City
Tolosa
Toulouse
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Tolosa, today Toulouse in France, was the chief town of the Volcae Tectosages, a Gallic people, set on a terrace above the Garonne. When it revolted against Rome in 106 BC, the consul Servilius Caepio took and plundered it, carrying off gold and silver offerings from temples and sacred waters. His later misfortune made "the gold of Tolosa" proverbial. The town grew rich passing Italian wine on towards Bordeaux, was famed for its orators and lawyers, and in the fifth century became the royal seat of the Visigoths. On the map, a branch road leaving here is lost to a tear in the parchment.