Noviodunum
- I A city of the Bituriges, near the mod. Nouan, Caes. B. G. 7, 12, 2; 7, 55.—
- II A city of the Aeduans, on the Loire, the mod. Nevers, Caes. B. G. 7, 55, 1. —
- III A city of the Suessones, the mod. Soissons, Caes. B. G. 2, 12, 1
- 1. in het gebied v.d. Suessiones, later Augusta Suessionum, nu (waarschijnlijk) Pommiers, ten W. v. Soissons;
- 2. in het gebied v.d. Bituriges, nu (waarschijnlijk) Nouan-le-Fuselier bij Orléans;
- 3. in het gebied v.d. Haeduers, nu Nevers.
NOVIODU´NUM (Νοουϊοδουνόν).
1.A town of the Bituriges, in Gallia. Caesar, after the capture of Genabum (Orléans), B.C. 52, crossed the Loire, to relieve the Boii, who were attacked by Vercingetorix. The position of the Boii is not certain [BOII]. On his march Caesar came to Noviodunum of the Bituriges (B. G. 7.12), which surrendered. But on the approach of the cavalry of Vercingetorix, the townsmen shut their gates, and manned the walls. There was a cavalry fight between the Romans and Vercingetorix before the town, and Caesar got a victory by the help of the German horse. Upon this the town again surrendered, and Caesar marched on to Avaricum (Bourges).
There is nothing in this narrative which will determine the site of Noviodunum. D'Anville thinks that Caesar must have passed Avaricum, leaving it on his right; and so he supposes that Nouam, a name something like Noviodunum, may be the place. De Valotis places Noviodunum at Neury-sur-Berenjon, where it is said there are remains ; but this proves nothing.
2.A town of the Aedui on the Loire. The place was. afterwards called Nevirnum, as the name appears in the Antonine Itin. In the Table it is corrupted into Ebrinum. There is no doubt that Nevirnum is Nevers, which has its name from the little river Nièvre, which flows into the Loire.
In B.C. 52 Caesar had made Noviodunum, which he describes as in a convenient position on the banks of the Loire, a depŏt (B. G. 7.55). He had his hostages there, corn, his military chest, with the money in it allowed him from home for the war, his own and his army's baggage, and a great number of horses which had been bought for him in Spain and Italy. After his failure before Gergovia, the Aedui at Noviodunum massacred those who were there to look after stores, the negotiatores, and the travellers who were in tho place. They divided the money among them and the horses, carried off in boats all the corn that they could, and burnt the rest or threw it into the river. Thinking they could not hold the town, they burnt it. It was a regular Gallic outbreak, performed in its true national style. This was a great loss to Caesar; and it may seem that he was imprudent in leaving such great stores in the power of treacherous allies. But he was in straits during this year, and probably he could not do otherwise than he did.
Dio Cassius (Dio Cass. 40.38) tells the story out of Caesar of the affair of Noviodunum. He states incorrectly what Caesar did on the occasion, and he shows that he neither understood his original, nor knew what he was writing about.
3.A town of the Suessiones, mentioned, by Caesar (B. G. 2.12). Caesar (B.C. 57), after leaving the Axona (Aisne), entered the territory of the Suessiones, and making one day's long march, reached Noviodunum, which was surrounded by a high wall and a broad ditch. The place surrendered to Caesar. It has been conjectured that Noviodunum Suessionum was the place afterwards called Augusta [AUGUSTA SUESSIONUM], but it is by no means certain. [G.L]
NOVIODU´NUM (Νοουΐοδουνον).
1.A place in Pannonia Superior, on the great road leading from Aemona to Siscia, on the southern bank of the Savus. (Ptol. 2.15.4; Itin. Ant. p. 259: Geogr. Rav. 4.19, where it is called Novindum.) Its modern name is Novigrad.
2.A town and fortress in Lower Moesia, a little above the point where the Danube divides itself into several arms. (Ptol. 3.10.11.) Near this town the emperor Valens constructed a bridge over the Danube for his expedition against the Greuthungi. (Ami-m. Marc. 27.1.) Some writers have supposed, without any good reason, that Noviodunum is the point at which Darius ordered a bridge to be built when he set out on his expedition against the Scythians. The town, as its name indicates, was of Celtic origin. According to the Antonine Itinerary (p. 226) Noviodunum was the station of the legio it. Herculea, while according to the Notitia Imperiii t had the legio I. Jovia for its garrison. During the later period of the Western Empire, the fortifications of the place had been destroyed, but they were restored by Justinian (Procop. de Aed. 4.11; comp. Hieroel. p. 637; and Constant. Porph. de Them. ii. l, where the place is called Ναβιόδουνος and Ναβιόδουνον. The Civitas Nova in Jornandes (Get. 5) is probably the same as Noviodunum; and it is generally believed that its site is occupied by the modern Isaczi. [L.S]
A name given to many Celtic places from their being situated on a hill (dun). (1) Nouan; a town of the Bituriges Cubi in Gallia Aquitanica.
(2) Nevers; a town of the Aedui in Gallia Lugdunensis, at the confluence of the Niveris and the Liger, afterwards called Nevirnum.
(3) A town of the Suessones in Gallia Belgica, probably the same as Augusta Suessonum (Soissons).
(4) Nion; a town of the Helvetii in Gallia Belgica, on the north bank of the Lacus Lemanus (Lake of Geneva).
The principal statio of the Roman fleet on the lower Danube and an important military and commercial center in Roman and Byzantine times at a ford of the river 27 km W-NW of Tulcea. A very large civil site lies S of the fortress. In A.D. 369 the Danube was crossed by the army of the emperor Valens on the trail of the Visigoths. The peace between Valens and Athanaric was concluded here on shipboard. Excavations have identified the N side of the fortress (mostly destroyed by the Danube), the remains of some baths and a Christian basilica. The name of the site is Celtic.
BIBLIOGRAPHYPtol. 3.10.2,5; Tab. Peut. 8.4; Ant. It. 226, 1; Not. Dig. or. 39.25.32,33; Procop. De aed. 4.11.1.
I. Barnea, EAA 5 (1963) 566-67; id., “Dinogetia et Noviodunum, deux villes byzantines du Bas-Danube,” Revue des études Sud-Est Européennes 9 (1971) 3, 349-52; TIR, L.35 (1969) s.v.; E. Popescu, “Inscrition grecque de Noviodunum (Scythie Mineure),” Klio 52 (1970) 373-78; A. Ştefan, BMI 42 (1973) 1.3-14.
I. BARNEAIn the middle of the N shore of Lake Geneva. The name Colonia Julia Equestris is known from ancient sources (HN 4.106; Ptol. 2.9.10; Ant. It. 348.1; Tab. Peut.) The Celtic name Noviodunum (Not. Gall. 9.5) indicates an oppidum of the Helvetii, no traces of which have yet been discovered. The colonia was founded by Caesar between 50 and 45 B.C. in the SW corner of the Helvetian territory, between the Jura mountains, Lake Geneva and the Aubonne river. The colonists were veterans from the cavalry of various legions. During the 4th-5th c. A.D. the town may have been the seat of a bishop.
The Roman town was larger than the hill area enclosed by the mediaeval walls, but the main roads of the mediaeval town reflect the Roman grid. The site has not been excavated, but a few soundings have identified a (secondary?) forum (ca. 40 x 25 m) built in Flavian times. It was surrounded by cryptoportici, one wing of which perhaps later became a Mithraeum. A building adjacent to this forum, with the remains of a large mosaic of ca. A.D. 200, was probably a bath. Large numbers of amphorae attest the activity of the harbor from the time of Augustus on; Noviodunum was on the main route, by land or lake, from Genava to Vesontio. The Historical Museum is in the castle.
BIBLIOGRAPHYF. Staehelin, Die Schweiz in römischer Zeit (3d ed. 1948) 91-95, 613-14 & index s.v. Equestris; Rev. Hist. Vaudoise 66 (1958) vol. dedicated to Nyon; E. Pelichet, “Fouilles archéologiques à Nyon en 1958,” Jb. Schweiz. Gesell. f. Urgeschichte 47 (1958-59) 117-21P; V. von Gonzenbach, Die römischen Mosaiken der Schweiz (1961) 153-61I; Rev. Hist. Vaudoise 75 (1967) 196.
V. VON GONZENBACH