The Viducasses or Viducassii were a Celtic people in Gallia Lugdunensis

Gallia Lugdunensis

Gallia Lugdunensis was a province of the Roman Empire in what is now the modern country of France, part of the Celtic territory of Gaul. It is named after its capital Lugdunum , possibly Roman Europe's major city west of Italy, and a major imperial mint...

. The name derives from vidu (“wood”) and casse (“people”). The capital of the Viducasses was at Araegenus or Araegenue of the Table

Tabula Peutingeriana

The Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa...

, appearing elsewhere as Aragenuae, which was the site of modern-day Vieux

Vieux, Calvados

-Sights:*The archaeological museum of Vieux la Romaine .*Villa of Bas de Vieux-External links:*...

.

Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 (iv. 18) mentions them before the "Bodiocasses", who are supposed to be the Baiocasses

Baiocasses

The Baiocasses were a Celtic tribe in ancient Gaul. They were a tribal division of the civitas of the Lexovii, in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis....

. Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

 (ii. 8. § 5) writes the name or , for we must assume them to be the Viducasses, though he places the Viducassii next to the Osismii

Osismii

The Osismii were a Gaulish tribe on the western Armorican peninsula. They were first described as the Ostimioi by the Greek geographer and traveller Pytheas in the fourth century BC. He situated them at the end of the peninsula of Kabaïon, which is not identifiable today. Their name means "the...

, and the Veneti

Veneti (Gaul)

The Veneti were a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the Brittany peninsula , which in Roman times formed part of an area called Armorica...

 between the Viducassii and the Lexovii

Lexovii

The Lexovii , were a Celtic people, on the coast of Gallia, immediately west of the mouth of the Seine. When the Veneti and their neighbors were preparing for Julius Caesar's attack , they applied for aid to the Osismii, Lexovii, Namnetes, and others. The Lexovii , were a Celtic people, on the...

. But the Viducasses are between the Baiocasses and the Lexovii. The boundary between the Viducasses and the Baiocasses is indicated by a name Fins (Fines), which often occurs in French geography.

Vieux lies southwest of Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

, in the department of Calvados

Calvados

The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...

, some distance from the left bank of the river Orne

Orne

Orne is a department in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne.- History :Orne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution, on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Normandy and Perche.- Geography :Orne is in the region of...

. This place is mentioned in the titles or muniments of the neighboring abbey of Fontenai, on the other side of the Orne, under the name of Videocae or Veocae, of which Vieux is a manifest corruption, as D'Anville shows, like Tricasses, Trecae, Troies, and Durocasses, Drocae, Dreux. There is or was a stone preserved in the château of Torigni, in the arrondissement of Saint Lô, in the department of Manche

Manche

Manche is a French department in Normandy named after La Manche , which is the French name for the English Channel.- History :Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

, which contains the inscription "ORDO CIVITATIS VIDVCAS". This marble, which was found at Vieux in 1580, is said to be the pedestal of a statue placed in the third century in honor of T. Sennius Solemnis. In the excavations made at Vieux in 1705 were found remains of public baths, of an aqueduct, a gymnasium, fragments of columns, of statues, and a great number of medals of the imperial period, besides other remains. Inscriptions, of the date 238, found on the spot show that this city had temples and altars erected to Diana

Diana (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...

, to Mars

Mars (mythology)

Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...

, and to Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...

. (Nouveaux Essais sur la Ville de Caen, par M. L'Abbé Delarue, 2 vols. Caen, 1842, cited by Richard et Hocquart, Guide du Voyageur) Remains show that it was a Roman city, probably built on a Celtic site; and several Roman roads branch off from it.