.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}@media all and (max-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{width:auto!important;clear:none!important;float:none!important))You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (April 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Italian article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 3,064 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at [[:it:Leponzi]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template ((Translated|it|Leponzi)) to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Map of the Alpine provinces as of AD 14, showing the position of the Lepontii within Rhaetia and north of Gallia Transpadana
Celtic (orange) and Rhaetic (green) settlements in Switzerland

The Lepontii were an ancient Celtic people[1][2] occupying portions of Rhaetia (in modern Switzerland and Northern Italy) in the Alps during the late Bronze Age/Iron Age. Recent archeological excavations and their association with the Golasecca culture (9th-7th centuries BC) and Canegrate culture (13th century BC)[3] point to a Celtic affiliation. From the analysis of their language[4] and the place names of the old Lepontic areas,[5] it was hypothesized that these people represent a layer similar to that Celtic but previous to the Gallic penetration in the Po valley. The suggestion has been made that the Lepontii may have been celticized Ligurians.[6]

The chief towns of the Lepontii were Oscela, now Domodossola, Italy, and Bilitio, now Bellinzona, Switzerland. Their territory included the southern slopes of the St. Gotthard Pass and Simplon Pass, corresponding roughly to present-day Ossola and Ticino.

A map of Rhaetia shows the location of the Lepontic territory, in the south-western corner of Rhaetia. The area to the south, including what was to become the Insubrian capital Mediolanum (modern Milan), was Etruscan around 600-500 BC, when the Lepontii began writing tombstone inscriptions in their alphabet, one of several Etruscan-derived alphabets in the Rhaetian territory.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Walser, Gerold (2006). "Lepontii". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e701750. A Celtic tribe in the Central Alps
  2. ^ John T. Koch (ed.) Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia ABC-CLIO (2005), pp. 1142–1143 ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0
  3. ^ Percivaldi, Elena (2003). I Celti: una civiltà europea. Firenze. p. 22.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ M. Lejeune, Lepontica, Parigi 1971.
  5. ^ Sciarretta, Antonio (2010). Toponomastica d'Italia. Nomi di luoghi, storie di popoli antichi. Milano: Mursia. pp. 143–173. ISBN 978-88-425-4017-5.
  6. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History: Plates, New ed. University Press. 1988. p. 718.

Sources

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