The Latobici or Latovici (

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, ...

: ''Latobicoi'') were a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

tribe dwelling in

Pannonia Superior Pannonia Superior () was a Roman province created from the division of Pannonia in 103 AD, its capital in Carnuntum. It overlapped in territory with modern-day Hungary, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia. History It was as governor of the ...

, around present-day Drnovo (

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

), during 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 ''Latovici'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), as Λατόβικοι (''Latóbikoi'') 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), and as ''Latobici'' on an inscription from Neviodunum (modern Drnovo) dated to 117–130 AD. CIL 03:10804., s.v. ''Latobici''. 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 ...

''Latobici'' is a Latinized form of the

''Latobicoi'', which derives from the stem *''lāto''-, meaning 'furor, ardour' (cf.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

''láth'', Welsh ''lawd''), probably after the name of the Celtic god '' Latobios'' (*''Lātu-biyos'' 'Furious Striker').

Pierre-Yves Lambert Pierre-Yves Lambert (born 30 May 1949) is a French linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. He is a researcher at the CNRS and a lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Celtic linguistics and philology. Lambert is the director of the j ...

has proposed to translate ''Latobici'' as 'the lineage of Latobios'. A homonym tribe, the Latobrigi (or Latobici), dwelled further northwest near the

Helvetii The Helvetii (, , Gaulish: *''Heluētī''), anglicized as Helvetians, were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Ju ...

. Whether they were actually related or even identical remains debated.

Geography

The Latobici dwelled near the Krka river, around modern Drnovo,

Trebnje Trebnje (, ) is a town in southeastern Slovenia. It lies on the Temenica River in the traditional region of Lower Carniola, and is the seat of the Municipality of Trebnje. The area was already settled in Antiquity. The modern settlement develo ...

, and Groblje pri Prekopi. Their territory was located north of the Colapiani, west of the Varciani, south of the

Taurisci The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's Carinthia and northern Slovenia (Carniola) before the coming of the Romans (c. 200 BC). According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same as the people known as the Norici. Et ...

, east of the Rundictes., Map 20: Pannonia-Dalmatia. Inscriptions and shrines dedicated to the god Mars Latobius found in the catchment area of the Lavant river and the ridge of the Koralpe mountains may suggest that the Latobici originally lived around

Virunum Claudium Virunum was a Roman Empire, Roman city in the province of Noricum, on today's Zollfeld in the Austrian State of Carinthia (state), Carinthia. Virunum may also have been the name of the older Celtic-Roman settlement on the hilltop of Magd ...

and Flavia Solva as late as the 1st century BC, from which they either extended their territory southward or emigrated to the region of Drnovo in Roman times. During the reign of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

(27 BC–14 AD), a city-like settlement known as ''municipium Latobicorum'' (''tribus Quirina'') arose as a centre of the tribal area at the site of present-day Drnovo. It was called Neviodunum (

: 'new fortress') from the time of

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

(69–79 AD). Other settlements are known at Praetorium Latobicorum (modern

) and at Crucium ( Groblje pri Prekopi).

References

;Bibliography * * * * * * * * Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Ancient history of Slovenia {{europe-ethno-group-stub