a clear winter’s evening’: Lebor Gabála Érenn, I, 25.

273 ‘They landed on the “Fetid Shore” ’: Lebor Gabála Érenn, V, 66.

273 Iberian-style defences: Raftery, 62.

273 a Barbary macaque: Raftery, 79.

274 the ‘royal sites’: Condit and Coyne; Newman; Raftery, 65.

274 Hill of Uisneach: see Schot.

274 The mighty burgh of Temra: Óengus the Culdee, 165, 177, 189, 193 and 205.

277 ‘annual scene of disgusting superstition’: Hardy, 33.

277 ‘displays all the features’: C. Newman: http://heritagecouncil.ie/unpublished_excavations/section10.html.

277 The earliest partition of Ireland: Lebor Gabála Érenn, II, 37.

278 the other ‘Sacred Promontory’: Freeman, 77–79.

278 Tartessian: Koch (2009); Cunliffe and Koch.

279 the ‘victorious Brigit’: Cogitosus (1987 and 1989); also Aldhouse-Green (1997), 134–36.

279 a circular hedge: Giraldus Cambrensis (1894), 34–36.

279 the Son of God: ‘Mo druí . . . Mac Dé’ (‘My druid . . . the Son of God’): Ross, 429.

279 Lucatmael: Byrne and Francis, 49.

279 ‘professores’ teaching in Bordeaux: Ausonius, V, 4 and 10; Booth. Late sightings of Druids: Desforges, 302.

280 Pope Gregory I in c. 600: letter to Abbot Mellitus, in Bede, I, 30.

280 stones of the Picts: e.g. Murray; examples of ‘neo-Celtic’ art in souvenirs produced for Roman soldiers: Breeze.

280 two ‘compass lines’: In a random sample of fourteen, the average bearing of the right-hand rods of the Pictish ‘compass’ figures roughly corresponds to the summer solstice azimuth in AD 800 at the likely ‘origin centre’ of the carvings (Moray and Dornoch Firths).

281 the first Christian chapels: Deanesly; C. Thomas.

281 ‘Meanwhile, stiff with cold and frost’: Gildas, 8.

281 St Regina: Boutry and Julia.

283 The early Christian sites: e.g. Blair; Brown; E. Evans; Redknap; Rees; C. Thomas; also from Bede; Geoffrey of Monmouth; Giraldus Cambrensis (1978); Nennius.

283 Hoards containing Christian artefacts: following C. Thomas, 103.

284 the native of a nemeton: Byrne and Francis, 22–23. On St Patrick as ‘a super-Druid’: Humphrey.

284 Pope Gregory had instructed: Bede, I, 30.

285 magpies used to gather: Leland, II, 44.

285 ‘fairy-paths’, ‘trods’ or ‘corpse roads’: Pennick, 131.

286 Old Sarum: Hall, 4; the deer may be a later addition.

286 Myrfield: G. White, 2.

286 Mediocantus: Gregory of Tours, 1053.

286 struggles of slain animals: Diodorus Siculus, V, 31, 3.

286 ‘Honour the gods’: Diogenes Laertius, I, 6.

286 ‘Death is but the middle’: Lucan, I, 457–58 (on the Druids: ‘longae . . . vitae / mors media est’).

286 ‘Souls do not perish’: BG, VI, 14.

287 guided by the blur of the Milky Way: Puel.

287 Christians removed his beard: Lancel, 307.

Notes