Bronze with eagle and wheel

The Carnutes occupied the territory around present-day Chartres and Orléans, and held particular religious authority among the Gallic tribes — Caesar identifies their territory as the site where Druids gathered annually for their pan-Gallic assembly. This coin circulated in the decades immediately preceding the catastrophic revolt of 52 BC, when Carnutes warriors initiated the broader uprising by massacring Roman settlers at Cenabum (Orléans), the act that triggered Vercingetorix's confederation. Very few Carnute bronze issues survived in quantity; the destruction of their principal oppida during Caesar's subsequent campaigns likely disrupted hoarding patterns that might otherwise have preserved larger assemblages.