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Whether the Belgae were Celts or Germans occupied 19th century and early 20th century historians. In his book De Bello Gallico ("The Gallic War") Caesar records that Gallia is divided into three parts, inhabited by the Aquitani, Belgae and the Gauls. This would imply that the Belgae were different from the Gauls. On the other hand, he writes about the Gauls: horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae (out of all of those Gauls the Belgians are the most brave). Other tribes that Caesar may have been including among the Belgae were the Leuci , Treveri and Mediomatrici . Poseidonius includes the Armoricani in Brittany as well. After the conquest their homeland has been indicated by Roman authors as " Gallia Belgica". The region reached almost from Paris in the south up to the river Rhine in the north and the east.

The Belgae had made their way across the English Channel into southern England in Caesar's time (Bello Gallica ii:4 and v:12), and settled in some of the southern counties where among their towns were Magnus Portus ( Portsmouth) and Venta Belgarum ( Winchester).

The Belgae fought in the uprising of Vercingetorix, 52 B.C.. After their final subjugation, Caesar combined the three parts of Gaul, the territory of the Belgae, Celtae and Aquitani into a single unwieldy province (Gallia Comata) that was reorganized by Augustus into its traditional cultural divisions. Roman Belgica was bounded on its east by the Rhine and extended all the way from the North Sea to Lake ConstanceLake Constance ( German Bodensee also known as Schwabisches Meer (informally) and sometimes written Lake of Constance is a lake on the Rhine between Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The freshwater lake sits at 395 m above sea level and is central Europe' (Lacus Brigantinus), including parts of what is now western Switzerland, with its capital at the city of the Remi (Reims).

Under DiocletianGaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian ( 245- 313), born Diocles was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. An Illyrian of low birth, Diocles rose through the ranks to the consulship. He was chosen by the Army on November 20, 284 to replace Numeri, Belgica Prima (capital, Augusta Trevirorum, TrierTrier or Treves is Germany's oldest city. It is situated on the western bank of the Moselle River in a valley between low vine-covered hills of ruddy sandstone. It is located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate near the German border with Luxembourg.) and Belgica Secunda (capital ReimsReims (English traditionally Rheims is a city of north-eastern France, 98 miles east-northeast of Paris. Its history can be traced back to the Roman Empire. Population (1999): 187,206. Administration Reims is a sous-prefecture of the Marne departement in) formed part of the dioceseIn the Roman Empire, a diocese was a city district or part of a province. In the Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see of Gaul.