Aedui

The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *Aiduoi, 'the Ardent'; Ancient Greek: Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in what is now the region of Burgundy during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

It included most of the modern départements of Saône-et-Loire and Nièvre, the southwestern-part of Côte-d'Or between Beaune and Saulieu, and the southern part of Yonne around Avallon,[12] corresponding to the Saône plains, the Morvan granitic massif, and the low Nivernais plateau, from east to west.

[13] They dwelled between the Arverni in the west, the Segusiavi and Ambarri in the south, the Sequani in the east, and the Lingones and Senones in the north.

[14] Three oppida are known from the end of the La Tène period: Vieux-Dun (Dun-les-Places), Le Fou de Verdun (Lavault-de-Frétoy), and Bibracte, which occupied a central position in the Aedian economic system.

By the early 3rd century BC, the emergence of settlements with diversified functions, along with the creation of sanctuaries, suggest the beginning of a civilization centered around the oppidum.

The Aedui, like other powerful tribes in the region, such as the Arverni, Sequani, and Helvetii, had replaced their monarchy with a council of magistrates called grand-judges.

Free men in the tribes were vassals of the heads of these families, in an exchange of military, financial, and political interests.

Augustus dismantled their capital, Bibracte, on Mont Beuvray, and constructed a new town with a half-Roman, half-Gaulish name, Augustodunum (modern Autun).

[23] In AD 21, during the reign of Tiberius, the Aedui revolted under Julius Sacrovir, and seized Augustodunum, but they were soon put down by Gaius Silius (Tacitus Ann.

Furthermore, the Aedui seemed to work in a semi-republican state, with the powerful Vergobret at least slightly being at the will of the people, similar to the senators of Rome.