Vindelicia

The Vindelici (Gaulish: ) were a Gallic people dwelling around present-day Augsburg (Bavaria) during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name

They are mentioned as by Horace (1st c. BC), as (; var. ) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD), as and (var. , , ) by Pliny (1st c. AD), Pliny. ''Naturalis Historia''
3:20
as by Tacitus (early 2nd c. AD), and as and on inscriptions., s.v. ''Vindelici''.

The ethnonym a latinized form of Gaulish (sing. ). It derives from the stem ('clear, white, bright'), probably after the name of an unattested river or . A hydronym is mentioned by Florus as an alternative name of the Soulgas ( Sorgue), in southeastern France. Alternatively, Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel has proposed to translate the name as 'those from the white rocks', by deriving the second element from Gaulish ('flat stone').

Geography

The Vindelici lived on the Upper Bavarian-Upper Swabian plateau, probably also in Vorarlberg and Tyrol, in a land stretching from the southern slopes of the Alps up to the Danube river. They later occupied the eastern part of the province of Raetia, in a region known by Ptolemy as '' Vindelicia''. Their territory was located west of the Catenates, south of the Raetovarii, north of the Licates., Map 12: Mogontiacum-Reginum-Lauriacum.

Their chief town during the Roman period was known as Augusta Vindelicum or Aelia Augusta (modern Augsburg). A first Roman military camp was occupied from 10 BC up until ca. 15 AD, when it was probably destroyed by flooding and relocated to the south. The second fort, abandoned in the 70–80s, was rapidly covered by the expanding civilian settlement. Augusta Vindelicum served at a time as the capital of Raetia and the residence of the provincial governor. It obtained the status of ''municipium'' under the emperor Hadrian (117–138 AD). From the reign of Diocletian (284–305), the city became the capital of Raetia secunda.

Political organization

In the narrow sense, the Vindelician people comprised four sub-tribes, listed on the Tropaeum Alpium: the Cosuanetes, Rucinates, Licates and Catenates.

In a broader sense, they included, as counted by Strabo, the Licattii, Clautenatii, Vennones, Estiones, and Brigantii, although this classification has been criticized as doubtful by some scholars. Rather than sub-tribes, they may have been '' pagi'' or clients of the Vindelici.

Despite the creation of Augusta Vindelicum, the Vindelici were only partially Romanized.

History

They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.

Early on, the Vindelici served as auxiliary soldiers in the Roman army, in the .

See also

* Oppidum of Manching
*Pfostenschlitzmauer
*Viereckschanze

References

Primary sources

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Bibliography

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{{Authority control

Historical Celtic peoples
Germany in the Roman era
Gauls
History of Bavaria
Tribes conquered by Rome
History of Swabia
History of Augsburg