The Deciates (Δεκιήταις) were a Ligurian tribe dwelling near on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast, around present-day

Antibes Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...

, during the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

and the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. According to historian Guy Barruol, they were part of the Saluvian confederation.

Name

They are mentioned as ''Dekiḗtais'' (Δεκιήταις) by

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

(2nd c. BC), and as ''Dekiatíōn'' (Δεκιατίων) 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 ...

(2nd c. AD)., s.v. ''Deciates''. A ''regio Deciatium'' is also attested by Pliny (1st c. AD), and an '' oppidum Deciatum'' is documented by

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest known Roman geographer. He was born at the end of the 1st century BC in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nea ...

(mid-1st c. AD). The meaning of the name ''Deciates'' remains obscure. According to Javier de Hoz, an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

etymology, from the root *''dek̑''-, is possible, and the suffix -''ates'' may be evidence of a Celtic transmission, "but the whole name does not seem to be Celtic. In this case I would accept a classification as 'restricted Ligurian' because of the people's geographical location."

Geography

The Deciates dwelled on the Mediterranean coast, west of the river Loup, around the Massaliote colony of Antipolis (modern

). Their territory was located south of the Nerusii, southeast of the Ligauni, and either east or west of the Oxybii., Map 16: Col. Forum Iulii-Albingaunum. The exact location of the '' oppidum'' ''Deciatum'' (or ''Dekieton'') remains uncertain. It is possible that it was not a separate place between Nicaea and Antipolis, but simply a name for Antipolis itself. The coastal Greek colony of Antipolis (modern

), founded in their territory in the mid-3rd century BC, was probably a Graecization of the original name given by the Ligurians to the place, despite the literal Greek meaning of 'city opposite'. This does not necessarily imply that it had been the main centre of the Deciates, and Barruol has proposed to identify the site of

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal dialect, Provençal in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional ) is the only Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur Re ...

as their chief town.

History

In 154 BC, the Ligurians besieged the Massaliote colonies of Nicaea (

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Massalia Massalia (; ) was an ancient Greek colonisation, Greek colony (''apoikia'') on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, east of the Rhône. Settled by the Ionians from Phocaea in 600 BC, this ''apoikia'' grew up rapidly, and its population se ...

, and after a Roman legate Flaminius had been injured by the Oxybii, the Roman Senate sent the consul Quintus Opimius to pacify the region. The latter defeated the Deciates and the Oxybii at Aegitna, then handed over a great part of their territory to Massalia.

References

Primary sources

Bibliography