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¤ BIBRACTE Capital of the powerful Gallic tribe, the Aedui, Bibracte was situated on a hill (now
Mount Beuvray in east-central France) in Gallia Lugdunensis. A battle was fought there in July of 58
B.C., between Julius CAESAR and the migrating Helvetians. After defeating the Helvetians at the battle of
ARAR, Caesar took up a defensive position in the face of an enemy counteroffensive. He had at his
disposal some 30,000 legionnaires, 2,000 Gallic auxiliaries and about 4,000 cavalry. Although the
Helvetians had some 70,000 warriors, their attack was a disaster. Caesar's legions stood firm and then
shattered the increasingly confused barbarians. An all-out Roman assault ensued, driving the Helvetians
back into their camp, where their women and children became entangled in the massacre. Over 120,000
Helvetians died on the site, and those who survived retreated into their homelands. The site was
abandoned after the Gallic Wars in favor of AUGUSTODONUM.
¤ BIBULUS, LUCIUS CALPURNIUS
(d. 32 or 31 B.C.) Son of Marcus Calpurnius BIBULUS and
Porcia; followed in his father's footsteps, espousing anti-Caesarian beliefs and joining his father-in-law,
Marcus Brutus, against Marc ANTONY at the battle of PHILIPPI in 42 B.C. Although proscribed and
eventually captured by Antony, he entered his service and over time reached an accord with the general. As
Antony's lieutenant, Bibulus acted as a messenger between the triumvir and his comrade Octavian (see
AUGUSTUS) and then looked after his own affairs in Syria, where he died. Bibulus was noted for a history
of Marcus Brutus and was a prose writer in the last Republican period.
¤ BIBULUS, MARCUS CALPURNIUS (d. 48 B.C.) Roman politician in the late Republic. Bibulus
was one of Julius Caesar's early partners and served with him in the aedileship (65 B.C.), praetorship (62
B.C.) and the consulship (59 B.C.). He believed in the aristocratic party and looked disapprovingly on the
growing powers of the FIRST TRIUMVIRATE. He was forced by violence to abandon his intentions of
blocking Caesar's agrarian laws, and thereafter withdrew from all public or political activities and fought
Caesar's legislation by viewing the stars for omens. His absence, it was said humorously, created the
consulship of Julius and Caesar.
In 52 B.C.. Bibulus took up the cause of Pompey, proposing him for the consulship. As the Civil Wars
erupted, he first governed Syria for Pompey and then commanded the Adriatic fleet, where he worked
himself to death. He was married to Porcia, who gave him a son, Lucius Calpurnius BIBULUS. Dio
noted that so great an admiral was Bibulus that Antony had not dared to sail from Brundisium.
¤ BITHYNIA Roman province in ASIA MINOR, bordered by ASIA, Galatia and the Black Sea.
Bithynia was a pivotal territory in the Empire, for it served as the geographical, economic and cultural
bridge over the Bosporus for East and West. Its importance, moreover, increased as imperial power