The Acitavones were a small Gallic tribe dwelling in the Alps during the Iron Age.

Name

They are mentioned as Acitavones (var. agitabo-) by Pliny (1st c. AD),[1] and as Acitavones on the Tropaeum Alpium.[2][3]

The etymology of the name Acitauones is unclear. The first element, acito-, could mean 'field' (cf. Old Irish ached, achad),[4] or else be a variant of agido- ('face, appearance').[5]

Geography

According to historian Guy Barruol, they may have dwelled in the Aosta Valley, near the Little St Bernard Pass.[6] Their territory was located north of the Medulli and Segusini, south of the Veragri, west of the Salassi, and east of the Ceutrones.[7]

History

They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.[8][1]

References

  1. ^ a b Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.
  2. ^ CIL 5:7817.
  3. ^ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Acitavones.
  4. ^ Delamarre 2003, p. 31.
  5. ^ Evans 1967, p. 310.
  6. ^ Barruol 1969, p. 179.
  7. ^ Talbert 2000, Map 17: Lugdunum.
  8. ^ Barruol 1969, p. 317.

Primary sources

  • Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674993648.

Bibliography

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