The Salassi or Salasses were a Gallic or Ligurian tribe dwelling in the upper valley of the

Dora Baltea The Dora Baltea () or Doire Baltée () is a river in the Aosta Valley and in Piedmont, in northwestern Italy. It is a left-hand tributary of the Po and is about long. Name The river's Latin name was ''Duria maior'', ''Duria Baltica'' or ''Duri ...

river, near present-day

Aosta Aosta ( , , ; ; , or ; or ) is the principal city of the Aosta Valley, a bilingual Regions of Italy, region in the Italy, Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the G ...

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

, 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 ''dià Salassō̃n'' (διὰ Σαλασσῶν) by

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

(2nd c. BC) 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 ...

(early 1st c. AD), as ''Salassi'' by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

(late 1st c. BC), as ''Salassos'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), as ''Salasíon'' (Σαλασίον) 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), as ''Salassoí'' (Σαλασσοί) by

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; ; ; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who prospered during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. He was born c. 95 in Alexandria. After holding the senior offices in the pr ...

(2nd c. AD)., s.v. ''Salassi''. The origin of the ethnic name ''Salassi'' remains unclear. If Celtic, it may derive from the root ''sal''-, with various possible explanations regarding the word-formation. According to

Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (, ; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor (), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, Roman Senate, senator, and Roman historiography, historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He wa ...

and

, the Salassi were a Ligurian tribe.

Geography

The Salassi lived in the upper valley of the

river, where they controlled the

Great Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

and Little St Bernard passes in the Alps, collecting road tolls, and gold and iron mines. Their territory was located south of the Veragri, north of the Iemerii and Taurini, west of the Lepontii, Montunates and Votodrones, east of the Acitavones. According to Cato, they were part 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 ...

History

They were subjugated by the Roman forces of Claudius in 143 BC. The

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

took over the rich gold deposits, and a colony was later planted in 100 BC at Eporedia ( Ivrea) to take control of the Alpine route into the

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

and guard over the Salassi. Relations with the Romans were not uniformly peaceful;

mentions that the Salassi robbed

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 ...

's treasury and threw stones on his legions on the grounds that they were making roads and building bridges. There may have been a Roman campaign against the Salassi in 35 or 34 BC, launched from the valley of the

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

river under Antistius Vetus or Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus.Syme R
''The Augustan Aristocracy''
OUP 1989. pp 204-5 For their last decade of freedom the Salassi – alongside some other, mainly Alpine, tribes subjugated by 14 BC – were almost the only remaining groups not under Roman control in the Mediterranean basin. After the

Battle of Actium The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between Octavian's maritime fleet, led by Marcus Agrippa, and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, near the former R ...

in 31 BC the Roman world was united under one ruler,

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 ...

, who could concentrate Roman forces against remaining holdouts. They were definitively conquered by Aulus Terentius Varro Murena in 25 BC, and the colony of Augusta Praetoria (modern

) was founded in the following year with 3,000 settlers.

records that two thousand Salassi were killed and all the survivors, nearly 40,000 men, women, and children, were taken to Eporedia (modern day Ivrea) and sold into slavery. However, some remained; an inscription found near the west gate of Augusta Praetoria Salassorum is a dedication to Augustus dated 23 BC of a statue (?) by "the Salassi who had joined the colony from its beginning."

References

Primary sources

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Bibliography

* * * * * {{Authority control Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Ligures Ancient peoples of Italy Tribes conquered by the Roman Republic Tribes conquered by Rome Aosta