{"id":16374,"date":"2023-09-14T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T06:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/via-belgica-volgt-route-van-caesars-snelweg\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T21:37:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T19:37:19","slug":"via-belgica-volgt-route-van-caesars-snelweg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/via-belgica-volgt-route-van-caesars-snelweg\/","title":{"rendered":"Via Belgica follows the route of Caesar\u2019s highway"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":{"categorie":33,"afbeelding":10597,"auteur":"Harry Lindelauf","fotografie":"Tom Buijtendorp, Uitgeverij WBooks, Vaticaans Museum, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Maja d\u2019Hollosy","contentbuilder":[{"acf_fc_layout":"tekst","tekst":"

Gaius Julius Caesar is, more than 2,000 years after his death, once again in the spotlight thanks to an exhibition in Amsterdam and a new book by Tom Buijtendorp. He makes it plausible that Caesar followed the route of the later Via Belgica and renews our image of Caesar \u2014 literally and figuratively.<\/h3>\r\nIt was the publisher who came up with the idea of accompanying the exhibition at the H\u2019ART Museum (see box) with a route guide. Not yet another book about the emperor, but one that presents Caesar himself and his campaigns in the Low Countries. Archaeologist and author Tom Buijtendorp got to work: \u201cI approach Caesar as the first explorer of the region, which makes you see him differently while walking. Thanks to recent discoveries, there is much more to see than before.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"tekst_foto","tekst":"

Beautiful surroundings<\/h3>\r\nHe and his wife put on their walking shoes: \u201cI think I walked for about fourteen days for this book.\u201d The collaboration between the non-walker and his wife (a non-Roman) produced a special result. \u201cThe routes are interesting for anyone who has an interest in Roman history. And if you have no interest in the Romans, you can still enjoy beautiful walks, because apparently Caesar had an eye for a beautiful landscape,\u201d says Tom Buijtendorp, laughing.","foto":10603},{"acf_fc_layout":"foto_tekst","foto":10600,"tekst":"

Caesar\u2019s highway<\/h3>\r\nTom Buijtendorp has literally mapped Caesar\u2019s campaigns from the Roman winter camp in Amiens to the Low Countries. Buijtendorp makes it plausible that Caesar was clever enough to avoid the difficult and dangerous Eifel and Ardennes. He could do so by travelling from east to west along the route where, a few decades later, the Via Belgica was constructed. He calls it Caesar\u2019s highway from the Rhine to the coast near Boulogne \u2014 a fast connection with only two major rivers to cross: the Meuse and the Scheldt.\r\n\r\nThe crossing of the Meuse \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 lies in Maastricht. Caesar could probably wade through the river thanks to a low water level and accessible banks. It is also possible that he built a temporary bridge."},{"acf_fc_layout":"tekst_foto","tekst":"

Roman camp at Caestert<\/h3>\r\nCaesar suffered his greatest defeat of the Gallic War at a hillfort. That was against the Eburones, who lived near Maastricht and Tongeren. Tom Buijtendorp takes the reader to the plateau of Caestert near Maastricht, which contains the only preserved hillfort in the region. Although it has not been proven that the battle took place there, he considers it the most plausible location. The hillfort and the Jeker Valley form, in any case, a perfect setting to bring the battle to life while walking. If it did not happen exactly there, it must have been in a similar environment.\r\nIn his book, he uses a \u201cdot score\u201d that quickly shows whether a place is the \u201cmost plausible\u201d or perhaps only scores a \u201cmaybe.\u201d \u201cCaestert!\u201d is therefore Tom Buijtendorp\u2019s answer to the question of what he would most like to research further. \u201cBut so far, only large excavations elsewhere have produced tangible traces of Caesar\u2019s army, and large-scale digging is impossible in this protected area. The Jeker Valley keeps its secrets.\u201d","foto":10612},{"acf_fc_layout":"foto_tekst","foto":10609,"tekst":"

Our image of Caesar<\/h3>\r\nBased on his earlier research, a facial reconstruction of Caesar was made in wax-like material, partly based on a relatively unknown marble statue in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. The book shows recently published contemporary depictions of Caesar that correspond with both the reconstruction and the statue from Leiden. Both were therefore given a prominent place in the book and the exhibition.\r\nAccording to Buijtendorp, uncertainties remain, but at least it has become clear that for centuries we have been deceived by Roman propaganda.\r\nAfter his death, Caesar was worshipped in Rome as a god, and the images made in the centuries that followed acquired an ever higher degree of propaganda.\r\n\r\nThe medal has two sides, as Tom Buijtendorp also makes clear. On the one hand, there is the incense for the successful political and military strategist, the commander who stands among his troops and who, as adventurer and explorer, conquers Gaul and dares to go further north into the heart of the Netherlands. Even the sea does not stop him \u2014 in the late summer of 55 BC, he crosses over to England."},{"acf_fc_layout":"tekst_foto","tekst":"

Sword and dagger<\/h3>\r\nThe reverse side is impressively negative: Caesar seeks dictatorial power and is a ruthless general with genocide on his record. His campaigns were not without strategic blunders, and his overview of the geography of the Low Countries was limited. But by writing his own account, De Bello Gallico, he showed himself a public relations genius, polishing his weak points until they shone as successes.\r\n\r\nOne way or another, Caesar is and remains the Roman who lives by the sword and dies by the dagger in 44 BC. The book and exhibition provide ample food for thought for anyone wishing to re-evaluate their own image of Caesar. Or, as Tom Buijtendorp puts it: \u201cThe book encourages readers to let go of the old image of Caesar, to look for themselves, and to form their own view.\u201d","foto":10606},{"acf_fc_layout":"tekst","tekst":"

Julius Caesar in Amsterdam<\/h3>\r\nThe exhibition at the H\u2019ART Museum in Amsterdam tells the life story of Julius Caesar through nearly 150 objects. The exhibition can be seen until Monday, 20 May 2024. H\u2019ART Museum is the new name of the Hermitage Museum."},{"acf_fc_layout":"tekst","tekst":"Photo 1\r\nTom Buijtendorp: \u201cThanks to recent discoveries, there is much more to see than not long ago.\u201d\r\n\r\nPhoto 2\r\nThe Jeker Valley: the most likely location of the battle between the Eburones and the Romans.\r\n\r\nPhoto 4\r\nThe route that Caesar and his legions most likely followed from Remagen near Koblenz through South Limburg to the west.\r\n\r\nPhoto 5\r\nThe old image of Caesar: a bust from the Vatican Museums, probably made shortly after his death, and the bust from the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden.\r\n\r\nPhoto 6\r\nThe Caesar Route, guidebook to Caesar in the Low Countries, published by WBooks.\r\n\r\n "}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16374"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16386,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16374\/revisions\/16386"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"category","href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}