Struck directly preceding the violent and arguably genocidal Roman conquest, this coin is a glimpse back in time to the fall of the most powerful Celtic tribe in Gaul. The tribe was so large and important that Livy even described it as being so over populated by the 6th century BC that it underwent several tribal splits. Their cultural descendants spread out from Gaul through the Rhine valley and Italy. Hundreds of years later, as Caesar swept through Gaul, the Bituriges tribe supported the Arverni, and subsequently suffered repeated great losses. Both their main hilltop fort Noviodunum, classified as an oppidum, and capital city Avaricum were raised in 52 BC.

Interestingly, the modern etymology of the Bituriges tribal name plays into the Roman viewpoint of all Celts as pure barbarians. The proto-Celtic dictionary by Ranko Matasović translates the first syllable “bitu” as “world” and the second “rīg-” as “king”. Instead the second syllable is more likely a cognate with the Latin "vita", the Lithuanian "gyvata", or Old Irish "bethu". All of which mean “life”, not “world”. If accurate, their name most likely meant “kings of life” and would have represented the Tribe’s deep connection with Druidism and vast political power.