The Tectosages or Tectosagii (

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, 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, ...

: *''Textosagioi'', 'Dwelling-Seekers', or 'Possessions-Seekers') were one of the three ancient Gallic tribes of Galatia in central

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, together with the Tolistobogii and Trocmii.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

, xxxviii. 16

Name

The

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

''Tectosagii'' is a latinized form of

*''Textosagioi'' (sing. ''Textosagios''), where the

voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''lo ...

⟨x⟩, unknown in Latin, was replaced with the sound ⟨k⟩. It can be translated as 'those who seek a dwelling', or 'those who seek possessions', from the Celtic stem ''*texto-'' ('goods, property, possessions'; cf.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

''techt'' 'possession') attached to ''sagi-'' ('who is seeking'). The name can be compared with the Old Irish legal term ''techtaigidir'', meaning 'to seek to establish (or reestablish) legal claim to land'.

History

According to

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 "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

, the Tectosages came originally from the region around Tolosa in

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

, where they had been part of the tribal confederation of the Volcae. During the Gallic invasion of the Balkans, c. 280 BC, a branch of the Volcae Tectosages, returning from

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

, split from the main group and joined two other tribes, the Tolistobogii and the Trocmi. Around 278 BC, they were hired as mercenaries by Nicomedes I of Bithynia and crossed the

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

. After leaving Bithynia, they raided in Asia Minor and finally settled in eastern

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

, where they established a new Celtic confederate identity as the Galatians. The Tectosages occupied the centre of the Galatian territory, round their capital Ancyra, with the Tolistobogii in the west and the Trocmii to the east.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{Gallic peoples Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Ancient Galatia History of Ankara Province

Name

History

References

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Further reading

External links