page_title: Tasgetius
section_title: Political background
hierarchical_section_title: Tasgetius / Political background
caption_attribution_description: Afrikaans: Romeinse provinsies en stamgroepe van die Galliese gebied in die laat 1ste eeu v.C. Ελληνικά: Χάρτης της Γαλατίας και των κελτικών φυλών τον 1ο αιώνα π.Χ. Français&#160;: Provinces romaines et les peuples proto-basques, celtes et germanique à la fin du Ier siècle av. J-C.
context_page_description: Tasgetius, the Latinized form of Gaulish Tasgetios or Tasgiitios, was a ruler of the Carnutes, a Celtic polity whose territory corresponded roughly with the modern French departments of Eure-et-Loir, Loiret, and Loir-et-Cher. Julius Caesar says that as Roman proconsul he made Tasgetius king in reward for his support during the Gallic Wars. His reign would have begun in late 57 BC, following Caesar's campaign against the Belgic civitates in northern Gaul that year; it ended with his assassination in 54 BC. The overthrow of a king appointed by Caesar was one of the precipitating events that led to the pan-Gallic rebellion of 52 BC under the Arvernian leader Vercingetorix.
context_section_description: The land of the Carnutes was regarded as the sacred center of Gaul where each year the druidry held their pan-Gallic synod. Like several other of the larger polities in Gaul, the Carnutes had once been ruled by kings, but seem to have adopted an oligarchic or proto-republican form of government. Rome often found it more convenient to deal with client states through centralizing power in a king rather than a fractious council or "senate," as Caesar often refers to such bodies on analogy with the Roman senate. The ancestors of Tasgetius had held supreme power, and his ascent was presented as a restoration. The Carnutes had perhaps preferred not to live under a monarchy again, since Caesar's royal appointment was assassinated by his fellow citizens. Caesar attributes opposition to Tasgetius to an anti-Roman faction among the Carnutes, but it has been argued that the normal internal politics of Gaul were at play, which Caesar chose to exploit for his own purposes and propagandize as symptoms of a brewing rebellion.
  Caesar says that the Carnutes were assigned to the Remi, Rome's most loyal Belgic ally, as a client state; George Long thought this was probably a consequence of Tasgetius's murder. These formal relations existed usually among contiguous polities, but the territory of the Remi (roughly modern-day Champagne) was at some remove from that of the Carnutes.
caption: The Carnutes held territory in Celtica on both sides of the Loire River (Latin Liger)
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