European Kingdoms

Ambiliati / Ambibari (Gauls)

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In general terms, the Romans coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the Celtic tribes of what is now central, northern, and eastern France. The Gauls were divided from the Belgae to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south by the River Garonne, while also extending into Switzerland, northern Italy, and along the Danube (see feature link for a discussion of the origins of the Celtic name).

By the middle of the first century BC, the Ambiliati were located somewhere along the lower reaches of the River Loire, perhaps on the southern side of the river. They are vaguely attested by Julius Caesar and very poorly detailed (while the nearby Agnanutes are wholly omitted). Given their approximate location they would have been neighboured to the north by the Andes and Namniti, to the east by the Turones, and to the south by the Pictones.

The tribe's name breaks down into 'ambi', meaning 'both sides of' and 'liat'. This latter part is problematical as no reference can be found to it. However, given the tribe's vague location according to Julius Caesar, on the lower stretches of the River Loire, they may have straddled the southern tributary of the Loire, the River Layon. The 'liat' in their name could simply be the Celtic form of the name.

The Ambibari (or Ambibiari) have been noted as living in the same region, perhaps as immediate neighbours. The similarity in their names, especially the first part, suggest a shared heritage, or even the same tribe. The location for these units remains uncertain, never having been described in any great detail. Julius Caesar seems not to be too concerned with pinpointing them, and Pliny the Elder merely includes them in the Veneti revolt of 56 BC.

One modern scholar, Jose Gomez de Soto, estimated the département of the Vendee to be roughly similar to their territory. As such, and backed up by their part in the events of 56 BC, they may well have been counted as Armoricans (located in Brittany).

At the beginning of the 2010s, as part of work on the south-eastern bypass around the Vendee town of Les Herbiers not far from Nates on the south side of the Loire, archaeologists uncovered at La Cossonnière a relatively large Gallic settlement. It was probably inhabited by several hundred Ambiliati between the fifth century BC and 51 BC.

In the commune of La Ferrière about eight kilometres north-east of La-Roche-sur Yon, INRAP (the Institut Nationale de Recheches Archeologiques Preventives) excavated Plessis Bergeret at the end of the 2010s, identifying a farm which could be dated to the second century BC. This has been linked to the Ambilatri.

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(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information by Trish Wilson, from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry, David K Faux, from Celts and the Classical World, David Rankin, from The Civilisation of the East, Fritz Hommel (Translated by J H Loewe, Elibron Classic Series, 2005), from Europe Before History, Kristian Kristiansen, from The History of Rome, Volume 1, Titus Livius, translated by Rev Canon Roberts, from the Encyclopaedia of European Peoples, Carl Waldman & Catherine Mason, from Caesar's Conquest of Gaul, TR Holmes, from Roman History, Cassius Dio, from Geography, Strabo, translated by H C Hamilton Esq & W Falconer, M A, Ed (George Bell & Sons, London, 1903), from The Celtic Encyclopaedia, Harry Mountain, from Geography, Ptolemy, from Research into the Physical History of Mankind, James Cowles Pritchard, from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), and from External Links: The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and Perseus Digital Library, and Jones' Celtic Encyclopaedia, and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively).)

56 BC

Following his successful campaign against the Belgae in the previous year, Caesar sets out for Illyricum. Once he has left, war flares up again, triggered by Publius Licinius Crassus and the Seventh Legion in the territory of the Andes. With supplies of corn running low, he sends scavenging parties into the territories of the Cariosvelites, Esubii, and the highly influential Veneti.

This vast map covers just about all possible tribes which were documented in the first centuries BC and AD, mostly by the Romans and Greeks, and with an especial focus on 52 BC (click or tap on map to view at an intermediate size)

The latter revolt against this infringement of their lands and possessions, and the neighbouring tribes rapidly follow their lead, including the Ambiliati (and Agnanutes?), Diablintes, Lexovii, Menapii, Morini, Namniti, Nannetes, and Osismii. The Veneti also send for auxiliaries from their cousins in Britain.

Julius Caesar rushes back to northern Gaul, to a fleet that is being prepared for him by the (Roman-led) Pictones and Santones on the River Loire. The Veneti and their allies fortify their towns, stock them with corn harvests from the surrounding countryside, and gather together as many ships as possible.

Knowing that the overland passes are cut off by estuaries and that a seaward approach is highly difficult for their opponents, they plan to fight the Romans using their powerful navy in the shallows of the Loire.

The campaign by Caesar against the Veneti is protracted and takes place both on land and sea. Veneti strongholds, when threatened, are evacuated by sea and the Romans have to begin again.

Roman auxiliaries in the form of the Aeduii attack a Veneti vessel in Morbihan Bay on the French Atlantic coast during the campaign of 56 BC

Eventually the Veneti fleet is cornered and defeated in Quiberon Bay by Legate Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus. The Veneti strongholds are stormed and much of the Veneti population is either captured and enslaved or butchered. The confederation is destroyed and Roman rule is firmly stamped upon the region.

52 BC

While Caesar is tied down in Rome, the Gauls begin their revolt, resolving to die in freedom rather than be suppressed by the invaders. The Carnutes take the lead under Cotuatus and Conetodunus when they kill the Roman traders who have settled in Genabum.

News of the event reaches the Arverni that morning, and Vercingetorix summons his people to arms. His cavalry subsequently routed in battle, he withdraws in good order to Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii. The remaining cavalry are dispatched back to their tribes to bring reinforcements. Caesar begins a siege of Alesia, aiming on starving out the inhabitants.

The site of Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii tribe of Celts, was the scene of the final desperate stand-off between Rome and the Gauls in 52 BC

Four relief forces amounting to a considerable number of men and horses are assembled in the territory of the Aeduii by the council of the Gaulish nobility. Among those demanded from the tribes of Gaul are six thousand combined from the tribes of Armorica (including the Ambibari, Caleti, Cariosvelites, Lemovices, Osismii, Redones, Venelli, and Veneti).

Together they attempt to relieve Vercingetorix at the siege of Alesia, but the combined relief force is soundly repulsed by Julius Caesar's remarkable strategy of simultaneously conducting the siege of Alesia on one front whilst being besieged on the other.

With this action, all of Gaul has been brought under Roman domination, and the history of its population of Celts and Aquitani is tied to that of the emerging Roman empire.

Having surrendered with honour to Caesar in 52 BC, Vercingetorix remained a potent symbol of resistance to Roman domination, so his murder in 46 BC dealt a terminal blow to hopes of renewed Celtic freedom