Helvetii
（
Ἑλουήττιοι). A nation of Gaul, conquered by Caesar.
Their country is generally supposed to have answered to modern Switzerland; but ancient
Helvetia was of less extent than modern Switzerland, being bounded on the north by the Rhenus
and Lacus Brigantinus, or Lake of Constance; on the south by the Rhodanus
and the Lacus Lemannus, or Lake of Geneva; and on the west by Mons Iurassus (Jura) (
B.
G. i. etc.;
Hist. i. 67, 69). The chief town of the Helvetii was Aventicum, now
Avenches. They were divided into four
pagi or cantons, of which the names
of only two are known—the Pagus Tigurinus (the most important pagus) and the Pagus
(Vicus) Verbigenus (Urbigenus). It must be noted that the name Helvetia is a purely modern
one—the country being spoken of in ancient times simply as Ager Helvetiorum.
The Helvetii first appear in history during the war between the Romans and the Cimbri. In
B.C. 107 the people of the Pagus Tigurinus defeated the Roman consul Cassius Longinus, while
others of the race invaded Gaul and Italy, sharing in the defeat inflicted on the Cimbri by
Marius and Catulus in B.C. 101. In the year 58, they attempted, on the advice of Orgetorix, an
Helvetic chief, to migrate to Gaul, but were defeated and driven back by Caesar; after which
the Romans planted colonies in these territories, with three fortresses at Aventicum,
Vindonissa (Königsfelden), and Noviodunum (Nion). Under the later emperors, the
country of the Helvetii, with that of the Sequani and Rauraci, formed the province known as
Maxima Sequanorum. See Mommsen,
Die Schweiz in röm. Zeit
(Zürich, 1854).
