Dexivates

The Dexivates (Gaulish: Dexiuates) were a small Gallic tribe dwelling in the southern part of modern Vaucluse, near the present-day village of Cadenet, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name

The tribe is attested as Dexivatium (var.dexuia-) by Pliny in the 1st century AD. ^{[1] [2]}

The Gaulish ethnonym Dexiuates derives from the stem deksiu(o)- ('on the right, in the south, favourable'). A local goddess is also attested as Dexiua (Dea) or Dexsiua. The name Dexivates thus either means 'those who live in the south' (i.e. 'the Southerners'), or 'those of the goddess Dexiua' (i.e. 'Worshippers of Dexiua'), whose name could be translated as 'she who is on the right / in the south', whence 'the Favourable'. ^{[3] [4]}

Geography

The territory of the Dexivates was located in the Durance valley, south of the Luberon massif, in what is today known as the Pays d'Aigues  [ fr ]. ^{[5] [6]} They dwelled north of the Salyes and Anatilii, east of the Cavares, south of the Vocontii and Albici, and west of the Reii. ^[7] According to historian Guy Barruol, they were part of the Saluvian confederation. ^{[8] [9]}

Beyond are the canals leading out of the Rhone, famous as the work of Gaius Marius whose distinguished name they bear, Lake Mastromela and the town of Maritima of the Avatici, and above are the Stony Plains, where tradition says that Hercules fought battles, the district of the Anatilii, and inland those of the Dexivates and Cavares.

—  Pliny 1938. Naturalis Historia , 3.34.

Built in the 3rd–2nd century BC, the oppidum of Castellar de Cadenet (modern Cadenet) was probably the chief town of the Dexivates. ^{[5] [10]} The site was occupied until at least the 3rd century AD. ^[11] Another protohistorical oppidum was located in the castle of Cadenet  [ fr ], built in the Middle Ages on a former Gallic site. ^[12] The countryside was densely populated, with 38 rural sites identified from the Roman period. ^[10]

Culture

The Dexivates were influenced by Greek culture, as attested by a series of Gallo-Greek inscriptions referring to personal names, and the discovery of a large hoard of Massaliote coins at Castellar dated from the 3rd–2nd centuries BC. ^[13]

Religion

During the Roman period, the former oppidum of Castellar saw the creation of a shrine devoted to the goddess Dexiua, a local deity only found in the region and with a clear ethnic dimension. ^[10] The sanctuary was probably frequented by the local inhabitants between the 1st century BC and the end of the 3rd century AD. ^{[10] [4]} Her name could suggest that she was a deity of (good) fortune, ^[4] or else connected to a fecundity function which would be equivalent to the Roman cult of Bona Dea. ^[14] Dexiua is venerated once with the Roman god Mars in relation to the gift of axes, in an inscription dated to the 3rd century AD. Some scholars have proposed to see the couple as the protectors of the local community, although others contend that the association appears to be indirect and rather prompted by the needs of the dedicant. ^{[15] [4]}

d(onum) d(at) Quartus Mar(ti) securem Dexsive Quartus securem v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
[Quartus offers an axe to Mars as a gift, Quartus offers an axe to Dexsiva paying his vow willingly and deservedly]

— ILN III, 221 = CAG 84.2

Dexiua is also associated once with the Caudellenses, which was probably a collective designation for the local deities of Cadenet, or else for its inhabitants: ^{[15] [16] [4]}

Dexivae et Caudellensibus C(aius) Helvius Primus sedilia v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
[Gaius Helvius Primus paid his vow willingly and deservedly to Dexiva and to the Caudellenses in offering seats or benches]

— ILN III, 222 = CAG 84.2

Two inscriptions dedicated to the native god Lanovalus were found near a mountain stream called Laval (≈ Lavar), whose name is related to the deity. ^[17] Lanovalus has been interpreted as a healing god in the context of a water-related cult. ^[12] His name literally means 'Full Prince' (i.e. 'All-Powerful'), stemming from the Gaulish root lano- ('full') attached to the word ualos ('ruler, prince'). ^[18] An altar dedicated to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus is also known from the castle of Cadenet. ^[12]

Several representations of a human foot engraved on stelae are known from Castellar and its vicinity. Two conflicting interpretations have been proposed: a votive function (e.g. a mark let by pilgrims, or the foot of a divinity), or, more likely, a funerary function, by comparing with similar sites from southern Gaul. ^[19]

References

1. Pliny 1938. Naturalis Historia, 3:34.
2. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Dexivates.
3. Delamarre 2003, p. 143.
4. Beck 2013, pp. 55–56.
5. Barruol 1969, pp. 204–205.
6. Golosetti, Isoardi & Agusta-Boularot 2010, p. 110.
7. Talbert 2000, Map 15: Arelate-Massalia.
8. Barruol 1969, p. 188.
9. Rivet 1988, p. 16.
10. Golosetti 2017, pp. 180–181.
11. Isoardi, Mocci & Walsh 2009, p. 126.
12. Haeussler 2008, p. 181.
13. Golosetti 2017, pp. 175–178.
14. Haeussler 2008, p. 175.
15. Haeussler 2008, p. 180.
16. Golosetti, Isoardi & Agusta-Boularot 2010, p. 117.
17. Golosetti, Isoardi & Agusta-Boularot 2010, p. 116.
18. Delamarre 2003, pp. 196–197, 306.
19. Golosetti, Isoardi & Agusta-Boularot 2010, p. 113–115.

Primary sources

• Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN   9780674993648.

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.
• 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.
• Golosetti, Raphaël; Isoardi, Delphine; Agusta-Boularot, Sandrine (2010). "La déesse Dexiua du Castellar (Cadenet, Vaucluse). Confrontation des témoignages épigraphiques et des données archéologiques à l'occasion des premières fouilles" (PDF). Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise. 43 (1): 109–125. doi:10.3406/ran.2010.1802. S2CID   190102357.
• Golosetti, Raphaël (2017). "Cult Places at Former Oppida in South-East Gaul: Questions of Memory, Tradition and Identity". Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 36 (2): 171–195. doi:10.1111/ojoa.12111.
• Haeussler, Ralph (2008). "Pouvoir et religion dans un paysage gallo-romain: les cités d'Apt et d'Aix-en-Provence". In Haeussler, R. (ed.). Romanisation et épigraphie. Études interdisciplinaires sur l'acculturation et l'identité dans l'Empire romain. Éditions Mergoil. pp. 155–248. ISBN   978-2355180071.
• Isoardi, Delphine; Mocci, Florence; Walsh, Kevin (2009). "Un rempart à agger dans le sud de la France? L'oppidum du Castellar (Cadenet, Vaucluse)". Documents d'archéologie méridionale. Protohistoire du Sud de la France (32): 121–150. doi: 10.4000/dam.1916 . ISSN   0184-1068.
• 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.