Medulli

Last updated January 24, 2024

The Medulli (Gaulish: Medulloi) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper valley of Maurienne, around present-day Modane (Savoie), during the Iron Age and Roman period.

Name

They are mentioned as Medullorum by Vitruvius (late 1st c. BC),^[1]Méd(o)ulloi (Μέδ<ο>υλλοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),^[2]Medulli by Pliny (1st c. AD),^[3] and as Medoúllous (Μεδούλλους) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).^[4]^[5]

The ethnonym Medulli is a latinized form of Gaulish Medulloi. It is generally derived from the Celtic root medu-, meaning 'mead, alcoholic drink' (cf. Olr. mid, MW. medd, OBret. medot), and thus may be translated as 'those who drink mead'. This interpretation is encouraged by the mention, in Vitruvius' De architetura , of a "kind of water" (genus aquae) drunk by the Medulli.^[6]^[5] Alternatively, Javier de Hoz has proposed to glose the name as 'those who lived in the middle', or 'in the border woods', by connecting it to the root *medhi/u- ('middle').^[7]

Geography

The Medulli dwelled in the upper Maurienne valley, along the upper course of the Arc river, near the modern town of Modane (Amonada).^[8]^[9]^[10] Their territory was located east of the Graioceli (themselves east of the Vocontii), north of the Brigianii and Quariates, west of the Segusini, and south of the Ceutrones (themselves south of the Allobroges).^[11]

They belonged to the tribes governed by Cottius in Alpes Taurinae and were later integrated into the province of Alpes Cottiae.^[10]

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.^[10]^[3] They also appear on the Arch of Susa, erected by Cottius in 9–8 BC.^[12]

According to Vitruvius, they were particularly prone to suffer from goitre.^[10]

Among the Aquiculi in Italy and among the tribe of the Medulli in the Alps, there is a kind of water which causes goitre among those who drink it.
— Vitruvius 1934, De Architectura, 8:3:20.

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References

↑ Vitruvius. De architetura, 8:3:20.
↑ Strabo. Geōgraphiká , 4:1:11, 4:6:5.
1 2 Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.
↑ Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:10:7.
1 2 Falileyev 2010, s.v. Medulli.
↑ Delamarre 2003, p. 222.
↑ de Hoz 2005, p. 178.
↑ Prieur 1968, p. 78.
↑ Barruol 1969, pp. 334–337.
1 2 3 4 Dietz 2006.
↑ Talbert 2000, Map 17: Lugdunum.
↑ Barruol 1969, p. 32.

Primary sources

Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674993648.
Strabo (1923). Geography. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Jones, Horace L. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674990562.
Vitruvius (1934). On Architecture. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Granger, Frank. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674993099.

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.
de Hoz, Javier (2005). "Ptolemy and the linguistic history of the Narbonensis". In de Hoz, Javier; Luján, Eugenio R.; Sims-Williams, Patrick (eds.). New approaches to Celtic place-names in Ptolemy's Geography. Ediciones Clásicas. pp. 173–188. ISBN 978-8478825721.
Dietz, Karlheinz (2006). "Medulli". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e728780.
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.
Prieur, Jean (1968). La province romaine des Alpes Cottiennes. Impr. R. Gauthier. OCLC 834310867.
Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.