The Epidii (Greek: Επίδιοι) were a people of ancient

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, known from a mention of them by the

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

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 import ...

c. 150. ''Epidion'' has been identified as the island of Islay in modern

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

. Ptolemy does not list a town for the Epidii, but the

Ravenna Cosmography The ''Ravenna Cosmography'' ( la, Ravennatis Anonymi Cosmographia, "The Cosmography of the Unknown Ravennese") is a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland, compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around 700 AD. Tex ...

(RC 108.4) mentions ''Rauatonium'', which is assumed to be

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Etymology

The name ''Epidii'' includes the P-Celtic root ''epos'', meaning "horse" (c.f.

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

''ebol'', "a foal"). The Q-Celtic equivalent would be ''*ekwos'', which became Old Gaelic ''ech''. It is suggested that they were named after a horse god, whose name could be reconstructed as ''*Epidios''. Woolf, Alex
''Ancient Kindred? Dál Riata and the Cruthin''
2012. The Q-Celtic equivalent would be ''*Ekwidios'', which may be the origin of the Old Gaelic name Eochaid. The root ''*ep-anto-s'', 'those who belong to the horse' or 'those who own horses', has also been proposed.'

The Dagda The Dagda (Old Irish: ''In Dagda,'' ga, An Daghdha, ) is an important god in Irish mythology. One of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Dagda is portrayed as a father-figure, king, and druid.Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia' ...

, a Gaelic god, is often referred to as ''Eochaid Ollathair''.

Language

Although their name is almost certainly is Brittonic/P-Celtic, Dr

Ewan Campbell Ewan Campbell is a Scottish archaeologist and author, who serves as the senior lecturer of archaeology at the University of Glasgow. An author of a number of books, he is perhaps best known as the originator of the historical revisionist thesis ...

suggest they were

Goidelic The Goidelic or Gaelic languages ( ga, teangacha Gaelacha; gd, cànanan Goidhealach; gv, çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically ...

/Q-Celtic speakers. He says "Ptolemy's source for his Scottish names was probably from the Scottish Central Lowlands, and may have transmitted the Brittonic form of a Goidelic tribal name, or even the external name given to the tribe by Brittonic speakers"., ''Were the Scots Irish?''; cf. Foster, ''Picts, Gaels and Scots'', pp. 9 – 10 and Armit, ''Celtic Scotland'', pp. 21 – 24 Their territory later became the heartland of the Goidelic kingdom of

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is ...

Alex Woolf Alex Woolf (born 12 July 1963) is a British medieval historian and academic. He specialises in the history of Britain and Ireland and to a lesser extent Scandinavia in the Early Middle Ages, with a particular emphasis on interaction and comp ...

suggests that the Epidii became the Dál Riata, but argues that they were Brittonic-speaking in Ptolemy's time. He also suggests that the

Hebrides The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...

, called the ''Ebudae'' by Ptolemy, were named after the Epidii. __NOTOC__

References

Sources

* Armit, Ian, ''Celtic Scotland'', (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

, 2005. * Campbell, Ewan, "Were the Scots Irish?" in ''Antiquity'', 75 (2001), pp. 285–292. * Delamarre, X., ''Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise'' (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance, 2003. *Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith (5 August 2013
"Britannia in the Ravenna Cosmography: a reassessment."
(pdf) Academia.edu. Retrieved 23 January 2015. * Foster, Sally M., ''Picts, Gaels, and Scots'' (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/

, 2005. * * The British Section of the Ravenna Cosmography in ''Archaeologia'' 93 (1949), 108.4 * Watson, W. J. (2004) ''The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland''. Edinburgh. Birlinn. . First published 1926.

External links

The circumnavigation of Scotland
compares Ptolemy and the Ravenna Cosmography for the south west coast of Scotland {{Iron Age tribes in Britain Celtic Britons Historical Celtic peoples Tribes mentioned by Ptolemy

Etymology

Language

See also

References

Sources

External links