Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient 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, most of Switze ...
: *''Mandubioi'') were a small Gallic tribe dwelling near their chief town Alesia, in modern Côte-d'Or, during the
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 mostl ...
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, an ...
(mid-1st c. BC), and the tribe is designated as ''Mandoubíōn'' (Μανδουβίων) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD)., s.v. ''Mandubii''.
The ethnonym ''Mandubii'' is a latinized form of
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient 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, most of Switze ...
*''Mandubioi'' (sing. *''Mandubios''). It is generally seen as stemming from the root ''mandu-'' ('pony'). Alternatively,
Pierre-Yves Lambert Pierre-Yves Lambert (born 30 May 1949) is a French linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. He is a researcher at the CNRS and a lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Celtic linguistics and philology. Lambert is the director of the j ...
has proposed to compare the name with the Welsh ''mathru'' ('trample upon'). The second element may be related to the second element of the vulgar Latin ''vidubium'' 'billhook' (a loan from Gaulish) and mean 'beaters' or 'strikers'.
Geography
The territory of the Mandubii was located in the Haux-Aixois region, between the settlements of Alesia in the north,
Blessey
Blessey () is a former commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. On 1 January 2009, Blessey was merged with Saint-Germain-Source-Seine to form the new commune of Source-Seine.Braux in the west, and Sombernon in the southeast. During the reign of the Roman emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
, their small territory was incorporated into the Lingonian territory. In the unstable period following the death of
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...
in 68 AD, the Mandubii were excluded from the Lingonian territory and attached to the
Aedui
The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; grc, Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Burgundy region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic a ...
.
History
Mandubian ceramics are attested in Villaines-les-Prévôtes by the 2nd century BC. While under the influence of the neighbouring and more powerful
Aedui
The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; grc, Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Burgundy region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic a ...
and
Lingones
The Lingones (Gaulish: 'the jumpers') were a Gallic tribe of the Iron Age and Roman periods. They dwelled in the region surrounding the present-day city of Langres, between the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis and Gallia Belgica.
Name
Attes ...
, the Mandubii benefited from a relative autonomy (at least economic and cultural) before the Roman conquest.