The Bodiocasses or Baiocasses were an ancient Gallic tribe of the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. They were a tribal division of the ''

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 Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

'' of the

Lexovii The Lexovii (Gaulish: *''Lexsouioi'', 'the leaning, lame'), were a Gallic tribe dwelling immediately west of the mouth of the Seine, around present-day Lisieux, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Lexovii'' ...

, in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Gallia Lugdunensis () was a province of the Roman Empire in what is now the modern country of France, part of the Celtic territory of Gaul formerly known as Celtica. It is named after its capital Lugdunum (today's Lyon), possibly Roman Europe's major city west of ...

Name

Attestations

They are mentioned as ''Bodiocasses'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), as ''Baiocassi'' by

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; ) was a Latin literature, Roman poet and Education in ancient Rome, teacher of classical rhetoric, rhetoric from Burdigala, Gallia Aquitania, Aquitaine (now Bordeaux, France). For a time, he was tutor to the future E ...

(4th c. AD), and as ''Baiocas'' in the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...

'' (5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Bodiocasses''. In Pliny's ''

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

'', various manuscripts refer to this tribe as the ''Vadiocasses'', ''Bodiocasses'', or ''Bodicasses'', likely due to a copyist’s mistake. The Vadicassii (Οὐαδικάσσιοι) cited by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

in the 2nd century AD are probably a separate tribe, since he places them near the Meldi (

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

), in the direction of

Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...

Etymology

The

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, ...

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 ...

''Bodiocasses'' derives from the

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical 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 Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

stem *''bodyo-'' ('yellow, blond'; 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 ...

''buide'' 'yellow'). The meaning of the second element ''-casses'', attested in other Gaulish ethnonyms such as ''

Durocasses The Durocasses were a Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Dreux during the Roman period. Name They are mentioned ''Durocasis'' (var. ''durocacasis'') on the '' Itinerarium Antonini'' (early 3rd c. AD), as ''Durocassio'' on the ''Tabula P ...

'', '' Sucasses'', ''

Tricasses The Tricasses were a Gallic tribe dwelling on the upper Seine and the Aube rivers during the Roman period. Until the first century AD, they were probably reckoned among the Senones. Name They are mentioned as ''Tricasses'' by Pliny (1st c. AD ...

'', ''

Veliocasses The Veliocasses or Velocasses (Gaulish: *''Weliocassēs'') were a Belgic or Gallic tribe of the La Tène and Roman periods, dwelling in the south of modern Seine-Maritime and in the north of Eure. Name They are mentioned as ''Veliocasses'' by ...

'' or ''

Viducasses The Viducassēs (Gaulish: *''Uiducassēs/Widucassēs'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Calvados department during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Viducasses'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), and as ''Bidouke ...

'', has been debated, but it probably signifies '(curly) hair, hairstyle' (cf. Old Irish ''chass'' 'curl'), perhaps referring to a particular warrior coiffure.

Rudolf Thurneysen Eduard Rudolf Thurneysen (14 March 1857 – 9 August 1940) was a Swiss linguist and Celticist. Biography Born in Basel, Thurneysen studied classical philology in Basel, Leipzig, Berlin and Paris. His teachers included Ernst Windisch and ...

has compared the name with the

''buide-chass'' ('blond curls'), and suggested to translate ''Bodiocasses'' as 'those who have blond curls/braids'.

Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel (born 5 April 1953) is an Italian philologist, linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. Biography Patrizia de Bernardo was born on 5 April 1953 in Milan, Italy, the daughter of Mario de Bernardo and Adriana Marra. She ...

has proposed to interpret the name as 'those with shining helmets'. The city of

Bayeux Bayeux (, ; ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It is also known as the fir ...

, attested ca. 400 AD as ''civitas Baiocassium'' ('

of the Baiocasses'; ''Baiocas'' in 400–410, ''Baieus'' in 1155), and the region of

Bessin Bessin () is an area in Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Norman ...

, attested in 840 AD as ''pagus Baiocassinus'' ('

pagus In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geograp ...

of the Baiocasses'; ''Beissin'' in 1050–66), all stem from the Gallic tribe.

Geography

The Baiocasses dwelled in a region located around modern-day

in western

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

History

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 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 Caesar's civil wa ...

does not mention the tribe in his commentaries on the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gauls, Gallic, Germanic peoples, Germanic, and Celtic Britons, Brittonic trib ...

(58–50 BCE), but they are later mentioned by

(4th c. AD) and in the ''

'' (5th c. AD). They are probably the same people Pliny calls ''Bodiocasses''. The Baiocasses minted base gold, silver and billon (base silver) coins in the denomination of one

stater The stater (; ) was an ancient coin used in various regions of Greece. The term is also used for similar coins, imitating Greek staters, minted elsewhere in ancient Europe. History The stater, as a Greek silver currency, first as ingots, and ...

and in the case of gold coins sometimes quarter staters. Most of the coins show a Celtic-style male head with elaborated hair on the obverse, and on the reverse a horse with a chariot rider above or behind, and below usually either a

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

or small boar. A number of these are in existence. The 4th-century Bordelaise poet

teases a friend as a Baiocassis who claimed to be of

druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...

ic heritage and descended from priests of

Belenus Belenus (Gaulish: ''Belenos'', ''Belinos'') is an ancient Celtic healing god. The cult of Belenus stretched from the Italian Peninsula to the British Isles, with a main sanctuary located at Aquileia, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast. Through ...

, ''Commemoratio professorum Burdigalensium'' 4.7; Altay Coşkun with Jürgen Zeidler, "'Cover Names' and Nomenclature in Late Roman Gaul: The Evidence of the Bordelaise Poet Ausonius" (2003), pp. 6–7.

References

Bibliography

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