The Auscii or Ausci were an
Aquitani tribe dwelling around present-day
Auch 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 ...
.
Alongside the
Tarbelli, they were one of the most powerful peoples of
Aquitania.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Ausci'' by
Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),
Pliny (1st c. AD) and
Pomponius Mela (mid-1st c. AD), and as ''Au̓skíois'' (Αὐσκίοις) by
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...
(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
Auch, 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
The Volcae () were a Gallic tribal confederation constituted before the raid of combined Gauls that invaded Macedonia c. 270 BC and fought the assembled Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 279 BC. Tribes known by the name Volcae were found s ...
, south of the
Lactorates, west of the
Atures.
The chief town of the Auscii was known as Elimberrum (modern
Auch), 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, a precursor of the
Basque language.
[Jacques Lemoine, ''Toponymie du Pays Basque Français et des Pays de l'Adour'', Picard 1977, ]
See also
*
Aquitani
*
Gallia Aquitania
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Aquitani
Basque history
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