The Nearchi were an ancient tribe dwelling in lower
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Nearchi'' by
Rufus Festus Avienus (4th c. CE).
The ethnonym can be compared with the Ancient Greek personal name ''
Néarkhos'' (Νέαρχος; Latin ''Nearchus''). It may have originally referred to a local settlement founded in southern Gaul by a Greek explorer bearing this name, then applied to the nearby tribe.
History
Historian
Guy Barruol
Guy Barruol (born 10 June 1934) is a French historian and archaeologist. He is director of research emeritus at the CNRS.
Biography
Guy Barruol was born on 10 June 1934 in Mazan, Vaucluse, the son of Jean Barruol (1898–1982), a local histo ...
argues that the great age of the sources used by Avienus could make the Nearchi one of the earliest documented tribes of lower Provence along with the Salyes. According to scholar Michael Dietler, however, even though Avienus' ''Ora Maritima'', which was composed in the fourth century CE, "is thought to have been derived from a ''
periplus
A periplus (), or periplous, is a manuscript document that lists the ports and coastal landmarks, in order and with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. In that sense, the periplus wa ...
'' written by a
Massalian sailor of the sixth or fourth century BCE", it "can hardly be used as evidence of the earlier presence of this name" since the text contains "many anachronisms and errors".
Geography
From what can be inferred from Avienus' account, the Nearchi dwelled in lower Provence, near the Salyes and the Rhône river. Their territory was probably situated in the
Crau
The Crau is the ancient confluence of the Durance and Rhône, and constitutes their vast flat alluvial fan.
Agriculture
The Crau is composed of two different parts:
The dry Crau is in the south, and has been used as pasture from Roman times. Th ...
region, between the Rhône delta and the
Alpilles
The Chaîne des Alpilles is a small range of low mountains in Provence, southern France, located about south of Avignon.
Geography
The range is an extension of the much larger Luberon range. Although it is not high - some 498 m (1,634 ...
. According to Barruol, they were part of the
Saluvian confederation.
''Berginè'', the name of their chief town, has been traditionally identified with ' (near modern
Tarascon
Tarascon (; ), sometimes referred to as Tarascon-sur-Rhône, is a commune situated at the extreme west of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Inhabitants are referred to as Tarasconnais or Taras ...
), in the western part of the Alpilles. The name is most likely linked to ''Bergion'', the eponymous local fortress of the mythical hero
Bergion.
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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{{Ligurian peoples
Gauls
Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul
Historical Celtic peoples