The Caeracates (

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, 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 ...

: *''Caeracatis'', 'the shepherds' or 'sheep-folk') were small tribe dwelling in

Gallia Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and Germany. In 50 BC, af ...

during the

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

. Like the

Aresaces The Aresaces were Belgic tribe. They were closely related to, and probably originally part of, the Treveri. They inhabited the left bank of the Rhine in the Mainz -Bingen area, which was once the easternmost part of Treveran territory. Written s ...

, they were probably a sub-tribe (''

pagus In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...

'') of the larger

Treveri The Trēverī (Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringe ...

, since they were too small to form their own ''

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

''.

Name

They are mentioned by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

(early 2nd c. AD) as ''Caeracatium'' and ''Caeracatibus''.

''. Historiae'', 4:70. The

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 used ...

''Caeracates'' is a latinized form of

*''Caeracatis''. It derives from a stem ''*caerac''-, meaning 'ewe' or a similar animal (cf.

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 writt ...

gen. ''caerach'' 'ewe',

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

''caeriwrch'' '

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

'), attached to the suffix ''-atis'' ('belonging to'). It thus means 'those of the sheep', that is to say 'the shepherds' or 'sheep-folk'. ''Caeracates'' is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

with other Celtic tribal names such as the

Belgic Belgic may refer to: * an adjective referring to the Belgae, an ancient confederation of tribes * a rarer adjective referring to the Low Countries or to Belgium * , several ships with the name * Belgic ware Aylesford-Swarling pottery is part of a ...

Caeroesi The Caerosi (or Caeroesi) were a small Belgic- Germanic tribe dwelling in Gallia Belgica during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their ethnic identity remains uncertain. Caesar described them as part of the Germani Cisrhenani, but their tribal ...

'', the

Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

Caereni The Caereni were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural envir ...

'', and the

Pictish Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...

''Kairênoi'' (Καιρηνοί).

History

Tacitus mentioned them in his account of the

Batavian revolt The Revolt of the Batavi took place in the Roman province of Germania Inferior between AD 69 and 70. It was an uprising against the Roman Empire started by the Batavi, a small but militarily powerful Germanic tribe that inhabited Batavia, on ...

of 69–70 AD. They were called up, along with the

Vangiones The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenance. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near ...

and the

Triboci In classical antiquity, the Triboci or Tribocci were a Germanic people of eastern Gaul, inhabiting much of what is now Alsace. Name Besides the forms Triboci and Tribocci, Schneider has the form “Triboces” in the accusative plural. Pliny ha ...

Name

History

References

Primary sources

Bibliography