The Ecdinii or Ecdini were a
Gallic tribe dwelling in the valley of the
Tinée (
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediter ...
) during the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Ecdini'' by
Pliny (1st c. AD),
and as ''Ecdiniorum'' on the
Arc of Susa.
[, s.v. ''Ecdinii''.]
The meaning of the
ethnonym remains obscure. If Celtic, ''Ecdinii'' is possibly formed with the prefix ''ec(s)''- ('out of, without') attached to -''dīn(i)''- ('shelter, protection').
Xavier Delamarre
Xavier Delamarre (; born 5 June 1954) is a French linguist, lexicographer, and diplomat. He is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on the Gaulish language.
Since 2019, he has been an associate researcher for the CNRS-PSL AOrOc l ...
has thus proposed to translate *''Ec(s)-dīni-oi'' as the 'Homeless'. If this interpretation is correct, the name was probably an
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...
given by a neighbouring tribe.
Guy Barruol
Guy Barruol (born 10 June 1934) is a French historian and archaeologist. He is director of research emeritus at the CNRS.
Biography
Guy Barruol was born on 10 June 1934 in Mazan, Vaucluse, the son of Jean Barruol (1898–1982), a local histor ...
suggested that the name ''Tinius'' might be related.
Geography
The Ecdinii lived in the valley of the
Tinée, a tributary of the
Var river. Their territory was located west of the
Vesubiani and
Tyrii, east of the
Nemeturii, north of the
Nerusii and
Vediantii, and south of the
Savincates and
Caturiges.
[, Map 16: Col. Forum Iulii-Albingaunum, Map 17: Lugdunum.] According to
A. L. F. Rivet, "there appear to have been no significant settlements in the lands of the Ecdinii and the Vesubiani, so that they must have been controlled by
Cemenelum when they had been detached from the
Cottian kingdom."
Along with the Vesubiani and
Veaminii, they were part of the Capillati.
History
They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the
Tropaeum Alpium
The Tropaeum Alpium (Latin 'Trophy of the Alps', French: ''Trophée des Alpes''), is a Roman trophy (''tropaeum'') celebrating the emperor Augustus's decisive victory over the tribes who populated the Alps. The monument's ruins are in La Turb ...
.
[ Pliny. ''Naturalis Historia'']
3:20
They also appear on the
Arch of Susa, erected by
Cottius in 9–8 BC.
References
Primary sources
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Bibliography
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{{Authority control
Historical Celtic peoples
Gauls
Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul