In 125 BC Massilia again called for Roman help in Gaul. This time the danger came from the Salluvii The consul 14Fulvius Flaccus, the first Roman general sent against them, soon found himself also fighting the Vocontii.
In 124 BC Flaccus was succeeded by 02Sextius Calvinus. He destroyed the Salluvian capital at Entremont (an oppidum, a large defended Iron Age settlement), and nearby at Aquae Sextiae (=Aix en Provence) he established a castellum (fort) of Roman veterans to control the area. The Salluvii chieftain, Toutomotulus, fled to the foothills of the western Alps and the Allobroges, who then became Rome’s focus of attention.
In 122 BC the elephant corps of the consul 02Domitius Ahenobarbus (fl.122-104 BC) crushed the Allobroges’ army near Avignon and gained control of the area east of the Rhone. The following year the Celtic Arverni from present day Auvergne, led by their king Bituitus, crossed to the eastern bank of the river and were defeated by the consul 13Fabius Maximus. Bituitus was taken prisoner and sent to Rome.
In 121 BC the whole southern coastal area of Gaul was incorporated into a new Roman province Gallia Transalpina, now referred to as Gallia Narbonensis. The Arverni accepted peace and were not included within the new province, but the Allobroges came under Roman jurisdiction. A long lasting alliance was made with the Gallic Aedui, who lived north of the Arverni. In 118 BC Domitius built the Via Domitia across southern France linking Italy and Spain. About this time the Roman colony of Narbo Martius was founded on the southwest coast of Gaul on the western side of the Gulf of Lion.
To secure the sea-routes to Spain the consul 04Caecilius Metellus (cos.123 BC) was ordered to eradicate piracy from the western Mediterranean. As part of his campaign he conquered the Balearic Isles and on the island of Majorca he founded the colonies of Palma and Pollentia with three thousand Roman and Spanish colonists from Hispania.
Leave a Reply