Editing Tongeren (section)

===''Atuatuca Tungrorum''===
The Romans referred to Tongeren as ''Aduatuca Tungrorum'' or ''Atuatuca Tongrorum'',<ref>{{Citation|last=Gysseling| first=Maurits |url=http://www.wulfila.be/tw/facsimile/?page=77| year=1960| title=Toponymisch Woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland}}</ref> and it was the capital of the large [[Roman province]] of ''[[Civitas Tungrorum]]'', an area which covered modern [[Limburg (Belgium)|Belgian Limburg]], and at least parts of all the areas around it. Before the Roman conquests, this area was inhabited by the group of [[Belgic tribes]] known as the ''[[Germani cisrhenani]]''. (Despite being known as the ''Germani'', whether they spoke a [[Germanic language]] is debated, and the names of their tribes and their leaders were [[Celts|Celtic]].) Specifically the [[Eburones]] were the largest of these tribes and the one living around Tongeren.

[[File:Tongeren Romeinse wallen.jpg|thumb|left|Part of the Roman city wall]]

Caesar referred to the fort of the Eburones as [[Aduatuca]], and this has led to a widely accepted proposal that this can be equated to Tongeren. There are counter arguments that the word "''Aduatuca''" was probably a general word for a fort in this region, meaning that there might have been more places with the same name, and that Tongeren shows no signs of pre-Roman occupation, nor the hilly terrain described by Caesar. There was also a distinct tribe in the area known as the [[Aduatuci]].<ref>{{Citation|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zY4g1kfWvCMC&pg=PA143|page=143|title=Archaeology in Confrontation: Aspects of Roman Military Presence in the Northwest (Studies in Honour of Prof. Em. Hugo Thoen)| editor-first=Frank |editor-last=Vermeulen |editor2-first=Kathy |editor2-last=Sas |editor3-first=Wouter |editor3-last=Dhaeze |publisher=Ghent University| last1=Vanderhoeven| last2=Vanderhoeven| first1=Alain |first2=Michel |chapter=Confrontation in Archaeology: Aspects of Roman Military in Tongeren|year=2004|isbn=9789038205786}}</ref> On the other hand, it has the same name and function as a local capital, and is in generally the right area. If it is not Tongeren itself, the Aduatuca of the Eburones might be the ancient fortification of [[Caestert]] in nearby [[Riemst]].

During [[Julius Caesar]]’s campaigns in this part of [[Gaul]] in the first century BC, the Belgae revolted against the campaign of Caesar, led by the Eburones. They destroyed a legion that had demanded the right to winter among them in 54 BC. Caesar reported that he sold the Aduatuci into slavery, and annihilated the name of the Eburones, many of whom however he reported having fled successfully, including [[Ambiorix]] the leader of the revolt. Instead of risking Roman lives to pursue them he invited tribes from over the Rhine, such as the [[Sigambri]] to come and plunder. This back-fired when Eburones pointed out to the Sigambri that the Romans had all the booty at Aduatuca, and were the more attractive target.

The [[Tungri]], not mentioned by Caesar, came to dominate this area in the Roman era, and are the reason for the name of the modern name Tongeren. [[Tacitus]] says that [[Tungri]] was a new name for the original tribes who had previously been called the ''Germani''. But many modern writers believe that the Gallo-Roman population of the area contained a significant amount of more recent Germanic immigrants from across the Rhine. Located on the important road linking [[Cologne]] to [[Bavay]] via the relay of [[Liberchies]], and surrounded by the fertile lands of the [[Hesbaye]] region, Roman Tongeren quickly became one of the largest [[Gallo-Roman]] administrative and military towns in the first century.  It suffered from a destructive fire during the [[Batavians|Batavian]] siege in 70 AD, which was part of the [[Batavian revolt]]. In the second century, it erected a defensive wall, portions of which can still be seen today. Typical Roman buildings were built in town, while [[villa]]s and mound graves ([[tumuli]]) dotted the surrounding area.

In 358 the future [[emperor Julian]] met, in Tongeren, a delegation of [[Salian Franks]] who had recently settled in [[Toxandria]] (the modern [[Campine]] region), to the north of Tongeren. They wanted peace but spoke "as if the ground they had seized were rightfully their own". Julian gave ambiguous replies and then after the meetings sent a surprise attack along the Maas or [[Meuse]] river, and "they met him with entreaties rather than with resistance, he received the submission of them and their children".<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, ''Res Gestae'', [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_17_book17.htm#C8 Book XVII.8.3-4]</ref>  They became increasingly important after this time. [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] reports that Julian used them as part of his forces in fights against other Germanic tribes.<ref>Zosimus ''Nova Historia'' [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zosimus03_book3.htm Book III]</ref>