The Diablintes or Aulerci Diablites (also ''Diablintres'' or ''Diablindes'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the north of the modern

Mayenne Mayenne () is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and I ...

department 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 part of the Aulerci.

Name

They are mentioned as ''Diablintes'' (var. ''Diablintres'', ''Diablindes'') 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), ''Diablinti'' by

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

(1st c. AD), ''Aúlírkioi hoi'' ''Diablítai'' or ''Diaultai'' (Αύλίρκιοι οἱ Διαβλίται/Διαυλται) 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), and as ''Diablentas'' by

Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in ''Bracara Augusta'' (now Braga, Portugal), t ...

(early 5th c. AD). The meaning of the name is unclear.

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 ...

has proposed a connection with the

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celt ...

root ''*dwēblo-'' ('double'; cf.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writte ...

''díabul''), attached to an ''-e-nt-'' participial suffix, or perhaps to ''*anto-''/''*ento-'' ('face'; cf. Old Irish ''étan''; also Bret. ''Daou-dal'' 'two-faced'). The city of Jublains, attested ca. 400 as ''civitas Diablintum'' ('

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

of the Diablintes', ''Jublent'' ca. 1100) is named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

Julius 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 ...

(''B. G.'' iii. 9) mentions the Diablintes among the allies of the Veneti and other Armoric states whom Caesar attacked. The Diablintes are mentioned between the

Morini The Morini (Gaulish: "sea folk, sailors") were a Belgic coastal tribe dwelling in the modern Pas de Calais region, around present-day Boulogne-sur-Mer, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Morini'' by Caesar ( ...

and

Menapii The Menapii were a Belgic tribe dwelling near the North Sea, around present-day Cassel, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name Attestations They are mentioned as ''Menapii'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC) and Orosius (early 5th c. AD ...

. The territory of the Diablintes seems to have been small, and it may have been included in that of the Cenomanni, or the former diocese of Mans. ( D'Anville, ''Notice, &c.''; Walekenaer, ''Géog., &c.'' vol. i. p. 387.) Their position can be calculated from Pliny's enumeration, Cariosvelites, Diablindi,

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), duri ...

. The capital of the Diablintes, according to Ptolemy, was

Noeodunum Jublains () is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. History Jublains, formerly spelled Jubleins, is the site of ancient Noeodunum (also spelled Noiodunum or Noviodunum), the capital of the ancient Gallic tribe of the ...

, probably the Nudium of the

Table Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

. The Notitia of the Gallic provinces, which belongs to the commencement of the fifth century, mentions ''Civitas Diablintum'' among the cities of Lugdunensis Tertia. A document of the seventh century speaks of ''condita Diablintica'' as situated in ''Pago Cenomannico'' (about modern

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

), and thus one location of the Diablintes is clear. This document also helps explain why Ptolemy used the name ''Aulerci'' for both the Diablintes and Cenomanni. Another document of the seventh century speaks of ''oppidum Diablintes juxta ripam Araenae fiuvioli''; where the Arena (''araenae'') is recognised as the

Aron Aron may refer to: Characters *Aron (comics), from the Marvel Universe comic ''Aron! HyperSpace Boy!'' *Aron (Pokémon), in the ''Pokémon'' franchise * Aron Trask, from John Steinbeck's novel ''East of Eden'' *Áron or Aaron, the brother of Mos ...

, a tributary of the

. The small town of Jublains (or Jubleins), where

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

remains have been found, not far from the town of

to the southeast, is probably the site of the ''Civitas Diablintum'' and ''Noeodunum'' (also rendered ''Noiódounon;'' Νοιόδουνον). A wooden tablet found in London records the sale of one Fortunata, a Diablintian slave girl.''The Real Lives of Roman Britain'' Guy De la Bédoyère, Yale University Press, 2015, page 54.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul History of Mayenne