with the ocean. On the Gallic bank, its flow is broader and gentler; it is called by an altered name, the Vahal, by the inhabitants of its shore. Soon that name too is changed for the Mosa river, through whose vast mouth it empties itself into the same ocean. Modern archaeologists disagree with Tacitus, noting that that island had a pre-Roman and pre-Germanic population, apparently already called the Batavians. Caesar indeed had not only implied the existence of pre-Roman Batavians, but also mentioned that the Belgic Menapii of the Flemish coast had settlements stretching as far as the beginning of the delta, near the modern border with Germany. Roman era During the Roman Empire there was a civitas of the Batavians, a Germanic tribe. It was described as a large island between rivers in the Rhine-Meuse delta, the modern equivalent of Betuwe. The Batavians shared the island with the Canninefates, to their west near the coast. Their Roman city was Nijmegen. The name was also mentioned by Pliny the Elder, and it played a role in the account by Tacitus of the Germanic uprising of 68. He said that "In the Rhine itself, nearly in length, Batavia is the most famous island of the Batavi and the Canninefates". Its later Roman history is attested by Ammianus Marcellinus who mentions the Frankish Salians as a people living there. Zosimus is the only classical author who claims that they had first crossed the Rhine during the Roman upheavals and subsequent Germanic breakthrough in 260 AD. Both authors agree that from Batavia they were pushed south, into Toxandria. Medieval In the Carolingian and Ottonian periods in the early Middle Ages, Batavia, called Batua by the Franks, was an example of a Frankish gau that was based on much older Roman pagi. Several counts are recorded as having their counties there, and it is mentioned in the treaties such as the Treaty of Meerssen, that divided up Europe among the different Frankish kingdoms. Later, it was mainly absorbed into the newer county of Guelders which had become established to the southeast. Renaissance In the Renaissance, the Dutch wanted to rediscover their pre-medieval Batavi culture and history. This common history raised Batavi to the status of cultural ancestors to all Dutch people (see The Batavian revival). They occasionally called themselves, or their things (Batavia), Batavians, resulting even in a short-lived Batavian Republic. The name Batavia