The Nemetes or Nemeti were a tribe settled along the

Upper Rhine Upper Rhine ( ; ; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge, Basel, Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine P ...

Ariovistus Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC, who name appears prominently in Julius Caesar's '' Commentarii de Bello Gallico''. Before their conflict with the Romans, Ariovis ...

in the 1st century BC. Their area of settlement was the contact zone between Celtic (Gaulish) and Germanic peoples. According to

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

, the Nemetes were "unquestionably Germanic". The name of the tribe, however, is

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 ...

as the name of its main town ''Noviomagus'' meaning ''novios'' 'new' and ''magos'' 'plain', 'market' (cf. Welsh ''maes'' 'field',

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 ...

''mag'' 'plain'), as are those of several gods worshipped in their territory, including Nemetona, who is thought to have been their eponymous deity.John T. Koch (2006). ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia.'' ABC-CLIO, p. 1351. Both of these names are taken to be derivations from the Celtic stem '' nemeto-'' "sacred grove".Xavier Delamarre (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise.'' Éditions Errance, p. 233. In '' De Bello Gallico'',

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 ...

writes that the

Hercynian Forest The Hercynian Forest was an ancient and dense forest that stretched across Western Central Europe, from North French Scarplands, Northeastern France to the Carpathian Mountains, including most of Southern Germany, though its boundaries are a mat ...

"begins at the frontiers of 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 ...

, and Rauraci, and extends in a right line along the river Danube to the territories of the Daci and the Anartes". Their territory on the left bank of the Rhine had belonged to the

Mediomatrici The Mediomatrici (Gaulish: ''*Medio-māteres'') were according to Caesar a Gaulish tribe at the frontier to the Belgicae dwelling in the present-day regions Lorraine, Upper Moselle during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are ...

during the time of Caesar and

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 ...

, but the Nemetes must have crossed the river and settled there sometime afterward. Under the Roman administrative organization of Gaul, the Nemetes constituted a ''

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 province of Upper Germany with a relatively small territory extending from the Rhine into the

Palatinate Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a List of landscapes in Rhineland-Palatinate, low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate (region), Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatina ...

and an administrative centre at Speyer.

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 ...

mentions ''Neomagus'' (i.e. ''Noviomagus'') and ''Rufiniana'' as the towns of the Nemetes; if the latter is to be identified with Rouffach, Ptolemy is mistaken in attributing it to the Nemetes, for Rouffach is far to the south in Rauracan territory. It may also be supposed that ''Saletio'' (

Seltz Seltz (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of the Grand Est region in north-eastern France. It is located on the Sauer River near its confluence with the Rhine, opposite the German town of Rastatt. History The former Celtic sett ...

) belonged to the Nemetes, as in modern times it belonged to the diocese of Speyer; Saletio would have been near the northern limits of the

Triboci In classical antiquity, the Triboci or Tribocci were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people of eastern Gaul, inhabiting much of what is now Alsace. Name Besides the forms Triboci and Tribocci, Schneider has the form “Triboces” in the accusative ...

, whose ''civitas'' later became the diocese of Strasbourg. The Nemetes fought alongside the Romans and

Vangiones The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe of unknown provenance. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a ba ...

against the

Chatti The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (''Visurgis'') river. They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in ...

when the latter invaded in 50 AD.

. ''

Annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...

XII: 27.
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Notes

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{{Authority control Historical Celtic peoples Early Germanic peoples Gauls Tribes in pre-Roman Gaul

See also

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External links