Cenabum

Cenabum, Gaul was the name of the capital city of the Carnutes, located near the present French city of Orléans [1]. Cenabum was an oppidum and a thriving commercial town on the Loire river [1]. In 52 BC, during the Gallic Wars, the town was taken by Roman general Julius Caesar and integrated into the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis [1]. Acts of resistance from the locals who refused to submit to Roman law were severely repressed and resulted in several massacres and the near-total destruction of the town [1]. In the 3rd century, emperor Aurelian visited Cenabum and decided to have it rebuilt, and named it after himself: Urbs Aurelianorum [1]. The town had strong fortifications, dry moats, earth palisades and also controlled a bridge over the Loire, one of considerable economic and strategic importance, attested to have been built before the Roman conquest [1].