Oppidum

An oppidum (pl.: oppida) is a large fortified <a href="/facts/Iron_Age_Europe/mpQYShI0">Iron Age</a> settlement or town. Oppida are primarily associated with the <a href="/facts/Celts/eMCVYAFz">Celtic</a> late <a href="/facts/La_T%25C3%25A8ne_culture/gsSxxffn">La Tène culture</a>, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretching from <a href="/facts/British_Iron_Age/pp33u4nv">Britain</a> and <a href="/facts/Iberia/ATwJEkfg">Iberia</a> in the west to the edge of the <a href="/facts/Great_Hungarian_Plain/qGdnmPoU">Hungarian Plain</a> in the east. These settlements continued to be used until the Romans conquered Southern and Western Europe. Many subsequently became Roman-era towns and cities, whilst others were abandoned. In regions north of the rivers <a href="/facts/Danube/8lMeM9xg">Danube</a> and <a href="/facts/Rhine/MgJ88oaz">Rhine</a>, such as most of <a href="/facts/Germania/ILqfavJM">Germania</a>, where the populations remained independent from Rome, oppida continued to be used into the 1st century AD.

Oppidum open-in-new

Oppidum