Tolosa
- a city in Gallia Narbonensis, now Toulouse, Mel. 2, 5, 2; Caes. B. G. 3, 20; Cic. Font. 5, 9; Mart. 9, 100, 3.— Hence,
- A Tŏlōsānus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Tolosa, Tolosan: aurum, plundered by the consul Q. Servilius from Tolosa, Cic. N. D. 3, 30, 74; Gell. 3, 9, 7 sq.; Just. 32, 3.—In plur.: Tŏlōsāni, ōrum, m., the inhabitants of Tolosa, Tolosans, Plin. 4, 19, 33, § 109.—
- B Tŏlōsas, ātis, adj., of Tolosa, Tolosan: caseus, Mart. 12, 32, 18: cathedra, Sid. Ep. 9, 16. — In plur.: Tŏlō-sātes, ĭum, m., the inhabitants of Tolosa, Caes. B. G. 1, 10; 7, 7.—
- C Tŏlōsensis, e, adj., of Tolosa, Tolosan: lacus, Just. 32, 3, 9.
TOLO´SAor THOLO´SA(Τολώσσα, Τολῶσα, Τόλοσα, Dio Cass.: Eth. Tolosates, Tolosenses, Tolosani), in Gallia, is Toulouse, in the department of Haute-Garonne, on the right bank of the Garonne.
The identity of Tolosa and Toulouseis easily proved from the Itineraries and other evidence. In Caesar's time Tolosa was within the Roman Provincia. ( B. G. 1.10.) When Caesar is speaking of the intention of the Helvetii to migrate into the country of the Santones, he remarks that the Santones are not far from the territory of the Tolosates, who are in the Provincia. He considered that it would be dangerous to the Provincia if the warlike Helvetii, the enemies of Rome, should be so near to an open country, which produced a great deal of grain. The commentators have found some difficulty in Caesar's expression about the proximity of the Santones and the Tolosates, for the Nitiobriges and Petrocorii were between the Santones and the Tolosates; but Caesar only means to say that the Helvetii in the country of the Santones would be dangerous neighbours to the Provincia. In Caesar's time Tolosa and Carcaso, both in the basin of the Garonne, were fully organised as a part of the Provincia; for when P. Crassus invaded Aquitania, he summoned soldiers from the muster-rolls of these towns to join his army. ( B. G. 3.20.) Tolosa being situated on the neck of land where Gallia is narrowest [GALLIA TRANSALPINAVol. 1. p. 949] and in a position easy of access from the west, north, and east, was one of the places threatened by the Galli in the great rising of B.C. 52; but Caesar with his usual vigilance protected the province on this side by placing a force at Tolosa. ( B. G. 7.7.)
Tolosa was an old town of the Volcae Tectosages which existed probably many centuries before it was conquered by the Romans. A great quantity of gold and silver was collected there, the gold the produce of the auriferous region near the Pyrenees, and both the precious metals the offerings of Gallic superstition. The treasure was kept in chambers in the temples, and also in sacred tanks. This is the story of Posidonius (Strab. 4. p. 188), who had travelled in Gallia; and it is more probable than the tradition that the gold of Tolosa was the produce of the plunder of Delphi by Brennus and his men, among whom it is said there were some Tectosages (Justin (Justin. 32.100.3); for it is very doubtful if any of Brennus' soldiers got back to Gallia, if we admit that they came from Gallia. Tolosa was in some kind of alliance with Rome (Dio Cass.) about B.C. 106; but the Teutones and Cimbri at this time had broken into Gallia, and fear or policy induced the Tolosates to side with them. Q. Servilius Caepio (consul B.C. 106) made this a pretext for attacking Tolosa, which he took and plundered of its treasures, either in B.C. 106or in the following year. This act of sacrilege was supposed to have been punished by the gods, for Caepio was defeated by the Cimbri B.C. 105, and his army was destroyed. (Liv. Epit. 67; Orosius (Oros. 5.15; Gell. 3.9.) The treasure of Tolosa never reached Rome, and perhaps Caepio himself laid hold of some of it. However this may be, the Aurum Tolosanumbecame a proverb. All who had touched the consecrated treasure came to a miserable end. It seems that there was inquiry made into the matter at Rome, for Cicero (De Nat. Deorum, 3.30) speaks of a quaestio auri Tolosani.
The Tolosani or Tolosates were. that division of the Tectosages which was nearest to the Aquitani. A place called Fines, between Tolosa and Carcaso, denotes the boundary of the territory of Tolosa in that direction, as this term often indicates a territorial limit in the Roman geography of Gallia [FINES]; and another place named Fines marks the boundary on the north between the Tolosates and the Cadurci.
Pliny (Plin. Nat. 3.4) mentions Tolosa among the Oppida Latina of Narbonensis, or those towns which had the Latinitas, and, as Ptolemy (Ptol. 2.10.9) names it a Colonia, we must suppose that it was made a Colonia Latina. Tolosa maintained its importance under the Empire. Ausonius ( Ordo Nob. Urb. xii.) describes Tolosa as surrounded by a brick wall of great circuit, and as a populous city, which had sent out inhabitants enough to found four other cities. The name Palladia, which Martial (Mart. 9.101), Sidonius Apollinaris, and Ausonius give to Tolosa appears to refer to the cultivation of the liberal arts in this Gallic city--Te sibi Palladiae antetulit toga docta Tolosae.
(Auson. Parent. 3.6; and Commem. Profess. Burdig. 17.7.)
[G.L]Now Toulouse; a town of Gallia Narbonensis, and the capital of the Tectosages. It was situated on the Garumna, near the frontiers of Aquitania. It was subsequently made a Roman colony, and was styled Palladia. Tolosa was a large and wealthy town, and contained a celebrated temple, in which is said to have been preserved a great part of the booty taken by Brennus from the Temple of Delphi. The town and temple were plundered by the consul Q. Servilius Caepio in B.C. 106.
City in Gallia Narbonensis. The metropolis of the Volcae Tectosages, it was allied with Rome from the conquest in 120-118 B.C. on. In 106 B.C., after a rebellion, it was retaken and pillaged. Tolosa flourished, thanks to the Italian wine trade, from the time of Fonteius and Caesar on; it attained Latin, then colonial status. During the Empire it was well known for its schools of rhetoric and its level of culture, which earned it the surname Palladia. It surrendered to the Visigoths in 418 and became their capital.
The walls, on the right bank of the Garonne, were 3 km long with curtains 2.4 m thick and round towers 10.5 m in diameter. They may go back to the 2d c. A.D., but only the late curtain walls on the edge of the Garonne can still be seen. The town, covering 90 ha, was laid out on a checkerboard plan which can be recognized in the modern streets. Its monuments were buried to a depth of 4 m, and only one has been identified (1868-69): the theater, with a diameter of 90 m. The location of the Capitol, famous for the martyrdom of St. Saturninus, remains uncertain.
The ruins of the amphitheater (arena 59 x 49 m) and the remains of two large public baths, recently excavated, can be seen in the suburban district of Saint-Michel-du-Touch 4 km downstream on the left bank of the Garonne, near a sanctuary built at the junction of the river Touch.
BIBLIOGRAPHYM. Labrousse, Toulouse antique, des origines à l'établissement des Wisigoths (1968) PI. Recent excavations, esp. at Saint-Michel-du-Touch: “Informations,” Gallia 26 (1968) 531-37 and 28 (1970) 410-12; see also A. Baccrabère, “L'aqueduc de la ‘Reine Pédauque’ à Toulouse,” Mém. de la Soc. arch. du Midi de la France 30 (1964) 59-116.
For recent excavations of the wall: M. Labrousse, Gallia 30 (1972) 486-88I; id., “Une forte de l'enceinte gallo-romaine de Toulouse,” Mélanges . . . William Seston (1974) 249-66I; id. & M. Vidal, “Tour et courtine de l'enceinte gallo-romaine de Toulouse dégagies place Saint-Jacques,” Pallas 21 (1974) 99-109; Labrousse in Histoire de Toulouse (1974) 7-47.
M. LABROUSSE