The Nemetes (occasionally ''Nemeti'') were a tribe settled along the Upper Rhine by

Ariovistus Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul, assisting the Arverni and Sequani in defeating their rivals, the Aedui. They t ...

in the 1st century BC. Their capital, ''Noviomagus Nemeton'' (or ''Civitas Nemetum''), was close to the site of medieval Speyer. Their area of settlement was the contact zone between Celtic (Gaulish) and Germanic peoples. According to Tacitus, the Nemetes were "unquestionably Germanic". The name of the tribe, however, is

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

as the name of its main town ''Noviomagus'' meaning ''noviios'' 'new' and ''magos'' 'plain', 'market' (cf.

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 ...

''maes'' 'field', Old Irish ''mag'' 'plain'), as are those of several gods worshipped in their territory, including Nemetona, who is thought to have been their eponymous deity.John T. Koch (2006). ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia.'' ABC-CLIO, p. 1351. Both of these names are taken to be derivations from the Celtic stem '' nemeto-'' "sacred grove".Xavier Delamarre (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise.'' Éditions Errance, p. 233. In '' De Bello Gallico'',

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, 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 Caes ...

writes that the Hercynian Forest "begins at the frontiers of the

Helvetii The Helvetii ( , Gaulish: *''Heluētī''), anglicized as Helvetians, were a Celts, Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their Switzerland in the Roman era, contact with the Roman Republic in the ...

, Nemetes, and Rauraci, and extends in a right line along the river Danube to the territories of the

Daci Daci may refer to: *Nexhat Daci, speaker of Assembly of Kosovo from 2001 to 2006 *Dacians The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located ...

and the Anartes". Their territory on the left bank of the Rhine had belonged to the Mediomatrici during the time of Caesar and

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 see ...

, but the Nemetes must have crossed the river and settled there sometime afterward. Under the Roman administrative organization of Gaul, the Nemetes constituted a ''

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 ...

'' of the province of

Upper Germany Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio ...

with a relatively small territory extending from the Rhine into the Palatinate Forest and an administrative centre at Speyer. Ptolemy mentions ''Neomagus'' (i.e. ''Noviomagus'') and ''Rufiniana'' as the towns of the Nemetes; if the latter is to be identified with

Rouffach Rouffach (; German and Alsatian: ''Rufach'') is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Rouffach lies along the Alsatian wine route (''Route des Vins d'Alsace''). Its vineyards produce one of the finest Al ...

, Ptolemy is mistaken in attributing it to the Nemetes, for Rouffach is far to the south in Rauracan territory. It may also be supposed that ''Saletio'' ( Seltz) belonged to the Nemetes, as in modern times it belonged to the diocese of Speyer; Saletio would have been near the northern limits of the Triboci, whose ''civitas'' later became the diocese of Strasbourg. The Nemetes fought alongside the Romans and

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 ...

against the Chatti when the latter invaded in 50 AD. The name of the Nemetes has been suggested, on contestable grounds, as a possible source of the term for Germany and German people in ro, nemți/neamț, hu, német(ek) and the Slavic languages (russian: немцы ''nyemtsy'', uk, німці ''nimtsi'', pl, Niemcy, cs, Němci).''The Journal of Indo-European studies'' 1974
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{{Gallic peoples Historical Celtic peoples Early Germanic peoples Gauls Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul

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