The ethnic names of this List of ancient Celtic peoples and tribes are stated or implied by the ancient authors to have belonged to an overall ethnic identity called by them generally Celts. Some of the main authors, such as Julius Caesar, explicitly state that Celtic, the adjective, implies the use of a distinctive Celtic language. If a tribe did not speak Celtic, it was not called Celtic. This implication is sufficiently widespread for modern linguists to conclude that if a tribe was called Celtic, it spoke Celtic.
From widespread evidence in literature, inscriptions, and names, modern linguists are able to conclude to a group of closely related languages termed Celtic languages. Linguistic classification of languages by the Tree Method, or Genetic Method, which establishes degree of similarity of vocabulary and syntax between languages, can be used to assign a relationship of one language to another. Closely similar languages are closely related by definition. This relationship is termed ethnolinguistic.
An ethnolinguistic relationship has nothing to do with biological genetic relationships. Two populations may be close ethnolinguistically but totally different genetically, as when one population learns the language of another. Similarly the customs of two populations apart from language have nothing to do with either the people or the language. Among such customs are the archaeologies. The archaeological finds and culture names have nothing to do with the langage, except for inscriptions found. This article attempts to arrange Celtic languages by ethnolinguistic similarity. Nothing is impled concerning the origins of the peoples or their material culture.
Modern people and their languages are excluded from this list. A few Celtic languages are still extant. They are not of interest here.
The ancestor language
Map 2: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony. This is an entirely hypothetical view. There are many such. Certainty is not to be found in the larger view, although many of the details of comparison are considered certain. This is as good a viewpoint as any for the purpose of introducing the problems.
In the Tree Model of language development, languages develop historically (or diachronically, "through time") by splitting. At a point T1 in time a population of P speaks a common language L. Over the range of P two different groups, P1 and P2, within P begin to speak L differently, so that at T2 there are now L1 and L2 where before was only L. L1 and L2 are sister languages, while L is variously called the common, proto-, or parent language.
It is clear that in the Tree Model of language development, groups of sister languages, L1, L2, ..., Ln, exist, and every group must come from a proto-language. The very assertion that any languages are related implies the former existence of one, and only one, proto-language as ancestor. Thus to refer at all to a group of languages termed Celtic implies the sometime existence of Proto-Celtic. The population P of this L is often referenced as the Proto-Celts. Such a term implies that they spoke the language. There is no other definition of Proto-Celtic. They cannot logically have not spoken it, or have spoken anything else as a primary language.
There is only one Proto-Celtic. From it descend all the Celtic languages without exception. Proto-Celtic is the ancestor of the Celtic languages. The linguistic possibilty that a language might belong to more than one tree and thus have more than one ancestor is not of concern here but is considered in the lists below. Such a case might happen when two populations combine and develop a combined language. There is, however, only one Celtic ancestor of any Celtic language, regardless of what else it might be. If any of its languages are considered out of the group, then it is not Proto-Celtic. If Proto-Celtic is considered not to have existed, then none of the supposed Celtic languages are that. There is a theory that Celtic languages and therefore Celts did not exist as such. Such a view linguistically would require linguists to discard all their dictionaries and start over, an unlikely event.
Merging into the Tree Model is the Genetic Model. In the latter, an ancestor with all its descendants is termed a clade, and is called monphyletic. As languages do not suddenly appear from nowhere, the Celtic clade must have had a mother language as well. It undoubtedly had sister languages to Proto-Celtic. Proto-Celtic and its ancestor alone are called paraphyletic, meaning that some of the sister languages of Proto-Celtic are not considered. One of the problems of historical linguistics is to determine what sister groups are clades and what not.
Asit turns out, Proto-Celtic and all its sister languages are in a virtual clade called Indo-European. The term virtual refers to the possibility of other Indo-European languages being discovered. As this possibility is always open, then neither Indo-European nor any of its descendant groups can ever be a clade. For the time being, however, based on what is known, they are generally considered clades.
Corresponding to this conception there must have been a Proto-Indo-European language spoken by a population that linguists may call Proto-Indo-Europeans. This is a linguistic exonym. The speakers did not imagine themselves such or know of their far-ranging linguistic alliances. Analysis of tribal names suggests they may have called themselves by some sort of family name, such as "the people" or "our people." There is no evidence of an Indo-European race, as anyone could come into contact with the Indo-Europeans and learn Indo-European.
Proto-Indo-European, though the mother of Proto-Celtic was not a Celtic language, nor a Greek language, nor an Anatolian language, nor any of the others. The proto-language has a number of characteristics that, passed on to the descendant languages, are termed in linguistics shared retentions. No daughter language can ever be defined on shared retentions, as there is no way it can differ from the parent. What makes a language distinctive is the shared innovations, characteristics that are not in Proto-Indo-European. It can get these from anywhere as long as it is non-Indo-European. The term shared applies to different subjects in each case. The innovations will be shared by daughter languages of the daughter.
Map 2 depicts the current state of the virtual clades of Indo-European in the view of D.W. Anthony. Credibility requires a fundamental assumption that archaeological cultures can represent language groups. For example, perhaps there is something about the archaeology of London that tags it as English-speaking rather than French-speaking, etc.
The pre-WWII scholars had adopted this view with reservations; for example, Heinrich Schlieman had applied the term Minyan Ware to a Middle Helladic pottery type found over much of Greece, especially at Orchomenus (Boeotia). At that location the legendary king Minyas (mythology) was said to have ruled. Schlieman assigned the pottery to an ethnic identity, which he created from the myth, the Minyans. The traditional archaeologists of the WWII period, such as Carl Blegen, and his students and successors, went Schlieman one better, so to speak, in daring hypotheses by supposing Minyans to have been Proto-Greeks. This supposition was abruptly opposed on the grounds that it was too far out of the evidence to be justitifed. One had to invent Minyans and then invent a Proto-Greek for them without a shred of evidence about the language.
Archaeologists of the times were daring. Eurasian cultures were fair game for anthropological archaeologists such as V. Gordon Childe, who became the British mentor of archaeology. He was sorting through dozens of new cultures without really knowing what to do with them, as there was no way to date them. He threw them all into the thousand years around 2000 BC, and developed some very imaginative links betweem them, influenced, as they all were by the rising Nazi racial standards. James Henry Breasted provided a benchmark with his concept of the Great White Races, as opposed to the Mongoloids and Negroids, who didn't fare so well. He was only a notable example of a general line of thought.
A catastophe was about to fall on the archaeology of the 1950's and before. The field of atomic research concomitant with the development of the atomic bomb discovered a method of dating organic material by estimating time of radioactive decay (Radiocarbon dating). Streams of new dates for the Eurasian cultures fell upon the works and estimates of the WWII scholars. Although Childe's success in some areas stood, for the most part his sequences lost meaning. The dates were quite different from previously expected. The whole thing needed to be redone. Childe's Aryan Race, for example, vanished away. Aged and ill from cancer, Childe jumped off a cliff.
Map 3: Roman district (probably not yet a full province by then) of Raetia et Vindelicia, as it stood in AD 14. Celts dwelt in most areas of the shown land on the map except for the Rhaetians.Map 4: Ancient tribes in the middle Danube river basin around 1st C. BCEMap 5: Central and northern Illyrian tribes and neighbouring Celtic tribes (most in magenta) to the North and Northwest during the Roman period.
They lived Southern Central Europe (in the Upper Danube basin and neighbouring regions) which is hypothesized as the original area of the Celts (Proto-Celts), corresponding to the Hallstatt Culture. Later they expanded towards the Middle Danube valley and to parts of the Balkans and towards inland central Asia Minor or Anatolia (Galatians). Hercynian Forest (Hercynia Silva), north of the Danube and east of the Rhine was in their lands. Celts, especially those from Western and Central Europe, were generally called by the Romans “Galli” i.e. “Gauls”, this name was synonym of “Celts”, this also means that not all of the peoples and tribes called by the name “Gauls” (Galli) were specifically Gauls in a narrower more regional sense. Their language is scarcely attested and can not be classified as a P-Celtic or Q-Celtic.
Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.
Anartes/Anartoi – Areas of modern Slovakia and modern Northern Hungary, north of the river Tysia / Tibiscus (Tisza). They lived in the eastern part of the Hercynia Silva (Hercynian Forest). Areas of modern central Slovakia and modern Northern Hungary, north of the river Tysia/Tibiscus (Tisza), north of the Teuriscii.[3] They were later assimilated by Dacians.
Arabiates[4] - areas of modern Western Hungary and eastern Austria, west of the river Danubius (Danube).
Belgites[5] - areas of modern Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube).
Boii Boiates / Boviates / Boiates – La Tête de Buch, probably around Arcachon Bay and northwest of Landes (departement), in the Pays de Buch and Pays de Born. Although they dwelt in Aquitania Proper, they seem to have been a Celtic tribe and not a tribe of the Aquitani (a people that may have been ancestor of the Basques).
Tulingi (Tylangii?) – localization unclear, possibly Southern Germany, Switzerland, or Austria; an originally Boii Celtic tribe that migrated along the upper Danube and later allied with the Helvetii?; also, may have been a Germanic tribe.
Catubrini - In the Alps Southeastern slopes, close to Plavis (Piave) and near Bellunum (Belluno), to the Southwest of the Carni. They came from Central Europe and not from Gaul (Gallia). (They were not Cisalpine Gaulish Celts).
Helvetii – original dwellers of Agri Decumates region, in the western part of Hercynia Silva, to the east and north of the Rhine; later, possibly at the end of the 3rd century BC they expanded to the South and Southwest to land later called Helvetia (modern day Switzerland). They were possibly more related to the Celtic populations of the upper Danube basin than to the Celts of Gaul.
Decumates may have meant "Ten Cantons". La Tène, (tribal confederation of four tribes).
Latobici / Latovici[14] - not the same tribe as the Latobrigi but they could have been related, they dwelt in areas of modern Slovenia and Western Hungary, west of the river Danubius (Danube).
Vindelici – a tribal confederation, areas of modern Southern Germany (Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), in the upper Danube basin. May have been a confederation of mixed Celtic and Germanic tribes.
Volciani – may have been a tribe related to the Volcae and not to the Hispano-Celts / Iberian Celts (i.e., the Celts of the Iberian Peninsula). Located north of the river Iberus (Ebro), but not very precisely.
In the middle 3rd century BC, Celts from the middle Danube valley, immigrated from Thrace into the highlands of central Anatolia (modern Turkey), which was called Galatia after that. These people, called Galatians, a generic name for “Celts”, were eventually Hellenized,[22][23] but retained many of their own traditions. They spoke Galatian, a name derived from the generic name for “Celts”. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.
Map 8: Gaul (58 BC) with important tribes, towns, rivers, etc. and early Roman provinces.Map 9: Gaul (Gallia) on the eve of Roman conquest (Celtica, which included Armorica, Belgica and Aquitania Propria were conquered while Narbonensis was conquered earlier, already ruled by the Roman Republic). The map shows the ethnic and linguistic kinship of the tribes by different colours (the map is in French).Map 10: Roman Gaul at the end of the 1st century B.C. (Droysens Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas, 1886), with important tribes, towns, rivers, etc. and Roman provinces.
Aedui / Haedui - Gaulish Celts largest tribal confederation, roughly in the geographical centre of Gaul and controlling important land, river, and trade routes
Gaesatae – Numbering c. 30,000, they participated in the battle of Telamon[26] a group of mercenary Celtic warriors from several tribes of the western Alps slopes, not a tribe.
Possible Gaulish tribes
Galli (tribe) – along Gallicus (Gállego) river banks, see place names (toponyms) like Forum Gallorum, Gallur, a different tribe from the Suessetani; may have been a tribe related to the Galli (Gauls) and not to the Hispano-Celts / Iberian Celts. Some Gaulish tribes may have migrated southward and crossed the Pyrenees (by the north, the central, or the south areas of the mountains) in a second or a third Celtic wave to the Iberian Peninsula. These tribes were different from the Hispano-Celtic / Iberian Celtic tribes.
Garumni – along the banks of the high Garumna (Garonne), southwest of the Volcae Tectosages, and in and around Lugdunum Convenarum, among the Convenae. Although they dwelt in Aquitania Proper, they seem to have been a Celtic tribe and not a tribe of the Aquitani (a people that may have been the ancestor of the Basques).
Map 11: Peoples of northern Italy during the 4th to 3rd centuries BC (Celtic tribes are shown in blue) (map names are in French)
Cisalpine Gauls (Celtae / Galli Cisalpini) - They lived in Cisalpine Gaul, most of today's northern Italy. Multiple waves of population movements from France.[7] They spoke Cisalpine Gaulish (a Continental Celtic language of the P Celtic type) closely related to Gaulish or Gallic. They lived in Cisalpine Gaul (Gallia Cisalpina), also called Gallia Citerior or Gallia Togata,[27] was the part of Italy continually inhabited by Celts since the 13th century BC.[28] Conquered by the Roman Republic in the 220s BC, it was a Roman province from c. 81 BC until 42 BC, when it was merged into Roman Italy.[29] Until that time, it was considered part of Gaul, precisely that part of Gaul on the "hither side of the Alps" (from the perspective of the Romans), as opposed to Transalpine Gaul ("on the far side of the Alps").[30]
Seven Gaulish tribes that according to Livy settled in Cisalpine Gaul around 600 BC. Led by Bellovesus, they defeated the Etruscans at the Ticino, settled in Insubria and founded the city of Mediolanum, the modern Milan.[31] They were ancestors of Cisalpine Gauls.
May have been Celtic tribes influenced by Ligurians, heavily Celticized Ligurian tribes that shifted to a Celtic ethnolinguistic identity or mixed Celtic-Ligurian tribes. They dwelt in southeastern Transalpine Gaul and northwestern Cisalpine Gaul, mainly in the Western Alps regions, Rhodanus eastern basin and upper Po river basin.
Map 12: Roman Hispania, at the end of the 1st century B.C. (Droysens Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas, 1886), with important tribes, towns, rivers, etc. and Roman provinces.Map 13: Celts in the Iberian Peninsula, despite the name, a large part of the peninsula was celtic.
They lived in large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Northern, Central, and Western regions (half of the Peninsula's territory).
The Celts in the Iberian peninsula were traditionally thought of as living on the edge of the Celtic world of the La Tène culture that defined classical Iron Age Celts. Earlier migrations were Hallstatt in culture and later came La Tène influenced peoples. Celtic or (Indo-European) Pre-Celtic cultures and populations existed in great numbers and Iberia experienced one of the highest levels of Celtic settlement in all of Europe. They dwelt in northern, central and western regions of the Iberian Peninsula, but also in several southern regions.
They spoke Celtic languages - Hispano-Celtic languages which were of the Q-Celtic type, more conservativeCeltic languages.
Romans initially organized the Peninsula in two provinces (later in three):
Hispania Citerior ("Nearer Hispania", "Hispania that is Closer", from the perspective of the Romans), was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly occupying the northeastern coast and the Iberus (Ebro) Valley and later the eastern, central, northern and northwestern areas of the Iberian peninsula in what would become the TarraconensisRoman province (of what is now Spain and northern Portugal).
Hispania Ulterior ("Further Hispania", "Hispania that is Beyond", from the perspective of the Romans) was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly located in what would become the provinces of Baetica (that included the Baetis, Guadalquivir, valley of modern Spain) and extending to all of Lusitania (modern south and central Portugal, Extremadura and a small part of Salamanca province).
The Roman province of Hispania included both Celtic speaking and non-Celtic speaking tribes. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.
Western Hispano-Celts (Celts of Western Hispania)
Western Hispano-Celts were Celtic peoples and tribes that inhabited most of north and western Iberian Peninsula regions. They are often confused or taken as synonym of Celtiberians but, in fact, they were a distinct Celtic population that was most part of Iberian Peninsula Celtic populations. They spoke Gallaecian (a Continental Celtic language of the Q Celtic type, a more conservativeCeltic language) which was not Celtiberian (Celtic languages of Iberian Peninsula are often lumped as Hispano-Celtic).
Bebryaces / Berybraces – unknown location, may have been related to the Bebryces (gauls) or the Berones, there is also the possibility that it was an old name of the Celtiberians.
Cantabri – Cantabria, part of Asturias and part of Castile and León (Spain); some consider them not Celtic, may have been Pre-Celtic Indo-European as could have been the Lusitani and Vettones[2]. If their language was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). A Tribal confederation.
Concani / Gongani – two tribes of similar name (the Britannia Gangani and Hibernia Gangani) lived in Britannia and Hibernia, they could have been three branches of the same tribe, three related tribes with common ancestors or three different tribes that shared similar names.
Coniaci / Conisci
Moroecani
Noegi
Orgenomesci
Salaeni / Selaeni
Vadinienses
Vellici / Velliques
Caristii / Carietes – today's West Basque Country, they may have been Celtic (see Late Basquisation), they were later assimilated by the Vascones in the 6th and 7th centuries CE; Some consider them not Celtic, may have been a Pre-Celtic Indo-European people as the Lusitani and Vettones could have been. [3]. If their language was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic).
Carpetani – Central Iberian meseta (Spain), in the geographical centre of the Iberian Peninsula, in a large part of today's Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid regions. A tribal confederation with 27 identified tribes.[32] (the name of these tribes is known today by archaeology discovery of their names in old stellae and not by mention of any known or survived works of Classical Antiquity authors)
Conii – according to some scholars, Conii and Cynetes were two different peoples or tribes and the names were not two different names of the same people or tribe; in this case, the Conii may have dwelt along the northern banks of the middle Anas (Guadiana) river, in today's western Extremadura region of Spain, and were a Celtici tribe wrongly confused with the Cynetes of Cyneticum (Algarve) that dwelt from the west banks of the Low river Anas (Guadiana) further to the south (the celticization of the Cynetes by the Celtici confused the distinction between the two peoples or tribes).[33]
Saephes / Saefes / Sefes - people or tribe of the Celtici that has been identified as synonymous with the Ophi or Serpent People (their land was called Ophiussa), a people that migrated westward and conquered and expelled an older people known as the Oestrymni or Oestrimni (in a land that was called Oestriminis).
Gallaeci or Callaeci Proper, this tribe gave name to the larger tribal confederation of the same name (not the same tribe as the Bracari) - roughly in today's Porto District (Portuguese District = County) west of the Tâmega.
Turodi / Turodes – Trás-os-Montes (Portugal) and Galicia (Spain).
Cynetes – Cyneticum (today's Algarve region) and Low Alentejo (Portugal); originally probably Tartessians or similar, later celtized by the Celtici; according to some scholars, Cynetes and Conii were two different peoples or tribes[33][4].
Vaccaei – North Central Iberian meseta (Spain), middle Duero river basin. A tribal confederation. Ptolemy mentions 20 vaccaean Civitates (that also had the meaning of tribes)[34]
Other tribes (19 other tribes mentioned by Ptolemy)
Varduli – today's East Basque Country, they may have been Celtic (see Late Basquisation), they were later assimilated by the Vascones in the 6th and 7th centuries AD; Some consider them not Celtic, may have been a Pre-Celtic Indo-European people as the Lusitani and Vettones could have been. If their language was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). [5].
Map 14: Territory of the Celtiberi, mixed Celtic and Iberian tribes or Celtic tribes influenced by Iberians, with the possible location of the tribes. The names of the tribes are in Castillian or Spanish (whose plural grammatical number descends from the Latin plural accusative declension).
Pellendones / Cerindones, in high Duero river course (Numantia) and neighboring mountains, may also have been related to the Pelendi/Belendi that dwelt in the middle of the river Sigmatis, today's Leyre.
Belendi / Pelendi – Belinum territory (Belin-Béliet), in the middle Sigmatis river (in today's Leyre) river area, south of the Bituriges Vivisci and the Boii Boiates; they may have been related to the Pellendones (a Celtiberian tribe). Although they dwelt in Aquitania Proper, they seem to have been a Celtic tribe and not a tribe of the Aquitani (a people that may have been the ancestor of the Basques).
Map 15: Southern Britain about the year 150 ADMap 16: Wales about the year 40 AD
They spoke Brittonic (an Insular Celtic language of the P Celtic type).
They lived in Britannia, it was the name Romans gave, based on the name of the people: the Britanni.
Some closely fit the concept of a tribe but others are confederations or even unions of tribes.
Gangani (Llŷn Peninsula, Wales) - A tribe of the same name, the Gangani (Ganganoi), lived in Hibernia's southwestern coast, they could have been two branches of the same tribe, two related tribes with common ancestors or two different tribes that shared similar names. A tribe of similar name, the Gongani or Concani, was a tribe of the Cantabri, they could have been another branch of the same tribe, related tribes with common ancestors or a different tribe that shared a similar name.
Map 18: The population groups (tribes and tribal confederations) of Ireland (Iouerníā / Hibernia) mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia in a modern interpretation. Tribes' names on the map are in Greek (although some are in a phonetic transliteration and not in Greek spelling).
Autini (Aouteinoi - Auteinoi on the map, not the Greek spelling)
Brigantes (Britons? A tribe of the same name lived in northern Britannia or they could have been two different tribes that shared the same name)
Cauci (Καῦκοι, Kaukoi on the map) A tribe of the same name (Chauci) lived in Northern Germany or they could have been two different tribes that shared the same name.
Gangani (Ganganoi) (Britons? A tribe of the same name lived in western Britannia (today's northwestern Wales) they could have been two branches of the same tribe, two related tribes with common ancestors or two different tribes that shared similar names.
Iverni (Iouernoi - Iwernoi on the map, not the Greek spelling)
Manapii (Manapioi) (Belgae? A tribe of similar name, the Menapii, lived in the coast of Belgica province or they could have been two different tribes that shared similar names)
Para-Celtic has the meaning that these peoples had common ancestors with the Celts but were not Celts themselves (although they were later Celticized and belong to a Celtic culture sphere of influence), they were not direct descendants from the Proto-Celts.
They may in fact have been Proto-Celto-Italic, predating the Celtic or Italic languages and originated earlier from either Proto-Celtic or Proto-Italic populations who spread from Central Europe into Western Europe after new Yamnaya migrations into the Danube Valley.[36] Alternatively, a European branch of Indo-European dialects, termed "North-west Indo-European" and associated with the Beaker culture, may have been ancestral to not only Celtic and Italic, but also to Germanic and Balto-Slavic.[36]
A people or a group of related tribes that dwelt in Belgica, parts of Britannia, and may have dwelt in parts of Hibernia and also parts of Hispania (large tribal confederation).
According to classical authors works, like Caesar's De Bello Gallico,[25] they were a different people and spoke a different language (Ancient Belgic) from the Gauls and Britons; they were clearly an Indo-European people and may have spoken a Celtic language. There is also the possibility that their language may have been a different language branch of Indo-European from the Nordwestblock culture, which may have been intermediary between Germanic and Celtic, and might have been affiliated to Italic (according to a Maurits Gysseling hypothesis).
Menapii – Cassel. A tribe of similar name, the Manapii (Manapioi), lived in southeastern Hibernia (modern Ireland) coast, they could have been two branches of the same tribe, two related tribes with common ancestors or two different tribes that shared similar names.
Suessetani - Far North Western Aragon and Far South Eastern Navarra (Spain), between the rivers Gallicus (Gállego) and Low Aragon, and between the river Ebro and Sierra de Santo Domingo mountains. Alba (Arba) river basin (a tributary of the Ebro) was in the centre of their territory that also included the Bardenas Reales. Corbio was their capital. They were north of the Celtiberians, south of the Iacetani and the Vascones, west of the Galli (tribe). They were later conquered by the Vascones in the 2nd Century B.C. which were allies of the Romans. Could have been related to the Suessiones (a tribe of the Belgae).[38]
Map 21: Peoples of northern Italy during the 4th to 3rd centuries BC. Ligurians are shown in the west coastal region (north coast of the Ligurian Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea) to the south of the Celts (shown in blue) and to the northwest of the Etruscans, in the left side of the map. (map names are in French)
Northern Mediterranean Coast straddling South-east French and North-west Italian coasts, including far Northern and Northwestern Tuscany and Corsica. Because of the strong Celtic influences on their language and culture, they were known already in antiquity as Celto-Ligurians (in Greek Κελτολίγυες, Keltolígues).[39] Very little is known about this language, Ligurian (mainly place names and personal names remain) which is generally believed to have been Celtic or Para-Celtic;[40][41] (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). They spoke ancient Ligurian.
Laevi – a Ligurian tribe that dwelt in the low river Ticinus (Ticino), according to both Livy & Pliny.[42] According to Livy (v. 34), they took part in the expedition of Bellovesus into Italy in the 6th century BC
Langates
Lapicini (or Lapicinii) – In the extreme northern regions of Liguria, as it was defined in Roman times, on a tributary of the Magra
Lusitanians (Lusitani/Bellitani) – Portugal south of the Douro and north of the Tagus, and northwestern Extremadura (Spain). They spoke Lusitanian, a now extinct language which was clearly Indo-European but the kinship of it as a Celtic language is not surely proven (although many tribal names and place names, toponyms, are Celtic). Attempts to classify the language have also pointed at an Italic origin[36] or some kinship to the Nordwestblock culture language (Ancient Belgian).[36] Hence Lusitanian language may have been a Para-Celtic Indo-European branch, like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). The Lusitanians have also been identified as being a pre-Celtic Indo-European speaking culture of the Iberian Peninsula closely related to the neighbouring Vettones tribal confederation.[33] However, under their controversial theory of Celtic originating in Iberia, John T Koch and Barry Cunliffe have proposed a para-Celtic identity for the Lusitanian language and culture or that they spoke an archaic Proto-Celtic language and were Proto-Celtic in ethnicity.
Tapori/Tapoli – river Tagus, around the border area of Portugal and Spain.
Veaminicori
Other Lusitanian tribes? (According to some scholars, these tribes were Lusitanians and not Vettones)[33]
Calontienses
Caluri
Coerenses
Vettones – Ávila and Salamanca (Spain), may have been a Pre-Celtic Indo-European people, closely related to the Lusitani. If their language was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). A tribal confederation.
Map 23: Hispania Baetica Roman province, Turdetani were the inhabitants in large parts of this province before Roman conquest along the Baetis or Rherkes river plain.
Today's Western Andalusia (Hispania Baetica), Baetis (Guadalquivir) river valley and basin, Marianus Mons (Sierra Morena), some consider them Celtic,[43] may have been Pre-Celtic Indo-European people as the Lusitani and Vettones. If their language, called Turdetanian or Tartessian, was not Celtic it may have been Para-Celtic like Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). Also may have been a non-Indo-European people related to the Iberians, but not the same people. A tribal confederation but with much more centralized power, may have formed an early form of Kingdom or a Proto-civilisation (see Tartessos)
Map 22: Roman district (probably not yet a full province by then) of Raetia et Vindelicia, as it stood in AD 14, with some Rhaeti tribal names (Breuni, Camunni, Isarci, Vennones or Vennonetes, Venostes).
They lived in Central Alps, eastern parts of present-day Switzerland, the Tyrol in Austria, and the Alpine regions of northern Italy. They spoke the Rhaetian language. There is evidence that the non-Celtic (and Pre-Indo-European) elements (see Tyrsenian languages) had, by the time of Augustus, been assimilated by the influx of Celtic tribes and had adopted Celtic speech.[51] In addition, the abundance of Celtic toponyms and the complete absence of Etruscan place names in the Rhaetian territory leads to the conclusion that, by the time of Roman conquest, the Rhaetians were completely Celticized.[52][better source needed]
Benlauni - Upper valley of fl. Aenus (r. Inn) in today's North Tirol, Austria, along with the Breuni (may have been older dwellers than the Breuni), not the same as the Breuni, Pons Aeni (modern Wasserburg) was their main centre.
Breuni / Brenni/Breones - Upper valley of fl. Aenus (r. Inn) in today's North Tirol, Austria, and Val Bregna and around Brenner Mountain; also may have been an Illyrian tribe and not a Rhaetian one.
Consuanetae / Cosuanetes/Cotuantii? - Upper and middle valley of fl. Isarus (r. Isar) (Bavarian Alps) in today's Upper Bavaria, Germany; also may have been a tribe of the Vindelici (a tribal confederacy), named Cotuantii (if they are the same).
Rucinates / Rucantii? - Between rivers Isarus (Isar) and Danuvius (Danube), Low Bavaria; also may have been a tribe of the Vindelici (a tribal confederation).
Rugusci / Ruigusci/Rucantii? Upper Engadin (fl. Aenus - r. Inn) in today's Grisons canton, Switzerland.
Suanetes / Suanitae / Sarunetes - Upper Rhenus (Upper Rhine) and Valley of r. Albula in today's Grisons canton, Switzerland.
Tridentini - in the middle Athesis (Adige) river basin.
Trumpilini / Trumplini - Val Trompia in today's Brescia Province, Italy; also may have been a tribe of the Euganei and not a Rhaetian tribe.
Vennonetes / Vennones / Vennonienses - Upper valley of fl. Rhenus (r. Rhine) in today's canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland; also may not have been a Rhaetian tribe but instead a tribe of the Vindelici (a tribal confederation).
^ abIoana A. Oltean, Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization, ISBN0-415-41252-8, 2007, p. 47.
^Andrea Faber, Körpergräber des 1.-3. Jahrhunderts in der römischen Welt: internationales Kolloquium, Frankfurt am Main, 19.-20. November 2004, ISBN3-88270-501-9, p. 144.
^Géza Alföldy, Noricum, Tome 3 of History of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, 1974, p. 69.
^A. Mocsy and S. Frere, Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. p. 14.
^Pannonia. A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. p. 14.
^Frank W. Walbank, Polybius, Rome and the Hellenistic World: Essays and Reflections,
ISBN0-521-81208-9, 2002, p. 116: "... in A7P 60 (1939) 452 8, is not Antigonus Doson but barbarians from the mainland (either Thracians or Gauls from Tylis) (cf. Rostovizef and Welles (1940) 207-8, Rostovizef (1941) 111, 1645), nor has that inscription anything to do with the Cavan expedition. On ..."
^Velika Dautova-Ruševljan and Miroslav Vujović, Rimska vojska u Sremu, 2006, p. 131: "extended as far as Ruma whence continued the territory of another community named after the Celtic tribe of Cornacates"
^Ion Grumeza, Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient Eastern Europe, ISBN0-7618-4465-1, 2009, p. 51: "In a short time the Dacians imposed their conditions on the Anerati, Boii, Eravisci, Pannoni, Scordisci,"
^John T. Koch, Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia, ISBN1-85109-440-7, 2006, p. 907.
^ abJ. J. Wilkes, The Illyrians, 1992, ISBN0-631-19807-5, p. 81: "In Roman Pannonia the Latobici and Varciani who dwelt east of the Venetic Catari in the upper Sava valley were Celtic but the Colapiani of ..."
^J. J. Wilkes, The Illyrians, 1992, ISBN0-631-19807-5, p. 140: "... Autariatae at the expense of the Triballi until, as Strabo remarks, they in their turn were overcome by the Celtic Scordisci in the early third century"
^Population and economy of the eastern part of the Roman province of Dalmatia, 2002, ISBN1-84171-440-2, p. 24: "the Dindari were a branch of the Scordisci"
^John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC, ISBN0-521-22717-8, 1992, p. 600: "In the place of the vanished Treres and Tilataei we find the Serdi for whom there is no evidence before the first century BC. It has for long been supposed on convincing linguistic and archeological grounds that this tribe was of Celtic origin"
^Dio Cassius, Earnest Cary, and Herbert B. Foster, Dio Cassius: Roman History, Vol. IX, Books 71–80 (Loeb Classical Library, No. 177), 1927, Index: "... 9, 337, 353 Seras, philosopher, condemned to death, 8. 361 Serdi, Thracian tribe defeated by M. Crassus, 6. 73 Seretium,""
^Dubravka Balen-Letunič, 40 godina arheoloških istraživanja u sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj, 1986, p. 52: "and the Celtic Serretes"
^Alan Bowman, Edward Champlin, and Andrew Lintott, The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 10: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC-AD 69, 1996, p. 580: "... 580 I3h. DANUBIAN AND BALKAN PROVINCES Tricornenses of Tricornium (Ritopek) replaced the Celegeri, the Picensii of Pincum ..."
^William M. Ramsay, Historical Commentary on Galatians, 1997, p. 302: "... these adaptable Celts were Hellenized early. The term Gallograecia, compared with Themistius' (p. 360) Γαλατία ..."
^Roger D. Woodard, The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor, 2008, p. 72: "... The Phrygian elite (like the Galatian) was quickly Hellenized linguistically; the Phrygian tongue was devalued and found refuge only ..."
^ abcdefghijPrifysgol Cymru, University of Wales, A Detailed Map of Celtic Settlements in Galatia, Celtic Names and La Tène Material in Anatolia, the Eastern Balkans, and the Pontic Steppes.
^ abGallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Book I, chapter 1
^ abcdeJorge de Alarcão, “Novas perspectivas sobre os Lusitanos (e outros mundos)”, in Revista portuguesa de Arqueologia, vol. IV, n° 2, 2001, p. 312 e segs.
^Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia (illustrated ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 198–200. ISBN1-85109-440-7, ISBN978-1-85109-440-0. ^ Jump up to: a b Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia (illustrated ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 224–225. ISBN1-85109-440-7, ISBN978-1-85109-440-0.
^The Osi's categorization as Celtic is disputed; see Osi; also may have been a Dacian or Germanic tribe.
^Adrian Goldsworthy, How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower, ISBN0-300-13719-2, 2009, p. 105: "... who had moved to the Hungarian Plain. Another tribe, the Bastarnae, may or may not have been Germanic. ..."
^Christopher Webber and Angus McBride, The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46 (Men-at-Arms), ISBN1-84176-329-2, 2001, p. 12: "... never got near the main body of Roman infantry. The Bastarnae (either Celts or Germans), and `the bravest nation on earth' – Livy ..."
^Charles Anthon, A Classical Dictionary: Containing The Principal Proper Names Mentioned In Ancient Authors, Part One, 2005, p. 539: "... Tor, " elevated," " a mountain. (Strabo, 293)"; "the Iapodes (Strabo, 313), a Gallo-Illyrian race occupying the valleys of ..."
^J. J. Wilkes, The Illyrians, 1992, ISBN0-631-19807-5, p. 79: "along with the evidence of name formulae, a Venetic element among the Japodes. A group of names identified by Alföldy as of Celtic origin: Ammida, Andes, Iaritus, Matera, Maxa,"
^J. J. Wilkes, Dalmatia, Tome 2 of History of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, 1969, pp. 154 and 482.
^Géza Alföldy, Noricum, Tome 3 of History of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, 1974, p. 24-5.
^Cowles Prichard, James (1841). Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind: 3, Volume 1. Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper. p. 240.
^Markey, Thomas (2008). Shared Symbolics, Genre Diffusion, Token Perception and Late Literacy in North-Western Europe. NOWELE.
Sims-Williams, Patrick. "The location of the Celts according to Hecataeus, Herodotus, and other Greek writers". In: Études Celtiques, vol. 42, 2016. pp. 7–32. [DOI:https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.2016.2467]; [www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_2016_num_42_1_2467]
External links
https://dc.uwm.edu/ekeltoi/ - electronic Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies by the Center for Celtic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Madeira, Azores, and Canary Islands were not occupied by the Romans. The Madeira and Azores islands were unoccupied until the Portuguese in the 15th century; the Canary islands, the Guanches occupied the territory until the Castilians.
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