The Tulingi were a small tribe closely allied to the Celtic

Helvetii The Helvetii ( , Gaulish: *''Heluētī''), anglicized as Helvetians, were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Juliu ...

in the time of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a 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 a civil war, and ...

's conquest of Gaul. Their location is unknown; their language and descent are uncertain. From their close cooperation with the Helvetii it can be deduced that they were probably neighbours of the latter. At the

Battle of Bibracte The Battle of Bibracte was fought between the Helvetii and six Roman legions, under the command of Gaius Julius Caesar. It was the second major battle of the Gallic Wars. Prelude The Helvetii, a confederation of Gallic tribes, had begun a total ...

in 58 BCE, they were, with the

Boii The Boii (Latin plural, singular ''Boius''; grc, Βόιοι) were a Celtic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy), Pannonia (Hungary), parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia (after whom the ...

and a few other smaller tribes, allies of the

against the Roman legions of

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a 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 a civil war, and ...

. Ancient source material on the Tulingi is scarce. The only reference is Caesar, who relates that with the Helvetii and the others they burned their homes and became part of the column of migrants seeking a new country in southern France. The column was defeated by Julius Caesar in the opening campaign of the Gallic Wars, 58 BC. They were then returned to their homes, which they were compelled to rebuild. According to captured records in the Helvetian camp, the number of Tulingi, including fighting men, old men, women and children, had been 36,000, a small fraction of the total of 368,000, of which only 110,000 remained to return home after their surrender. The main possibility as to their identity is that they were Celtic. As the "-ing-" in Tulingi is also a frequently used suffix in forming Germanic tribal names, a second theory, that they were Germanic, developed. This was championed by

Rudolf Much Rudolf Much (7 September 1862 – 8 March 1936) was an Austrian philologist and historian who specialized in Germanic studies. Much was Professor and Chair of Germanic Linguistic History and Germanic Antiquity at the University of Vienna, d ...

and other authors who proposed the now-discredited theory of "Alpine Germanic" tribes in the late

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 ap ...

, to whom the Tulingi were counted. So far no Germanic etymology for the name has gained wider acceptance. The ancient Boii had been displaced from the Danube by the Germanics. Those in Gaul were a remnant, as the Tulingi may well have been. If they were, they might logically be found across the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sour ...

, 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 ...

. Why they did not ally with the Germanics, whom the Celts feared and disliked, remains unexplained. They appear briefly in

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in '' Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), t ...

' mention of the Helvetian campaign, manifestly based on Caesar. However, Orosius uses Latobrigi instead of Latovici. The "-brigi" would certainly identify a tribe with a Celtic name, and if they were Celtic, perhaps so were the Tulingi. It is possible that the tribe appears in an independent later source contradicting the Germanic theory. About 360 AD Rufus Festus Avienus in '' Ora Maritima'' mentions a number of peoples living on the upper Rhône in

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the Sw ...

. Among them were the Tylangii, who have been tentatively identified as the descendants of Caesar's Tulingi. They were not located across the Rhine, but to the south of

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

. Moreover, Avienus considers them

Ligurians The Ligures (singular Ligur; Italian: liguri; English: Ligurians) were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. Ancient Liguria corresponded more or less to the current Italian regi ...

. Some of the other names mentioned are ''Daliterni'', ''Clahilci'', neither of which is noticeably Germanic.

Notes

Bibliography

* {{Gallic peoples Historical Celtic peoples Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars Tribes conquered by Rome