From Capital Aventicum to the Provincial Town Avenches
27 September 2021
The Helvetians
The story of the migration of some Celtic tribes (Helvetii, Rauraci) from 58 BC to eastern France is known from Julius Caesar’s Book de Bello Gallico (100-44 BC).
Far less well-known outside present-day Switzerland is the history of their defeat in that year near Bibracte and their return to their homelands in Switzerland.
Avenches today
Two colonies were founded by the Romans (Colonia Iulia Equestris (Nyon) and Augusta Raurica (Augst) around 44 BC. The tribes became allies of the Romans (foederati). The Pax Romana was about to begin; it would last, with some violent interruptions (in the years 68/69 AD), until 260 AD.
The city of Aventicum (nowadays Avenches, canton of Vaud) had around 20,000 inhabitants and was the Helvetian provincial capital.
Image: Musée romain d’Avenches
Imperial representation and propaganda were omnipresent in the city. In 1939, the gold bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius was discovered.
Many other finds—coins, medallions, ivory objects, portraits, statues, mosaics, symbols of power, religion, and myths—witness ceremonies of the imperial cult, which honoured the semi-divine imperial family.
One of the main centres of this cult was the theatre. The theatre was an essential social and political public medium, a place of propaganda and self-representation. The audience was seated according to their ranks and hierarchy.
The financing of these expensive and sumptuous edifices and spectacles was provided mainly by the members of the local elite (ordo decurionum) and wealthy citizens. The imperial cult in the theatre was a meaningful ceremony with processions and sacrifices.
The amphitheatre became popular in the second century. The Colosseum in Rome (built around 70 AD) became the Roman way of life model in provincial towns and Aventicum.
Monuments and statues were erected honouring the imperial family or local notables. They showed respect and gratitude for their euergetism (generosity by financing public buildings, games, food distribution and other acts of euergetism).
The Roman museum (musée romain) in Avenches, housed in the medieval tower of the Roman Amphitheatre, gives a good overview of the life of a provincial Roman town.
The theatre complex, the temple’s remains (le Cigognier), the amphitheatre and other Roman artefacts and constructions still give Avenches the image of Aventicum.
(Source and further information: D. Castella (Ed.), Aventicum. Eine römische Hauptstadt, Avenches 2015; www.avenches.ch).