Swiss American Historical Society Review
Keywords
Helvetii, Holy Roman Empire, Switzerland, democratic government, origin of Celtic culture
Abstract
Any traveller who had visited the region of present day Switzerland in the first century before Christ and who could have returned there three centuries later at the end of the second century of the Christian era would have been astonished by the differences between the two periods. Whereas the pre-Roman country of the Helvetii had been a vast forest whose inhabitants had lived in rudimentary hilltop oppida and had spent their lives hunting, fishing and tilling the soil of small farms, the Roman province of Helvetia in the third century after Christ was a prosperous nation whose citizens lived in three large beautiful cities-Colonia Iulia Equestris (Nyon) on Lake Geneva, Augusta Raurica (Augst) on the Rhine and Aventicum (Avenches) near Lake Murten-and in numerous small yet equally beautiful towns (vici) and who spent their lives practicing sophisticated trades, crafts and commerce, constructing graceful private homes and public buildings, and cultivating the fertile lands of hundreds of large private estates.
Recommended Citation
Page, H. Dwight
(1997)
"The Golden Age of Roman Helvetia,"
Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 33:
No.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol33/iss2/3