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Secion II. Antiquity (58 BC to 700 AD) »
Under the reign of the emperor Trajan, the Roman Empire reached its greatest height, extending from the rocky shores of the British Isles to the lush banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. Included in this vast swath of land was the Celtic region of Gaul, an area comparable to modern France, whose people vehemently defied Roman rule until the area was subjugated by the brilliant general Julius Caesar. During the year 58 BC, while the Gallic Chieftain Vercingetorix rallied his neighboring tribes to repel the Roman invasion, the seeds of yet another revolt were being sown in an area north along the Rhône River.
Occupying the current region that composes the Grand Duchy of Genevra, the Sequani were a Gallic tribe contemporary to Julius Caesar and Vercingetorix. Afflicted by Germanic tribes in the east and hostile Aedui Gauls in the west, the Sequani chieftain Belenus appealed to the Roman legions for help. After defeating the rebellion of Vercingetorix, Julius Caesar marched on Sequani and drove the Germanic tribes back across the Rhine and conquered the territory of the Aedui. However, in return, Caesar demanded the willful subjugation of Belenus and his people to the Roman Empire.
Infuriated by what he viewed to be Caesar's betrayal and dishonor, Belenus rallied his people and fought the Roman occupation. Impossibly outnumbered, the Sequani people were slaughtered; their villages were burned, their woman raped and their warriors massacred. Belenus himself was killed in the bloodbath, brought down from his horse by a Roman javelin in a scene that has been repeated and aggrandized in Genevran legend and popular culture.
Following what has been named by historians as the Rape Along the Rhône, the territory of the Sequani became part of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica and a large legion was stationed there to provide a hedge against the Germanic tribes across the Rhine. For nearly 300 hundred years the region
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would see countless battles with Vandals, Huns and other barbarian tribes. However, as the Western Roman Empire began its steady decline towards collapse, Belgica, including the region of modern Genevra, would be assigned as an independent kingdom of the encroaching Burgundians.
The end of the Roman Empire came soon after, in 476 AD Germanic mercenaries deposed the emperor Romulus Augustus and conquered the Italian peninsula. Roman culture and traditions began to disappear as the territory of the former empire was populated with Germanic and other ethnic peoples. In the north, the Burgundian kingdom maintained its autonomy up until the early 6th century AD when the growing empire of the Franks conquered it. Under Frankish rule, the first forerunner of the modern Genevran state would be born.
The Kingdom of the Franks, under the rule of the Merovingian kings, was often divided among brothers, leading to stark divisions and rivalries between the more powerful siblings. On the cusp of the Medieval Age in the 8th century, the major Frankish realms consisted of Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Genève. Led by King Audouin III, Genève is attributed historically as the first incarnation of the Grand Duchy of Genevra and encompassed the modern territorial boundaries as well as land to the east in Germany and Switzerland. The capital was situated in the city of Geneva and was where the realm received its name. Though in the future Geneva would be abandoned due to war and shifting territorial boundaries, the name would remain to identify the subsequent kingdoms that occupied the same area; the etymology of Genevra can be traced to this lineage. Antiquity would see the first inklings of what would become the powerful Medieval kingdom of Genevra. However, it is in this time of obscurity overshadowed by the crumbling of a mighty empire that the most vital seeds would be sown.
Continue to the Middle Ages »
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