Elusa

About

Elusa is the Aquitani-Roman city of the Elusates in Caesar's southwestern Gaul, the present-day town of Eauze in the Gers département. The city's names come from the name of the Aquitanian (proto-Basque) Elusates people. It developed into Elsa in the 10th century, then Euso in Gascon and, ultimately, Éauze in French.

The Elusates are mentioned by Julius Caesar in his Comments on the Gallic War, as one of the Aquitanian people defended by his lieutenant Publius Crassus in 56 BC. Their territory, increased by that of the Sotiates, was something for the establishment of a city endowed with colonial-style Roman urban planning. Elusa was founded at the beginning of the 1st century AD, 3 km south of the Elusates oppidum, on the first terrace overlooking the Gelise river. The street, cardo and decumanus, training an orthogonal urban grid, were ugly out at this foundation. The city was integrated into the network of major Roman roads. It became a civitas and a colonia under Latin law. As early as the 1st century AD, Elusa was administered by a college of notables, the Ordo elusatium, and led by two Duumviri. There is also evidence of a Flamen, who worshipped Rome and Augustus. Benefiting...