chiefdom · France and the Low Countries

Bituriges Vivisci

300 BCE – 56 BCE (approx.) · capital Burdigala

Offshoot of the Bituriges settled on the Gironde estuary, whose trading port of Burdigala grew into Bordeaux.

Origins

Strabo notes that the Bituriges Vivisci were the only Celtic people living among the Aquitani, which suggests they migrated from the Bituriges Cubi of Berry to the lower Garonne, perhaps in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE. Their emporium Burdigala stood on a bend of the Garonne.

Rule and society

Burdigala was a trading port linking the Atlantic with the Mediterranean by the Garonne and Aude route, handling tin, metals and Italian wine. Caesar does not name them, perhaps because they did not resist him.

Decline and legacy

Under Rome Burdigala became the capital of Aquitania and a rich city whose vineyards, based on a vine named Biturica after the people, laid the foundations of the Bordeaux wine trade. The poet Ausonius was born there in the 4th century.

Connections (1)

More states of France and the Low Countries →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Bituriges Vivisci. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bituriges-vivisci
MLA
“Bituriges Vivisci.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bituriges-vivisci. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Bituriges Vivisci.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bituriges-vivisci.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Bituriges Vivisci’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bituriges-vivisci (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻