The Redones or Riedones (

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, ...

: ''Rēdones'', later ''Riedones'', 'chariot- or horse-drivers') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the eastern part of the

Brittany peninsula Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being unit ...

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 subsequent Roman conquest of

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

. Their capital was at Condate, the site of modern day

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

. In 57 BC they were subjugated by the Romans under forces led by Publius Licinius Crassus, the son of the triumvir

Marcus Licinius Crassus Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115–53 BC) was a ancient Rome, Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome".Wallechinsky, Da ...

, but they provided men to the Gallic coalition led by

Vercingetorix Vercingetorix (; ; – 46 BC) was a Gauls, Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman Republic, Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. After surrendering to C ...

at the

Battle of Alesia The Battle of Alesia or siege of Alesia (September 52 BC) was the climactic military engagement of the Gallic Wars, fought around the Gauls, Gallic ''oppidum'' (fortified settlement) of Alesia (city), Alesia in modern France, a major centre ...

in 52.

Name

They are mentioned as ''R dones'' 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), ''Rhedones'' (var. ''r edones'', ''s idones'') by Pliny (1st c. AD), ''Rhiḗdones'' (‛Ριήδονες; var. ‛Ρηήδονες), ''Rhḗdones'' (Ῥήδονες) and ''Rhēḯdones'' (Ῥηΐδονες) 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 ''Redonas'' in the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...

'' (5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Riedones,'' ''Condate Redonum'' and ''Civitas Riedonum''. Their chief town is also attested on inscriptions as ''civ]itas Ried num'' and ''[civtas Ried[onum">iv.html" ;"title="num'' and ''[civ">num'' and ''[civtas Ried[onum'. The

ethnonym ''Rēdones'' means 'chariot-drivers' or 'horse-riders'. It stems from the Proto-Celtic language, Celtic root ''rēd-'' ('to ride, esp. a horse or horse-led chariot'; cf. Gallo-Lat. ''rēda'' 'chariot', OIr. ''ríad'' 'riding, driving, journey'; also Gallo-Lat. ''paraue-redus'' 'work-horse' and ''ue-rēdus'' 'post horse', MW. ''gorwydd'' 'horse') attached to the suffix -''ones''. The original ''Rēdones'' led to a form ''Riedones'' after

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

isation. Following the discovery of inscriptions featuring this variant in the 1960s, some historians, including Anne-Marie Rouanet-Liesenfelt and Louis Pape, have argued that the form ''Riedones'' should be preferred over ''Redones'' in scholarship, which is not necessary according to linguist

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 ...

. The city of

, attested ca. 400 AD as ''civitas Redonum'' ('

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 Redones'; ''Redonas'' in 400–441; ''Rennes'' in 1294) is named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

They lived on the peninsula of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in the region which was known at the time as

Armorica In ancient times, Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; ; ) was a region of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, and much of historical Normandy. Name The name ''Armorica'' is a Latinized form of the Gauli ...

. Although they controlled a narrow coastline in the southern part of the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay, they did not have a direct opening to maritime trade.

mentions them among the ''civitates maritimae'' or '' Aremoricae''. Their territory was located east of the Coriosolites, north of the Namnetes, west of the Aulerci Diablintes, and southwest of the Venelli and Abrincatui., Map 7: Aremorica. Their capital was known as Condate Redonum, and was at the site of modern day

History

After the bloody fight on the

Sambre The Sambre () is a river in northern France and in Wallonia, Belgium. It is a left-bank tributary of the Meuse, which it joins in the Wallonian capital Namur. The source of the Sambre is near Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache, in the Aisne department. ...

(57 BC)

Julius 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 Caesar's civil wa ...

sent Publius Licinius Crassus with a single legion into the country of the Veneti, Redones, and other

Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

ic tribes between the Seine River and the Loire, all of whom submitted. ( ''B. G.'' ii. 34.) Caesar here enumerates the Redones among the maritime states whose territory extends to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. In 52 BC the Redones with their neighbors sent a contingent to attack Caesar during the

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

of Alesia. In this passage also (''B. G.'' vii. 75), the Redones are enumerated among the states bordering on the ocean, which in the Celtic language were called the Armoric States. D'Anville supposes that their territory extended beyond the limits of the diocese of Rennes into the dioceses of St. Malo and

Dol-de-Bretagne Dol-de-Bretagne (, literally ''Dol of Brittany''; ; Gallo: ''Dóu''), cited in most historical records under its Breton name of Dol, is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine ''département'' in Brittany in northwestern France. Geography Dol-de-Bret ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Tribes in pre-Roman Gaul Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars Armorica History of Rennes