Nantuates

The Nantuates or Nantuatae (Gaulish: 'those of the valley') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in present-day Canton of Valais and adjacent areas of modern France during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Along with the Veragri, Seduni and Uberi, they were part of the Vallenses, a group of tribes living between the Lake Geneva and the Pennine Alps in the in the modern canton of Valais (Switzerland).[1]

Name

They are mentioned as Nantuates (var. nantuatis, antuatis), <N>antuatibus and Nantuatium by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[2] Nantuates by Pliny (1st c. AD),[3] Nantoua͂tai (Ναντουᾶται) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[4] and as Nantuani on the Tabula Peutingeriana (5th c. AD).[5][6]

The Gaulish ethnonym Nantuates literally means 'those of the valley'. It stems from the root nantu- ('valley, stream'; cf. Middle Welsh nant 'valley, water-course, stream', OCorn. nans 'vallis') extended by the suffix -ates ('belonging to').[7][8]

Geography

The Nantuates dwelled in the upper Rhône valley, between Lake Geneva and the Rhône glacier.[9] Their territory was located northeast of the Allobroges, north of the Veragri, east of the Seduni, and south of the Helvetii.[10] After the Roman conquest in 16–15 BC, their territory was initially administered in common with Raetia et Vindelicia under a legatus, then integrated into the Alpes Graiae et Poeninae by Claudius (41–54 AD).[1]

Their chief town was Tarnaiae (modern Massongex).[9]

History

The territory of the Vallenses was occupied by the Roman forces of Augustus after the Alpine campaign of 16–15 BC.[1] The Nantuates are mentioned in the Trophy of the Alps.[3]

References
  1. Graßl 2006.
  2. Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 3:1, 3:6, 4:10.
  3. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:137.
  4. Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:6:6.
  5. Tabula Peutingeriana, 2:3.
  6. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Nantuates.
  7. Kruta 2000, p. 71.
  8. Delamarre 2003, pp. 231–232.
  9. Lafond 2006.
  10. Talbert 2000, Map 18: Augustonemetum-Vindonissa.

Bibliography
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
  • Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
  • Graßl, Herbert (2006). "Vallenses". Brill’s New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1228280.
  • Kruta, Venceslas (2000). Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire : des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme. Robert Laffont. ISBN 2-221-05690-6.
  • Lafond, Yves (2006). "Nantuatae". Brill’s New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e816680.
  • Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
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