The Gabali (

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

: *''Gabli'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the later Gévaudan region 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 period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Gabalos'' or ''Gabalis'' by

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

(mid-1st c. BC), as ''Gabalei͂s'' (Γαβαλεῖς) by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

(early 1st c. AD), as ''Gabales'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), and as ''Tábaloi'' (Τάβαλοι) 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. ''Gabali''. The

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

''Gabali'' is a Latinized form of

*''Gabloi''. It derives from the stem (cf. Olr. ''gabul'',

Middle Welsh Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh (). Literature and history Middle Welsh is ...

''gafl'', OBret. ''gabl''), initially designating the 'forked branch of a tree', then more generally a 'fork'. The name is related to the Gallo-Latin *''gabalottus'' ('spear'), which may have given the word ''javelot'' in French. The city of Javols, attested ca. 400 AD as ''civitas Gabalum'' ('

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

of the Gabali', ''Javols'' in 1109), and the Gévaudan region, attested in the 1st c. AD as ''Gabalicus pagus'' (''Gavuldanum'' in the 10th c., ''Gavalda'' in the 13th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

The Gabali dwelled in the Gévaudan region, on the north-western foot of the Cevennes. Their territory was located south of the Arveni, and north of the Ruteni. Their chief town was ''Anderitum'' (present-day Javols).

History

They were subject, and allied to the

Averni The Arverni (Gaulish: *''Aruernoi'') were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Auvergne region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were one of the most powerful tribes of ancient Gaul, contesting primacy over the region with the ne ...

. They are mentioned in Book VII of Caesar's Commentaries. During

Caesar's conquest of Gaul The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and Brittonic tribes fought to defend their homelands ag ...

they were raiding the country of the Provincial Ruteni, and they were among the tribes that sent relief troops to the Gallic army trying to break the siege in Alesia.

Economy

The Gabali were cattle breeders. Many of them were also miners, as their region was rich in silver mines.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Tribes in pre-Roman Gaul {{europe-ethno-group-stub