Oppidum

A Roman term, coined by Caesar, for the fortified Celtic towns he found in his campaigns in Gaul in 58-51 BC. The Roman oppidum was a town which served as administrative center for its surrounding area, or, in the provinces, was a community of Roman citizens, either Italian immigrants or enfranchised natives. The term is now used for comparable sites in Celtic territory, from Spain and Britain to the Carpathians. Celtic oppida of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC were large permanent settlements, usually of hillfort type, the first true towns in Europe north of the Alps. Oppida also served as centers for trade, industry, market, craft production, and religion.

A Roman term for a town which served as an administrative centre. Caesar referred to several of the Iron Age settlements of Gaul as oppida and archaeologists have adopted the term to apply to all large and complex settlements of the later La T£ne Iron Age. These oppida are normally defended settlements, often hillforts, and may cover several hundred hectares. Excavations have produced evidence that these sites served as manufacturing and trading centres and many were probably administrative centres also; it is reasonable to describe these communities as proto-urban or urban. See Bibracte, Manching.