The Turoni or Turones were a Gallic tribe of dwelling in the later

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...

region 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 mostly ...

and the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. They were among the first tribes to give support to the Gallic coalition against Rome led by

Vercingetorix Vercingetorix (; Greek: Οὐερκιγγετόριξ; – 46 BC) was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Despite ha ...

in 52 BC, then to the

revolt of Sacrovir The Revolt of Sacrovir, also called the Florus-Sacrovir Revolt, was a Gallic uprising against Roman authorities led by Julius Sacrovir of the Aedui and Julius Florus of the Treveri in AD 21. Motivated by financial woes, the two chieftains refused ...

in 21 AD.

Name

They are mentioned as ''Turonos'' and ''Turonis'' by

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), ''Turones'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), ''Turoni'' by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

(early 2nd c. AD), and as ''Touroúpioi'' (Τουρούπιοι, var. τουρογιεῖς) by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(2nd c. AD). A

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

from the ancient records of Britain, cited by

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...

Nennius Nennius – or Nemnius or Nemnivus – was a Welsh monk of the 9th century. He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the '' Historia Brittonum'', based on the prologue affixed to that work. This attribution is widely considere ...

, and the anonymous author of Jesus College MS LXI, attributed the name to Turnus, a nephew of

Brutus of Troy Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British history as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the '' Historia Brittonum'', an anony ...

who was buried there after dying in battle protecting the Britons from King Goffar of Aquitaine and the Poitevins. The city of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

, attested in the 6th c. AD as ''apud Toronos'' (''in civitate Turonus'' in 976, ''Turonis'' in 1205, ''Tors'' in 1266), and the

region, attested in 774 as ''Turonice civitatis'' (''in pago Turonico'' in 983, ''vicecomes Turanie'' in 1195–96, ''Touraine'' in 1220), are named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

The Turoni on the middle reaches of the Loire river. It spanned the modern department of

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Indre Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...

and Vienne. Their territory was located south of the Cenomani, east of the Andecavi and the Pictones. Before the Roman conquest, the main

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

of the tribe was probably the oppidum of Fondettes, or possibly the one which was found behind the Amboise Castle, called ''Oppidum des Châtelliers''. During the Roman era, the chief town of the Turonian territory was

Caesarodunum Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metropoli ...

, corresponding the modern city of Tours.

References

Bibliography

* * * Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul History of Tours, France {{AncientRome-stub