The Auscii or Ausci were an Aquitani tribe dwelling around present-day Auch 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 ...

. Alongside the Tarbelli, they were one of the most powerful peoples of Aquitania.

Name

They are mentioned as ''Ausci'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), Pliny (1st c. AD) and Pomponius Mela (mid-1st c. AD), and as ''Au̓skíois'' (Αὐσκίοις) by

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 " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

(early 1st c. AD)., s.v. ''Auscii''. The ethnonym ''Auscii'' may be related to the prefix ''eusk''-, meaning 'Basque' in the Basque language ('' euskara''). The city of Auch, attested as ''civitas Auscius'' in the early 4th century AD, is named after the tribe.

Geography

Their territory was located north of the Onobrisates, west of the Cambolectri and

Volcae Tectosages The Volcae () were a Gallic tribal confederation constituted before the raid of combined Gauls that invaded Macedonia c. 270 BC and fought the assembled Greeks at the Battle of Thermopylae in 279 BC. Tribes known by the name Volcae were found s ...

, south of the Lactorates, west of the Atures. The chief town of the Auscii was known as Elimberrum (modern Auch), whose name can be compared to the Basque ''ili-berri'' ('new town').

Culture

It is believed that the Auscii spoke a form or dialect of the Aquitanian language, a precursor of the Basque language.Jacques Lemoine, ''Toponymie du Pays Basque Français et des Pays de l'Adour'', Picard 1977,

References

Bibliography

* * * * Aquitani Basque history {{europe-ethno-group-stub

Name

Geography

Culture

See also

References

Bibliography