Les Nerviens et la résilience ? Un peuple en mutation de l’époque gauloise à l’époque romaine

Powerful Belgian people, the Nervians were attacked by the Romans and suffered a serious defeat at the battle of Sabis in 57 before our era. In The Gallic War, Caesar claims to have inflicted very heavy casualties on them in a decisive fight. Other sources, however, seem to show that the Caesarean tale is probably not entirely truthful. Far from being wiped out, the Nervians had a rich territory (Hainaut and Cambrésis) and enjoyed a rather favorable status within the framework of the Empire : the civitas Nerviorum was organized around Bavay and became a civitas libera. The ruling elite quickly obtained Roman citizenship and many Nervians fought in the army, leaving epigraphic traces in Great Britain or Romania. The Nervians therefore survived, and even throve. They also retained a kind of cultural identity, which took the form of specific funeral customs linked to the domestic cult. Characteristic hypogea were surmounted by black marble steles on which the epitaphs were painted in red letters.