The Cursed Gold of Tolosa
A Roman general took a vast treasure from a temple in Gaul. The gold vanished on the road, his army was destroyed, and 'the gold of Tolosa' became a byword for a curse.
What was reported
In 106 BC, the Roman consul Quintus Servilius Caepio captured the city of Tolosa, today's Toulouse, in southern Gaul. Its temples and sacred lakes were said to hold an enormous treasure of gold and silver, which some said had been looted from the oracle at Delphi in Greece long before.
The treasure was sent towards the port of Massilia, now Marseille, but on the way the escort was attacked and the gold disappeared. A year later, Caepio's army was crushed in one of Rome's worst defeats, and he died in exile.
Explanations offered
Roman writers suspected Caepio had stolen the gold himself. The phrase 'aurum Tolosanum', the gold of Tolosa, came to mean wealth that brings ruin. The treasure was never found, and no one knows if the story of a curse grew up to explain Caepio's downfall.
- When
- 106 BC
- Where
- Toulouse, Occitanie, France
- Witnesses
- Roman historians
- Status
- Never found
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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