The Ambarri were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Ain department 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 ...

and the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Ambarri'' and ''Ambarros'' 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),

. ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico''
1:111:14
. and as ''Ambarros'' by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

(late-1st c. BC),

. ''Ab Urbe Condita Libri''
5:34:5
, s.v. ''Ambarri''. The

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...

''Ambarri'' could mean 'on both sides of the

Saône river The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name d ...

', stemming from the

suffix ''amb-'' ('around') attached to the

pre-Celtic The pre-Celtic period in the prehistory of Central Europe and Western Europe occurred before the expansion of the Celts or their culture in Iron Age Europe and Anatolia (9th to 6th centuries BC), but after the emergence of the Proto-Celtic lang ...

name of the Saône river, ''Arar''. It has also been interpreted as a contraction of ''Ambi-barii'' ('the very-angry'), formed with the intensifying Gaulish suffix ''ambi-'' attached to ''bar(i)o-'' ('wrath, fury, passion'; cf. Welsh ''am-far'' 'mad rage',

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writte ...

''barae'' 'fury, anger'). The cities of

Ambérieu-en-Bugey Ambérieu-en-Bugey (; frp, Ambèriô) is a commune in the department of Ain, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. It is the largest town in the arrondissement of Belley and the capital of the Canton of Ambérieu-en-Bugey which consists ...

, attested ca. 853 as ''Ambariacus'' (''Ambayreu'' in 1240), Ambérieux-en-Dombes, attested in 501 as ''Ambariaco'' (''Ambaireu'' in 1226), and Ambérieux, attested in 892 as ''Ambariacum'', are named after the Gallic tribe. They originally derive from a form ''Ambarria'' attached to the suffix ''-acos''.

Geography

The Ambarri occupied a tract in the valley of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

, probably in the angle between the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name d ...

and the Rhône; and their neighbors on the east were the

Allobroges The Allobroges (Gaulish: *''Allobrogis'', 'foreigner, exiled'; grc, Ἀλλοβρίγων, Ἀλλόβριγες) were a Gallic people dwelling in a large territory between the Rhône river and the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman period. ...

. They are mentioned by

(v. 34) with the Aedui among those Galli who were said to have crossed the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

into

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in the time of Tarquinius Priscus. They are not mentioned among the ''clientes'' of the Aedui. (''B. G.'' vii. 75.)

History

According to Roman historian Titus Livius, the Ambarri joined

Bellovesus Bellovesus (Gaulish: 'Worthy of Power') is a legendary Gallic chief of the Bituriges, said to have lived ca. 600 BC. According to a legend recounted by Livy, the king Ambigatus sent his sister's sons Bellovesus and Segovesus in search of new lan ...

' legendary migrations ca. 600 BC towards Italy:

Julius 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 ...

calls them close allies and kinsmen of the

Aedui The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; grc, Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Burgundy region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic a ...

: They are also mentioned by Caesar along the Aedui and the Allobroges:

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Gallic peoples Gauls Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars Historical Celtic peoples Ain