The Silvanectes (or Sulbanectes) were a small Belgic tribe dwelling around present-day

Senlis Senlis () is a commune in the northern French department of Oise, Hauts-de-France. The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived in Senlis, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest. It is known for its Gothic cathedral and other ...

(

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

) 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

Attestations

They are mentioned as ''Ulmanectes'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), as ''Soubánektoi'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Σουβάνεκτοι) 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 ''Siluanectas'' 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. ''Silvanectes''. The Silvanectes are also attested under the name ''Sulbanectes'' in an inscription, and their capital was mentioned as ''civitas Sulbanectium'' in 48 AD.

Etymology

The etymology of 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 ...

remains unclear. It could be a Latinized form of

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, ...

''*Seluanecti'' (from ''seluā-'' 'possession, property' > 'herd'; 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 ...

''selb'' 'property, possession', Welsh ''ar helw'' 'in possession of'), corrupted under the influence of Latin ''silva'' ('forest'). A comparison with

''sulbair'' ('eloquent') has also been proposed. The city of

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

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 Silvanectes', ''Sinleti'' in the 6th c., ''Senliz'' in 1211) is named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

The Silvanectes dwelled southwest of the Suessionnes, near the Meldi and the

Bellovaci The Bellovaci (Gaulish: ''Bellouacoi'') were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the modern Picardy region, near the present-day city of Beauvais, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. After they were defeated by Caesar in 57 BC, they gave lukewarm ...

. Their small territory, a depression surrounded by wooded heights, could be easily dominated by the more powerful Bellovaci, to which they were probably tributary.

References

;Bibliography * * * * * {{Authority control Gauls Tribes in pre-Roman Gaul Historical Celtic peoples Belgae