The Helveconae, or Helvaeonae, or Helvecones, or Aelvaeones, or Ailouaiones were a
Germanic tribe mentioned by Roman authors. They are possibly connected to the
Hilleviones of
Naturalis Historia by
Pliny the Elder. The Helveconae as such (manuscript variant Helvaeonae) are one of the tribal states of the
Lugii
The Lugii (or ''Lugi'', ''Lygii'', ''Ligii'', ''Lugiones'', ''Lygians'', ''Ligians'', ''Lugians'', or ''Lougoi'') were a large tribal confederation mentioned by Roman authors living in ca. 100 BC–300 AD in Central Europe, north of the Sude ...
mentioned by
Tacitus in
Germania
Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
. The Lugii were located in the
Silesia area (today
Poland). Their ethnicity is speculative. Subsequent authors, such as
Johann Jacob Hofmann, 1635-1706, identified the people of Tacitus with a people of
Ptolemy, the Ailouaiones in Greek, which has been Latinized to Aelvaeones. Perhaps the scholars innovated Helvecones, which is not attested in classical times.
[However, neither is Helveconae, which occurs only in the accusative plural case, Helveconas. Encyclopedists customarily list names in the nominative case, for which Helveconas could have been taken.]
See also
*
List of Germanic peoples
Notes
{{Germanic peoples
Early Germanic peoples
Lugii
Iron Age peoples of Europe