The Caristii were a pre-

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

tribe settled in the north of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, in what today are known as the historical territories of

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

and

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

, in the Basque Country, northern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Origins

Their historical territory today corresponds very well with the extension of the Biscayan dialect of the

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

, however it is discussed whether the Caristii were actually

Aquitani The Aquitani were a tribe that lived in the region between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Garonne, in present-day southwestern France in the 1st century BC. The Romans dubbed this region '' Gallia Aquitania''. Classical authors suc ...

ans, related to the Vascones, or if they were

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

, related to tribes such as the

Cantabri The Cantabri (, ''Kantabroi'') or Ancient Cantabrians were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. These peoples and their territor ...

and

Celtiberians The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo) ...

and that later suffered a Basquisation.

History

The Caristii are first mentioned by

sources;

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

names them ''Carietes'' and places them in the Basque interior territories, what today is the southernmost regions of the Basque Country, while

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 ...

places them between the river Deba and

Nervión Nervión (; ) is a river that runs through the town of Bilbao, Spain into the Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay). Its lowermost course, downstream of its confluence with the Ibaizabal River, is known as the Estuary of Bilbao. Geography The riv ...

, present-day provinces of

and

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

, with a territory triangle-shaped, reaching the city of Vitoria by the south. Their territory limited with the

Varduli The Varduli were a pre-Ancient Rome, Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the western region of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country. Their historical territory corresponds with the current ...

at east,

at west and Autrigones at southwest. Their main cities were ''Tullica'', probably Tuyo, Erriberagoitia in the banks of the river Zadorra; ''Suessatio'', which could be present-day Arkaia; and '' Veleia'' or '' Velegia'', the last two were located near the

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

from

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

to Astorga.; another city in their land was ''Vesperies'', on the Atlantic coast (south coast of the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

). The toponyms of their cities are of Indo-European origin (

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

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 ...

languages), ''Tullica'' (from ''"Tullo"'', valley), ''Suessatio'' (well settled). As it happens with their neighbors, the

, not a single toponym related to the Aquitanian- Basque languages has been found, further proving the theories about their possible Celt origin and possible late Basquisation. They are not mentioned again in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

, on their place appeared the precursors of the provinces of

and Alava. Some authorshttp://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/congresos/07217221.pdf deducted, following Classic documents, the existence of some ethnic affinity, collaboration, or political union between Caristii, Autrigones and

, tribes who later would all be grouped under the name ''Varduli'', this would explain all the later events on this region, for example, why once the Caristii and Varduli were moved out of their original territories by the Vascones in the Early Middle Ages, the Caristii and Autrigones lost their names and were grouped together with the Varduli. The union, whichever the causes, between Varduli, Caristii and Autrigones on a unique territory would later create the County of Bardulia, part of the Crown of Castile.

Notes

Bibliography

* Ángel Montenegro ''et alii'', ''Historia de España 2 - colonizaciones y formación de los pueblos prerromanos (1200-218 a.C)'', Editorial Gredos, Madrid (1989) {{Pre-Roman peoples in Spain Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Ancient history of the Basque Country Ancient peoples of Spain

Origins

History

See also

Notes

Bibliography