The Dicalydones were mentioned by the 4th century writer

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...

as one of the two branches of the ''Picti'', the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

, the inhabitants of modern-day

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

(the other being the ''

Verturiones Fortriu ( la, Verturiones; sga, *Foirtrinn; ang, Wærteras; xpi, *Uerteru) was a Pictish kingdom that existed between the 4th and 10th centuries. It was traditionally believed to be located in and around Strathearn in central Scotland, but is ...

''). The name bears a striking resemblance to the other historical nomenclature donated to the Picts by classical historians, ''

Caledonii The Caledonians (; la, Caledones or '; grc-gre, Καληδῶνες, ''Kalēdōnes'') or the Caledonian Confederacy were a Brittonic-speaking (Celtic) tribal confederacy in what is now Scotland during the Iron Age and Roman eras. The Gree ...

''. Some scholars theorize that the two groups (''Dicalydones'' and ''Caledonii'') are one and the same, and that the other major Pictish tribes, related by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

as the ''

Vacomagi The Vacomagi were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was the region roughly compre ...

'', ''

Venicones The Venicones were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150 AD. He recorded that their town was 'Orrea'. This has been identified as the Roman fort of Horrea Classis, located by Rivet a ...

'', and '' Taezali'', eventually went on to form the ''

Maeatae The Maeatae were a confederation of tribes that probably lived beyond the Antonine Wall in Roman Britain. The historical sources are vague as to the exact region they inhabited, but an association is thought to be indicated in the names of two ...

'' mentioned by

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

. Other archaic accounts, which mention the ''Caledonii'' and ''Maeatae'' as the two major Pictish tribes, would seem to corroborate this hypothesis.

References

*Isabel Henderson, ''The Picts,'' Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., New York, 1967. *F.T. Wainwright, Editor, ''The Problem of the Picts,'' First Greenwood Reprinting, New York, 1970. Historical Celtic peoples Picts {{Europe-ethno-group-stub