Veneti (Gaul)

[
Gaul in the 1st century BC, showing the relative positions of the Celtic tribes.] The Veneti were a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the Brittany peninsula (France), which in Roman times formed part of an area called Aremorica. They gave their name to the modern city of Vannes.

Characteristics

Other ancient Celtic peoples historically attested in Aremorica include the Redones, Curiosolitae, Osismii, Esubii and Namnetes.

The Veneti inhabited southern Aremorica, along the Morbihan bay. They built their strongholds on coastal eminences, which were islands when the tide was in, and peninsulas when the tide was out. Their most notable city, and probably their capital, was Darioritum (now known as Vannes), mentioned in Ptolemy's "Geography".

As a seafaring people, the Veneti built their ships of oak, with large transoms fixed by iron nails of a thumb's thickness, and navigated and powered their ships through the use of leather sails. This left their ships strong, sturdy, and structurally sound, capable of resisting the Atlantic winds and waves.

The Coming of Caesar

In 57 BC, the Gauls on the Atlantic seaboard, including the Veneti, were forced to submit to Caesar's authority as governor. They were obliged to sign treaties and yield hostages as a token of good faith. However, in 56 BC, the Veneti captured some of Julius Caesar's officers while they were foraging within their regions, intent on using them as bargaining chips to secure the release of the hostages Caesar had forced them to give him. Angered by what he considered a breach of law, Caesar prepared for war.

Given the highly defendable nature of the Veneti strongholds, land attacks were frustrated by the incoming tide, and naval forces were left trapped on the rocks when the tide ebbed. Despite this, Caesar managed to engineer moles and raised siegeworks that provided his legions with a base of operations. However, once the Veneti were threatened in one stronghold, they used their fleet to evacuate to another stronghold, obliging the Romans to repeat the same engineering feat elsewhere.

Since the destruction of the enemy fleet was the only permanent way to end this problem, Caesar directed his men to build ships. However, his galleys were at a serious disadvantage compared to the far heavier Veneti ships. They were resistant to ramming, and their greater height made them difficult to grapple, which by extension made them immune to boarding parties. To worsen matters, the greater height of the Veneti ships gave the Gauls the advantage in any exchange of projectiles, coupled with their intimate knowledge of the coast and tides, rendered the Romans in a difficult, if not impossible, situation.

However, these advantages could not stand in the face of Roman perseverance and ingenuity. Caesar's legate Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was given command of the Roman fleet, and in a decisive sea battle, succeeded in destroying the Gaul fleet. Using sickle-like hooks fitted on long poles, the Romans attacked the enemy's rigging and sails, tearing them up. Since the Gauls did not make use of oars, this left their ships dead in the water, vulnerable to Roman vengeance. The Veneti fleet was annihilated, and without their fleet, the defeat of the Veneti was only a matter of time. Caesar dealt with the Veneti ruthlessly, executing their leaders and selling the entire tribe into slavery.

See also

*History of Brittany
*List of Celtic tribes
*List of peoples of Gaul

References

*Cunliffe, Barry (1999). "The Ancient Celts". London: Penguin Books, 1999. ISBN 0-14-025422-6. pp. 241, 259.
* Erickson, Brice (2002) "Falling Masts, Rising Masters: The Ethnography of Virtue in Caesar's Account of the Veneti", American Journal of Philology 123 (4; Whole Number 492): 601-22.
*"Warfare in the Classical World" by John Warry.