The Quariates or Quadiates were a
Gallic tribe dwelling in the valley of
Queyras
The Queyras ( oc, Cairàs) is a valley located in the French Hautes-Alpes, of which the geographical extent is the basin of the river Guil, a tributary of the Durance. The Queyras is one of the oldest mountain ranges of the Alps, and it was one ...
, in the Alps, 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 ''Quariates'' (
var. ''quadr''-) by
Pliny (1st c. AD),
[ Pliny. ''Naturalis Historia'', 3:35.] and as ''Quadiatium'' and ''Quariat(ium?)'' on inscriptions.
[, s.v. ''Quariates''.]
The etymology of the name is obscure.
Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h and
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 ...
proposed to derive it from Celtic *''k
wario''- ('cauldron'), with sporadic preservation of the initial ''k
w'' , attached to the suffix -''ati-'' ('belonging to'). Alexander Falileyev notes that the q-Celtic reflex remains problematic in this scenario.
The region of
Queyras
The Queyras ( oc, Cairàs) is a valley located in the French Hautes-Alpes, of which the geographical extent is the basin of the river Guil, a tributary of the Durance. The Queyras is one of the oldest mountain ranges of the Alps, and it was one ...
, whose castle is attested as ''Quadratum'' in the 12th century, may be named after the Gallic tribe.
Geography
The Quariates dwelled in the valley of
Queyras
The Queyras ( oc, Cairàs) is a valley located in the French Hautes-Alpes, of which the geographical extent is the basin of the river Guil, a tributary of the Durance. The Queyras is one of the oldest mountain ranges of the Alps, and it was one ...
, in the Alps. Their territory was located south of the
Brigianii, east of the
Segovii, and north of the
Caturiges
The Caturiges (Gaulish: ''Caturīges'', 'kings of combat') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper Durance valley, around present-day towns of Chorges and Embrun, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Catur ...
and
Veneni.
[, Map 17: Lugdunum.]
History
They 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