Acitavones

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. 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

• Barruol, Guy (1969). Les Peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: étude de géographie historique. E. de Boccard. OCLC   3279201.
• Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN   9782877723695.
• Evans, D. Ellis (1967). Gaulish Personal Names: A Study of Some Continental Celtic Formations. Clarendon Press. OCLC   468437906.
• 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.
• Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0691031699.