A HAEDUUSOK ÉS RÓMA - Magyar ásatások Bibractéban
THE AEDUI AND ROME - HUNGARIAN EXCAVATIONS AT BIBRACTE

Summary/Abstract: This study is the edited version of the inaugural lecture presented at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 21st of March 2002 by Miklós Szabó. Its main objective is the presentation of processes unfolding as a result of the encounter of the Roman civilisation and the Celtic culture, based on the history and archaeological heritage of the Aeduan tribe of Central France. The analysis is based on, to a large extent, the evidences of the Mont-Beuvray European Archaeological project. The expedition of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest joined these excavations since 1988. The Hungarian investigations were directed at, in the beginning, the main road of the oppidum and resulted the unexpected observation that this important axis determining the structure of the town Bibracte originated in the period 120 to 80 B.C. At the same time, the archaeological material also testified that intensive trade relations between the Aeduan capital and the republican Rome preceded essentially the time of Caesar. As a direct consequence of these contacts, Central Gallia attained a stage of real monetary economy instead of the so-called tribal monetary system. The use of the Greek alphabet was spread simultaneously. The settlement history of the locality following the Roman conquest was enriched by the Hungarian excavations with data on the insula containing the “Large Forge”. During these works, the first public building of Bibracte was discovered in 2001, erected in all probability between 50 and 30 B.C. Finally, one of the most important conclusions of the study is separating the Romanisation phase of the urban development in Bibracte from that of the developments encountered during the period of the Celtic independence. This recognition is in good accordance with the view stating that urbanisation in the Celtic world was prepared by the economical changes originating from the Italo-Celtic environment in the 3rd century B.C., the acceleration of which could be influenced by new type contacts with the Hellenistic world.

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