Rhedones

The Redones or Riedones (Gaulish: ''Rēdones'', later ''Riedones'', 'chariot- or horse-drivers') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the eastern part of the Armorican peninsula (modern Brittany), around their chief town Condate (modern Rennes), during the Iron age and the Roman period.

They subjugated to the Roman forces of Publius Licinius Crassus (son of the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus) in 57 BC, but provided men to the Gallic coalition led by Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia in 52.

Name

They are mentioned as ''R dones'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), ''Rhedones'' (var. ''r edones'', ''s idones'') by Pliny (1st c. AD), ''Rhiḗdones'' (‛Ριήδονες; var. ‛Ρηήδονες), ''Rhḗdones'' (Ῥήδονες) and ''Rhēḯdones'' (Ῥηΐδονες) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD), and as ''Redonas'' in the '' Notitia Dignitatum'' (5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Riedones,'' ''Condate Redonum'' and ''Civitas Riedonum''. Their chief town is also attested on inscriptions as ''civ]itas Ried num''_and_''[civtas_Ried[onum.html" ;"title="iv.html" ;"title="num'' and ''[civ">num'' and ''[civtas Ried[onum">iv.html" ;"title="num'' and ''[civ">num'' and ''[civtas Ried[onum'.

The Gaulish ethnonym ''Rēdones'' means 'chariot-drivers' or 'horse-riders'. It stems from the Proto-Celtic language, Celtic root ''rēd-'' ('to ride, esp. a horse or horse-led chariot'; cf. Gallo-Lat. ''rēda'' 'chariot', OIr. ''ríad'' 'riding, driving, journey'; also Gallo-Lat. ''paraue-redus'' 'work-horse' and ''ue-rēdus'' 'post horse', MW. ''gorwydd'' 'horse') attached to the suffix -''ones''.

The original ''Rēdones'' led to a form ''Riedones'' after diphthongisation. Following the discovery of inscriptions featuring this variant in the 1960s, some historians, including Anne-Marie Rouanet-Liesenfelt and Louis Pape, have argued that the form ''Riedones'' should be preferred over ''Redones'' in scholarship, which is not necessary according to linguist Pierre-Yves Lambert.

The city of Rennes, attested ca. 400 AD as ''civitas Redonum'' (' civitas of the Redones'; ''Redonas'' in 400–441; ''Rennes'' in 1294) is named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

They dwelled in the eastern part of the Armorican peninsula (modern Brittany). Although they controlled a narrow coastline in the southern part of the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay, they did not have a direct opening to maritime trade. Caesar mentions them among the ''civitates maritimae'' or '' Aremoricae''. Their territory was located east of the Coriosolites, north of the Namnetes, west of the Aulerci Diablintes, and southwest of the Venelli and Abrincatui., Map 7: Aremorica.

Their chief town was known as Condate Redonum (modern Rennes).

History

After the bloody fight on the Sambre (57 BC) Julius Caesar sent Publius Licinius Crassus with a single legion into the country of the Veneti, Redones, and other Celtic tribes between the Seine River and the Loire, all of whom submitted. ( ''B. G.'' ii. 34.) Caesar here enumerates the Redones among the maritime states whose territory extends to the Atlantic Ocean. In 52 BC the Redones with their neighbors sent a contingent to attack Caesar during the siege of Alesia. In this passage also (''B. G.'' vii. 75), the Redones are enumerated among the states bordering on the ocean, which in the Celtic language were called the Armoric States. D'Anville supposes that their territory extended beyond the limits of the diocese of Rennes into the dioceses of St. Malo and Dol-de-Bretagne.

References

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{{Gallic peoples

Historical Celtic peoples
Gauls
Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul
Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars
Armorica