CAMARACUM
(Cambrai) Pas de Calais, France.
The city that superseded Bavai as capital of
the civitas of the Nervii. Situated on the left bank of the
upper Escaut, it was at the intersection of important
Roman roads: Amiens-Bavai, Cambrai-Saint Quentin,
and especially Arras-Cambrai, part of the famous route
from Boulogne to Bavai and on to Cologne. The fact
that no Gallic remains have been found is generally taken
as proof that the Romans simply created the city as
part of their road and administrative system in Belgica.
On the other hand, the area immediately surrounding
Cambrai is well known for its important Gallic remains:
Moeuvre (Iron Age I cemetery), Etrun (oppidum at the
confluence of the Escaut and the Sensée). But next to
nothing is known of the topography of the ancient city
or its stages of development, nor are we much better
informed about the Late Empire rampart. Local tradition has it that the fortified city stood on a hill on the
Escaut, the Mont des Boeufs, but definitive proof is still
lacking.
The only finds from which we can derive any useful
information are the tombs. The first group lies at the
NW exit of the city, at the foot of the Pierres Jumelles
(the remains of two sunken menhirs), the other in the
Rue du Grand Séminaire. These cremation tombs have
yielded a large quantity of pottery, now either in the
Cambrai museum or the diocesan museum. We have
more detailed evidence on the environs (especially at the
bends of the Arras-Cambrai and Bapaume-Cambrai
roads), which were very thickly settled in the Roman
period. Major villas and monumental complexes are
found each year, either by excavation or by aerial photography. A hoard of coins has just been discovered at
Graincourt-les-Havrincourt, famous for its remarkable
finds of silver plate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wilbert et Durieux, “Cambrai gallo-romain et mérovingien,”
Mémoires de la Société
d'emulation de Cambrai XLVIII (1893); L. de Sailly, “Les
pierres Jumelles de Cambrai,”
Pro Nervia 2 (1924) 35-40; F. Vercauteren,
Etude sur les civitates de la Belgique
Seconde (1934) 203-33; L. Chauvin & A. Tuffreau,
“Recherches archéologiques récentes dans le Cambrésis,”
Revue du Nord 44, no. 202 (1969) 373-74.
P. LEMAN
