The Coelerni were an ancient

Celt 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 ...

ic tribe of

Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities inclu ...

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

(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 ...

), part of Calaician or

Gallaeci The Gallaeci (also Callaeci or Callaici; ) were a Celtic tribal complex who inhabited Gallaecia, the north-western corner of Iberia, a region roughly corresponding to what is now the Norte Region in northern Portugal, and the Spanish regions ...

people, living in what was to become 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 ...

Hispania Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern North Region, Portugal, northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now ...

, in what is now the southern part of the province of

Ourense Ourense (; ) is a city and the capital of the province of province of Ourense, Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path o ...

(in Galicia). Some sources, like Alarcão, also state that the Coelerni lived in the north of modern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, in the province of Trás-os-Montes, in the mountains between the rivers Tua and Sabor - this seems to be incorrect and predates the finding of the

Tessera A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus. Historical tesserae In early antiquity, mo ...

Hospitalis of Castromao. However there was a lusitanian people of the Colarni (inscription of Alcantara) living near the Douro river in Lamego, that could have some link with the galician Coelerni.

Classical Sources

The Coelerni are known from few literary sources, such as Pliny and

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 ...

, and because they appear as one of the ten civitates of the convent Bracarensis that are cited in the Inscription of the Peoples of Chaves (the

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 ...

Aquae Flaviae Aquae Flaviae (or ''Aquæ Flaviæ'') is the ancient Ancient Rome, Roman city and Aquae Flaviae (titular see), former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) of Chaves, Portugal, Chaves, a Concelho, municipality in the Portugal, Portuguese Vil ...

), a column in the Roman bridge in Chaves where those people rend homage to

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

. Pliny, knew the Iberian Peninsula, as he had worked there as an administrator during the reign of Vespasian. The results of a census he passes on to us informs about the following: «The jurisdiction of Lucus contains 15 peoples both unimportant and bearing outlandish names, excepting the Celtici and the Lemavi, but with a free population amounting to about 166,000. In a similar way the 24 states ivitatesof Braga contain 285,000 persons, of whom besides the Bracari themselves may be mentioned, without wearying the reader, the Biballi, Coelerni, Callaeci, Equaesi, Limici and Querquerni (Naturalis Historia, III, 3, 28).

Main city

The main city of the Coelerni was Coeliobriga, now Castromao in CelanovaThe ''Tabvla Imperii Romani'' states (p. 46): «Coeliobriga (Castromao. Celanova) - Importante castro que permite situar Coeliobriga en Castromao gracias al hallazgo de la tessera de hospitalidad entre los Coelerni y el prefecto de la cohors I Celtiberorum, fechada en 132 d.C.». (

, Galicia,

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 ...

). This Castro was inhabited from the 6th century BC until the beginning of the 4th century CE.

Treaty with Rome

A Treaty of Friendship between the Coelerni and the Romans was made in 132. A

Hospitalis was found stating a pact of hospitality between the tribe of the Coelerni, thus accepting their peaceful integration in Hispania Citerior, and the Roman military commander of the Legion VII Gemina Civitas Limicorum, Gneo Antonius Aquilus Novaugustanus, in exchange for their defence under Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

. The exact text of the Tessera Hospitalis states: G(neo) IVLIO. SERVIO. AUGURINO. G(eneo) TREBIO. SERGIANO. CO(n)S(ulibus). COELERNI. EX-HISPANIA. CITERIORE. CONVENTUS. BRACARI. CVM. G ( neo). AN TONIO. AQUILO. NOVAUGUSTANO. PRAEF(ecto). COH(ortis). I. CELTIBERORUM. LIBERIS. POSTERISQUE. EIVS. HOS PITIUM. FECERUNT. G(neus). ANTONIVS. AQVILVS. CUM. COELER NIS. LIBERIS. POSTERISQUE. EORUM. HOSPITIUM. FECIT. LEGATUS. EGIT P(ublius). CAMPANIVS. GEMINVS. Which can be translated as: Being Consuls Gneo Julio Augurino and Gneo Trebio Sergiano, the Coelerni of Hispania Citerior and of the convent Bracari, made a pact of hospitality with Gneo Antonio Aquilino Novaugustano, prefect of the first Cohort of the Celtiberians, with his sons and descendants. Gneo Antonio Aquilo made a pact of hospitality with the Coelerni, their sons and descendants. Acted as legate Publius Campanius Geminus.

Notes

References

*Comité Español, Tabvla Imperii Romani. Hoja K-29: Porto. Unión Académica Internacional. Instituto Geográfico Nacional. Madrid, 1991. *Alonso, Juan L. Garcia, La Península Ibérica en la Geografía de Claudio Ptolomeu, Euskal. Herrika Unibertsitatea, Gasteiz 2003. *Pliny, Naturalis Historia, III, 3.

External links