The Catuslugi (

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, ...

: *''Catuslōgoi'', 'troops of combat'; also Catuslougi, Catoslugi) were a small Belgic coastal tribe dwelling around modern-day Incheville (

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 ...

) during 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 ...

Name

Attestations

The Catuslugi are not mentioned by

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 a civil war. He ...

; the ancient name ''Catuslougi'' is rendered from an allusion of the 1st-century AD writer Pliny (''Catoslugi'', var. ''catu''-, ''castologi''), complemented by two

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

inscriptions referring to the region ''as pago Catuslou(go)'' and ''pago Catus(lougo)'' (early-3rd c. AD).

Etymology

The

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 ...

''Catuslōgi'' (or ''Catuslougi'') is a latinized form of

''*Catuslōgoi'' (sing. ''Catuslōgos''), meaning 'troops of combat'. It derives from the stem ''catu-'' ('combat'; cf. OIr. ''cath'' 'battle, troop', OW. ''cad'' 'battle') attached to ''slougo-'' ('troop, army, group'; cf. OIr. '' slúag'' 'troop, army, crowd, assembly', MW. ''llu'' 'troop', Old Bret. -''lu'' 'army'). The original meaning of *''slougo''- may have been 'those serving the chief', by comparing the stem with

Balto-Slavic The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic languages, Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits ...

words that probably emerged from early linguistic contacts with Celtic speakers in Central-Eastern Europe, such as Lithuanian ''slaugà'' ('service, servitude'), and

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...

''sluga'' ('servant'). The region of ''

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 ...

Catuslou(gus)'', attested by two

inscriptions found in Briga (modern Bois L'Abbé, Eu), is named after the tribe.

Geography

Territory

The Catuslugi dwelled in the modern region of

, near the coast of the Channel, around present-day Incheville and Eu. Their territory was located between that of the Ambiani and

Caletes The Caletes or Caleti (Gaulish: ''Caletoi'' "the hard tubborn, toughones"; or ''Calētī'') were a Belgic or Gallic tribe dwelling in Pays de Caux, in present-day Normandy, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ...

. The Catuslugi were probably a

of the larger Ambiani during the Roman period, since they were too small to form their own

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 ...

Settlements

The name of a town, Briga (

: 'mount, hill'; modern Bois L'Abbé), appears on an inscription from the early 3rd century AD. Briga has been erected in the late 1st c. BC on a plateau overlooking the Channel coast, in an upright position between the valley of the Bresle river in the north (where modern Eu is located), and the valley of Saint-Pierre-en-Val in the south. The site appears to have been abandoned at the end of the 3rd century AD, perhaps around 280-290. The departure from the city may have been planned by its inhabitants, who left in a short lapse of time after what archaeologist Étienne Mantel has interpreted as a ritual of

deconsecration Deconsecration, also referred to as decommissioning or ''secularization'' (a term also used for the external Secularization (church property), confiscation of church property), is the removal of a religious sanction and blessing from somethin ...

followed by the closure of the public monuments., pars. 6–17. The settlement of Augum (Eu), founded in the nearby valley, became to new chief town. Incheville was also a central

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age Europe, Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celts, Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread acros ...

of the Catuslugi.

Religion

The earliest evidence of a sanctuary in Briga is an area dedicated to the votive dumping of weapons, jewels and coins, dated the second part of the first century BC (perhaps 40–30). The practice, certainly linked to a late native cult of the waters, has persisted during the Julio-Claudian era. Two small ''fanum'' temples of Gallic tradition were erected in the late first century AD, suggesting a first step in the "monumentalization" of the sacred area. A dedication from the early 3rd century AD, carved by a member of the local elite, attests the Roman influence on Catuslugi beliefs at that time, as well as the presence of an

imperial cult An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. "Cult (religious practice), Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejor ...

in Briga. The main temple of the city may have been reserved to the Roman god

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

, or directly to the cult of Rome and

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

. The god ''Mercury Brigensis'' (" Mercury from Briga"), also mentioned in the dedication, is probably a native Gallic deity assimilated into the Roman pantheon.

References

Bibliography

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