Atuatuca

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Atuatuca (or Aduatuca) is the name of two ancient fortified settlements located in the eastern part of modern Belgium, between the Scheldt and Rhine rivers. The Oldest One, Atuatuca Eboronum, certified during the Gallic Wars (58,750 BC), was the stronghold of the Eburones. The other one, Atuatuca Tungrorum (modern Tongeren), founded around 10 BC, was the Roman-era capital of the Civitas Tungrorum, inhabited by the Tungri.

Atuatuca Eburonum: The place name Atuatuca is first mentioned in the mid-first century BC by Julius Caesar to designate the stronghold of the Eburones: "..he [Caesar] concentrated the baggage of all the legions at Aduatuca. That is the name of a fort (castellum) situated almost in the middle of the territory of the Eburones." Whether Atuatuca or Aduatuca is the original form is uncertain. In the early survival manuscript of Caesar's Gallic War, dated to the early 9th c. AD, the name is given as Aduatuca. The reason for the spelling variation has been debated. Maurits Gysseling has proposed that Atuatuca was the original form, which later gave way to Aduatuca under the influence of Romance languages. Lauren Toorians argues on the...