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The Battle of Vicus Helena was a clash between the Salian Franks, led by Chlodio, and Roman soldiers, commanded by general Flavius Aetius. The battle is attested in a limited number of late Roman and early Medieval sources, having occurred around the year 448, in an unidentified location named Vicus Helena, somewhere in the Civitas Atrebatium ...
- c. 445-450
- Roman victory
- Vicus Helena, Belgica Secunda
Died. Jan 350 (aged 30) Vicus Helena, southwestern Gaul. Father. Constantine I. Mother. Fausta. Flavius Julius Constans, or Constans I, was born around 320. He was the youngest son of Constantine I and Fausta.
As he was trying to reach Hispania, supporters of Magnentius cornered him in a fortification in Helena in the eastern Pyrenees of southwestern Gaul, where he was killed after seeking sanctuary in a temple.
- Background
- History
- Historiography
- In Literature
- Bibliography
Sociopolitical
The tribes of Gaul were civilized and wealthy, constituting what is known to archeologists as the La Tène culture. Most had contact with Roman merchants and some, such as the Aedui, who were governed by republics, had enjoyed stable political alliances with Rome in the past. During the first century, parts of Gaul were becoming urbanized, which concentrated wealth and population centers, inadvertently making Roman conquest easier. Though the Romans considered the Gauls to be barbarians, their...
Military
The Gauls and the Romans had significantly different military strategies. The Roman army was extremely disciplined, kept standing between conflicts, and made mostly of heavy infantry; any auxiliary units were fielded from the less disciplined Roman allies, which as the war progressed would include some Gauls. By comparison, the Gauls were an irregular and less disciplined fighting force. Individual Gauls outfitted themselves, as did Romans, a practice that continued into the early Empire. Wea...
Julius Caesar
Rising politician and general Julius Caesar was the Roman commander and agonist of the war. As a result of the financial burdens of being consul (the highest office in the Roman Republic) in 59 BC, Caesar had incurred significant debts. To strengthen Rome's position among the Gauls, he had paid substantial money to Ariovistus, king of the Suebi, to cement an alliance. Through his influence as part of the First Triumvirate (the political alliance which comprised Marcus Licinius Crassus, Pompey...
Beginning of the Wars – campaign against the Helvetii
The Helvetii were a confederation of about five related Gallic tribes that lived on the Swiss plateau, hemmed in by the mountains and the rivers Rhine and Rhône. They had come under increased pressure from Germanic tribes to the north and the east and began planning for a migration around 61 BC. They intended to travel across Gaul to the Saintonge region of modern France, a route that would have taken them around the Alps and through lands of the Aedui (a Roman ally) into the Roman province o...
57 BC: Campaigns in the east
Caesar's stunning victories in 58 BC had unsettled the Gallic tribes. Many rightly predicted Caesar would seek to conquer all of Gaul, and some sought alliance with Rome. As the campaigning season of 57 BC dawned, both sides were busy recruiting new soldiers. Caesar set off with two more legions than the year before, with 32,000 to 40,000 men, along with a contingent of auxiliaries. The exact number of men the Gauls raised is unknown, but Caesar claims he would fight 200,000. Intervening agai...
56 BC: Campaign against the Veneti
The Gauls were embittered at being forced to feed the Roman troops over the winter. The Romans sent out officers to requisition grain from the Veneti, a group of tribes in northwest Gaul, but the Veneti had other ideas and captured the officers. This was a calculated move: they knew this would anger Rome and prepared by allying with the tribes of Armorica, fortifying their hill settlements, and preparing a fleet. The Veneti and the other peoples along the Atlantic coast were versed in sailing...
Very few sources about the Gallic Wars survive. The Gauls did not record the history of their peoples and thus any Gallic perspective has been lost to time. The writings of Julius Caesar remain the main source of information, which complicates the task of historians as it is biased in his favor. Only a handful of other contemporary works refer to t...
Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico, in Latin, is one of the best surviving examples of unadorned Latin prose. It has consequently been a subject of intense study for Latinists and is one of the classic prose sources traditionally used as a standard teaching text in modern Latin education. It begins with the oft-quoted phrase "Gallia est omnis di...
Ancient sources
1. Appian (2016). Delphi Complete Works of Appian (Illustrated). Delphi Classics. ISBN 978-1-78656-370-5. Archivedfrom the original on 25 November 2020. 2. Caesar, Julius (1982). The Conquest of Gaul. Translated by Handford, S. A. Revised by Jane F. Gardner. London: Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-044433-9. OCLC 21116188. 1. "De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries at Project Gutenberg. 2. Hammond, Carolyn, ed. (1996). Caesar: The Gallic War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283120-0.
- 58-50 BC
- Roman victory
As he was trying to reach either Italy or Spain, supporters of Magnentius cornered him in a fortification in Vicus Helena (now Elne) in the Pyrenees, southwestern Gaul, where he was killed after seeking sanctuary in a temple.
Apr 10, 2024 · The Gauls were a group of Celtic peoples and tribes inhabiting Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, Northern Italy, as well as parts of the Netherlands and Germany, on the west bank of the Rhine, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
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Nov 4, 2023 · Vicus Helena, southwestern Gaul. Reign. 22 May 337 to 350. ( 13 years) Links. wikipedia. Constans ( Latin: Flavius Julius Constans Augustus; [1] Greek: Κῶνστας Αʹ; c. 323 [1] [2] – 350) or Constans I was Roman Emperor from 337 to 350.
