Vediantii

The Vediantii were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling on the Mediterranean coast, near present-day Nice, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name

They are mentioned as Ou̓ediantíōn (Οὐεδιαντίων) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD), ^[1] and an oppidum Vediantiorum civitatis is documented by Pliny (1st c. AD). ^{[2] [3]}

The ethnonym Vediantii is probably Celtic. It has been interpreted as 'pertaining to the praying ones' (from the root wed- 'to pray' extended by a present participial formation -ie-nt-), ^{[4] [5]} as the 'Leaders' (from *wedʰ-yā 'guidance, leadership'), or else as the 'Sages' (from *weid-yā 'knowledge, doctrine'). ^{[6] [7]}

Geography

The Vediantii dwelled on the Mediterranean coast, between the Var river and the Mont Agel, around the Massaliote colony of Nikaea (modern Nice). ^[8] Their territory was located east of the Deciates and Nerusii, west of the Intimilii, and south of the Vesubiani. ^[9]

Their chief town was the oppidum Vediantiorum, known as Cemenelum by the 2nd century AD. Corresponding to modern Cimiez, now a neighbourhood of Nice, the settlement controlled an important trading route from the Mediterranean coast towards the hinterland and the Alps. The acropolis stood about two kilometres inland, north of the Massaliote port of Nice, at the starting point of routes leading into the Alpine hinterland, in a position from which its inhabitants could defend themselves against pirates and mountain raiders. ^[10] After the subjugation of the Ligurian tribes in 14 BC, Cemenelum became the centre of the local Roman military government, then served as the capital of the new Roman province from its creation by Nero in 63 AD. ^{[11] [12]}

The territory contained several ports, reflecting both land-based and maritime activity. In addition to Nice, a Massaliote trading post, local landing places recorded in the Itinerarium maritimum Antonini included Anao, Olivula and Avisio. Monaco (Portus Herculis Monoeci), another Massaliote port, also lay within their territory. Epigraphy records the name of a Gallo-Roman settlement in the hinterland, the vicus Cuntinus (modern Contes), whose inhabitants honoured a protective deity, Segomo Cuntinus. Another small settlement, vicus Navelis in the pagus Licirrus, is attested but cannot be precisely located, though it lay within the territory of the civitas of Cemenelum. ^[10]

History

Contrary to other tribes of the region, the Vediantii were probably allied or tributary to Massalia and the Roman Republic by the mid-2nd century BC. ^{[10] [13]} In 154 BC, when the Romans intervened on behalf of Massalia to free the Greek colonies of Nikaea and Antipolis (Antibes) from Ligurian groups obstructing land and sea communications, they subdued the Oxybii and Deciates west of the Var, but not the Vediantii. The inhabitants of Cemenelum, the indigenous capital of the Vediantii, likely maintained long-standing relations of good neighbourship with the Greek merchants at Nikaea, and nothing suggests that they were subdued together with the other coastal Ligurian tribes. Their traditional loyalty to Rome later led to the choice of Cemenelum to become the capital of the Alpes Maritimae after its foundation in 63 AD. ^[14]

The Vediantii are not mentioned in the Trophy of the Alps, suggesting that they were either already subjugated by or allied to Rome at the time of the conquest of the region in 14 BC. ^[15]

Religion

Three inscriptions dated to the 1st–2nd centuries AD and dedicated to the Matres Vediantiae, eponymous deities of the country and protectresses of its inhabitants, were found near Tourrette-Levens and Cimiez. ^{[10] [7]}

Matronis Vediantiabus P(ublius) Enistalius P(ublii) f(ilius) Cl(audia tribu) Paternus Cemenelensis optio ad ordine(m) (centurionis) leg(ionis) XXII Primigeniae Piae Fidelis l(ibens) m(erito)
[To the Matronae Vediantiae, Publius Enistalius Paternus, son of Publius, of the Claudia tribe, from Cemenelum, optio promoted to centurion in the legion XXII Primigenia Pia Fidelis, willingly and deservedly (offered this monument)]

—  Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) 5:07872.

References

1. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 3:1:39.
2. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:47.
3. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Vediantii.
4. Delamarre 2003, p. 309.
5. Isaac, Graham, "Place-Names in Ptolemy's Geography : An Electronic Data Base with Etymological Analysis of Celtic Name Elements". CD-ROM. 2004, CMCS Publications, Aberystwyth.
6. de Bernardo Stempel 2000, p. 91.
7. Beck 2013, pp. 54–55.
8. Barruol 1969, pp. 365–367.
9. Talbert 2000, Map 16: Col. Forum Iulii-Albingaunum.
10. Barruol 1969, pp. 366–367.
11. Rivet 1988, p. 341.
12. Jannet-Vallat 2004, pp. 405–407.
13. Barruol 1969, p. 373.
14. Barruol 1969, pp. 366–367, 373.
15. Jannet-Vallat 2004, p. 406.

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.
• Beck, Noémie (2013). "Celtic Divine Names Related to Gaulish and British Population Groups". In Hofeneder, Andreas; de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia (eds.). Théonymie celtique, cultes, interpretatio - Keltische Theonymie, Kulte, Interpretatio. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 51–72. ISBN   978-3-7001-7369-4. JSTOR   j.ctv8mdn28.7.
• de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia (2000). "Ptolemy's Celtic Italy and Ireland: A linguistic analysis". In Parsons, David N.; Sims-Williams, Patrick (eds.). Ptolemy: Towards a Linguistic Atlas of the Earliest Celtic Place-names of Europe. CMCS. pp. 83–112. ISBN   978-0952747833.
• 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.
• Jannet-Vallat, Monique (2004). "Cimiez / Cemelenum (Alpes-Maritimes)". Supplément à la Revue archéologique du centre de la France. 25 (1): 405–410. ISSN   1951-6207.
• Rivet, A. L. F. (1988). Gallia Narbonensis: With a Chapter on Alpes Maritimae : Southern France in Roman Times. Batsford. ISBN   978-0-7134-5860-2.
• Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0691031699.