Dumnorix
Encyclopedia
Dumnorix was a chieftain of the Aedui
Aedui
Aedui, Haedui or Hedui , were a Gallic people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who inhabited the country between the Arar and Liger , in today's France. Their territory thus included the greater part of the modern departments of Saône-et-Loire, Côte-d'Or and Nièvre.-Geography:The country of the Aedui is...

, a Celtic tribe in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

 in the 1st century B.C. He was strongly against alliance with the Romans, particularly Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

, who sparred with him on several occasions. Dumnorix, Orgetorix
Orgetorix
Orgetorix was a wealthy aristocrat among the Helvetii, a Celtic-speaking people residing in what is now Switzerland during the consulship of Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic. In 61 BC he convinced the Helvetians to attempt to migrate from Helvetian territory to south-western Gaul...

 of the Helvetii
Helvetii
The Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC...

 and Casticus
Casticus
Casticus was a nobleman of the Sequani of eastern Gaul. His father, Catamantaloedes, had previously been the ruler of the tribe, and had been recognised as a "friend" by the Roman Senate....

 of the Sequani
Sequani
Sequani, in ancient geography, were a Gallic people who occupied the upper river basin of the Arar , the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains, their territory corresponding to Franche-Comté and part of Burgundy.-Etymology:...

 were said to be conspiring to establish a Gallic triumvirate
Triumvirate
A triumvirate is a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals, each a triumvir . The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case...

 to replace the existing magistracies of the Gallic peoples shortly before Caesar's governorship. To strengthen the alliance, Orgetorix gave Dumnorix his daughter in marriage. The conspiracy was discovered and put a stop to by the Helvetii.

In 58 BC, the first year of Caesar's governorship, Dumnorix used his influence to persuade the Sequani to allow the Helvetii to migrate through their territory. Caesar opposed this migration militarily, and requested the Aedui, who were allies of Rome, to supply his soldiers with grain, but this was not forthcoming. Liscus
Liscus
Liscus was Vergobretus of the Aedui of central Gaul in 58 BC. He revealed to Julius Caesar the role of his compatriot Dumnorix in withholding supplies.-References:* Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico...

, the chief magistrate or Vergobretus of the Aedui, revealed to Caesar that Dumnorix, who was very popular and influential, was responsible for the withholding of the supplies. Caesar also discovered that Dumnorix had been in command of a unit of cavalry, sent to his aid by the Aedui, whose flight had cost him a cavalry engagement. Dumnorix was spared any serious retribution at the request of his brother Diviciacus
Diviciacus (Aedui)
Diviciacus or Divitiacus of the Aedui is the only druid from antiquity whose existence is attested by name. He should not be confused with the king of the Suessiones also known by the Latinised name Diviciacus; coins, possibly issued by the latter, give the Gaulish name in Greek lettering as...

, who had good relations with Caesar and the Romans. Caesar agreed instead to place Dumnorix under surveillance.

Dumnorix continued to be troublesome, and in 54 BC was one of the Gaulish leaders Caesar proposed to take with him as hostages on his second expedition to Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...

, fearing that they might cause trouble in his absence. Dumnorix pleaded his fear of the sea and religious obligations in an attempt to get Caesar to leave him behind. When this failed, he claimed that Caesar intended to have them all killed out of sight of their people. Finally, he attempted to escape from Caesar's camp along with the Aeduan cavalry. Caesar sent the rest of the cavalry after him, and Dumnorix was killed, shouting that he was "a free man and a citizen of a free state". The rest of the Aeduan cavalry returned to Caesar's service.

His name, like other Gaulish language names (Orgetorix
Orgetorix
Orgetorix was a wealthy aristocrat among the Helvetii, a Celtic-speaking people residing in what is now Switzerland during the consulship of Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic. In 61 BC he convinced the Helvetians to attempt to migrate from Helvetian territory to south-western Gaul...

, Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix was the chieftain of the Arverni tribe, who united the Gauls in an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars....

) contains a -rix suffix which is etymologically related to the Latin rex, Gaelic , Sanskrit rāja- and German Reich, indicating kingship or rule; it is probably an aristocratic suffix. Dumno- is etymologically related to the Gaelic domhan "world", indicating that the name may be translated as "king of the world".

Popular culture

A character named Dumnorix has appeared in the prologue tutorial of the original Rome: Total War
Rome: Total War
Rome: Total War is a PC strategy game developed by The Creative Assembly and released on by Activision...

, as a Gallic general.
Dumnorix has also appeared in several missions of the game PC Praetorians. This name also appears in Eluveitie
Eluveitie
Eluveitie is a folk metal band from Winterthur, Switzerland. The band formed in 2002 and their first EP, Vên came out in 2003. The band then released a full-length album, Spirit in June 2006. In November 2007, Eluveitie was signed by Nuclear Blast....

's song (Do)minion from the Everything Remains (As It Never Was) album.
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