Andecavi
The Andecavi were a Gallic tribe dwelling in Aremorica during the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as Andecavi by Pliny, Andecavi and Andecavos by Tacitus, A̓ndíkauoi by Ptolemy, and as Andicavos by Orosius.The etymology of the ethnonym Andecauī remains uncertain. Ande- is a Gaulish intensifying suffix, but the interpretation of the second element is difficult. Andecaui could mean
The city of Angers, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Andecavorum, and the region of Anjou, attested in 767 as pago Andegavinse'', are named after the Gallic tribe.
Geography
The territory of the Andecavi roughly corresponded with the diocese of Angers, Anjou, in the department Maine-et-Loire in present-day France. Although Caesar locates the Andes "near the Ocean", they held no coast and were located inland along the Loire river.Their chief town, Iuliomagus, developed from a densely occupied Late Iron Age settlement. By the late 1st century BC, a fortified oppidum of roughly 9 hectares stood on a promontory above the Maine. Finds of military material point to a continued Roman presence from the mid-1st century BC. In the early 1st century AD, the settlement was reorganised and laid out with a street grid within a short period, suggesting deliberate planning rather than slow expansion.
After the Augustan reorganisation in the late 1st century BC, the settlement became the capital of the civitas and probably adopted the name Iuliomagus at that time. It then spread beyond its earlier limits, covering about 70 hectares by 10–15 AD, with new housing and workshop areas, including for pottery and ironworking. Some streets were marked out in advance of later construction under Tiberius. Buildings continued to be made mainly of wood and earth, with stone architecture appearing only gradually.
History
In Book 3 of the Bellum Gallicum, Caesar says that the Andes provided winter quarters for Publius Crassus after his mission into Armorica, which brought several Gallic polities into relations with Rome. Over the winter of 57–56 BC, the Romans built a fleet on the Loire under the command of Decimus Brutus, presumably in preparation for an invasion of Britannia, but which was instead called into action against the Veneti when Armorican objections were raised.The Andes, led by Dumnacus, played a significant role in the continuing war against Rome after the defeat of Vercingetorix at Alesia. Dumnacus's efforts are recounted by Aulus Hirtius in his continuation of the Bellum Gallicum, which covers the two years of the war after Caesar had declared his mission accomplished. Dumnacus lay siege to Limonum, an oppidum of the Pictones, and engaged without success the Roman relief army under the command of Gaius Caninius Rebilus. When additional Roman forces arrived on the scene, Dumnacus was forced to lift the siege and retreat. The army of the Andes was pursued by the Romans and suffered heavy casualties. In a decisive battle the following day, the Romans killed some 12,000 men. Dumnacus escaped, and when Armorica surrendered, he went into self-imposed exile.