Divodurum Mediomatricorum
Divodurum Mediomatricorum was the main oppidum of the Mediomatrici. Divodurum Mediomatricorum is mentioned by Tacitus in the early 1st century AD. The oldest settlement of the oppidum was located on a hill, at the confluence of the Moselle and Seille rivers, nowadays in France. The present-day city of Metz, attested c. 400 AD as civitas Mediomatricorum, is named after the Celtic tribe.
History
The Mediomatrici were, according to Caesar, a Gaulish tribe at the frontier to the Belgicae dwelling in the present-day region Lorraine and Upper Moselle department during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They are mentioned as Mediomatricorum and Mediomatricis by Caesar, Mediomatrikoì by Strabo, Mediomatrici by Pliny, Mediomatricos by Tacitus, and as Mediomátrikes by Ptolemy.During the Gallic Wars, the Mediomatrici sent 5,000 men to support Vercingetorix who was besieged in Alesia in 52. In 69–70 of the Common Era, Divodurum was sacked by the armies of Vitellius, and 4,000 of its inhabitants massacred.