The Auscii or Ausci were an

Aquitani The Aquitani were a tribe that lived in the region between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic ocean, and the Garonne, in present-day southwestern France in the 1st century BCE. The Romans dubbed this region ''Gallia Aquitania''. Classical authors such a ...

tribe dwelling around present-day

Auch Auch (; oc, label= Gascon, Aush ) is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Occitanie, it is the capital of the Gers department. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony. Geography Localization Hydrography The R ...

during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. Alongside the

Tarbelli The Tarbelli were an Aquitani tribe dwelling in the present-day regions of Labourd and Chalosse, in the west of Aquitania, during the Iron Age. Alongside the Auscii, they were one of the most powerful peoples of Aquitania. They were subjugated ...

, they were one of the most powerful peoples of

Aquitania Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Galli ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Ausci'' by

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

(mid-1st c. BC), Pliny (1st c. AD) and

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...

(mid-1st c. AD), and as ''Au̓skíois'' (Αὐσκίοις) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD)., s.v. ''Auscii''. The ethnonym ''Auscii'' may be related to the prefix ''eusk''-, meaning 'Basque' in the Basque language ('' euskara''). The city of

, attested as ''civitas Auscius'' in the early 4th century AD, is named after the tribe.

Geography

Their territory was located north of the Onobrisates, west of the Cambolectri and Volcae Tectosages, south of the Lactorates, west of the Atures. The chief town of the Auscii was known as Elimberrum (modern

), whose name can be compared to the Basque ''ili-berri'' ('new town').

Culture

It is believed that the Auscii spoke a form or dialect of the

Aquitanian language The Aquitanian language was the language of the ancient Aquitani, spoken on both sides of the western Pyrenees in ancient Aquitaine (approximately between the Pyrenees and the Garonne, in the region later known as Gascony) and in the areas south ...

, a precursor of the Basque language.Jacques Lemoine, ''Toponymie du Pays Basque Français et des Pays de l'Adour'', Picard 1977,

References

Bibliography

* * * * Aquitani Basque history {{europe-ethno-group-stub

Name

Geography

Culture

See also

References

Bibliography