Raeti
Encyclopedia
The Raeti was the collective "ethnic" name used by the ancient Romans to denote a number of Alpine
tribes, whose language and culture may have derived, at least in part, from the Etruscans. From not later than ca. 500 BC, they inhabited the central parts of present-day Switzerland
and the Alpine regions of north-central Italy
.
The etymology of the name Raeti is unknown. It gave rise to the name of the Roman province of Raetia
.
Ancient sources characterise the Raeti as Etruscan people who were displaced from the Po valley
and took refuge in the valleys of the Alps. But it is more likely that they were predominantly Alpine indigenes who had spoken a tongue related to Etruscan for as long as the Etruscans themselves.
The Raeti were divided into numerous tribes, but only some of these are clearly identified in the ancient sources.
At least some of the Raeti tribes (those in northeastern Italy) probably spoke the Raetian language as late as the 3rd century AD. Others (those in Switzerland) were probably Celtic-speaking by the time of the emperor Augustus
(ruled 30 BC - AD 14).
The Raeti tribes, together with those of their neighbours to the North, the Vindelici, were subjugated by Roman forces, and their territories annexed to the Roman empire
in 15 BC. The Roman province
of Raetia et Vindelicia
was named after these two peoples. The Raeti tribes quickly became loyal subjects of the empire who contributed disproportionate numbers of recruits to the imperial Roman army
's auxiliary corps.
". This derives from Graeci, a Roman exonym for this people, whose own name for themselves was "Hellenes").
It has been suggested that the name is an exonym derived from the Celtic root rait, meaning "highland", but this is guesswork, unsupported by any documentary evidence. The similarity of name of the deity Reitia
, which is attested in a number of votive inscriptions by the Italic Veneti
people, has also been advanced. But there is no evidence that this goddess was revered by the Raeti also, unless the reithus in one "Raetic" inscription refers to her. But reithus, if it refers to a deity at all, is more likely to be an unrelated Raeti god, probably the man-fish figure shown above the inscription's wording.
If the name is an endonym, then it may derive from a non Indo-European root meaning "noble", "superior", "brave" or "strong", common self-attributes of primitive peoples e.g. the "Sarmatians
", which may derive from Iranic sar martan ("high - i.e. noble - men") and the Franks
, probably from a Germanic root meaning "strong". In this case, it is possible that reithus is that root.
of Polybius
, written before 146 BC. The Raeti, according to Pliny the Elder
, were Etruscans driven into the Alps from the Po Valley
by invading Gauls
. This account of Raeti origins is supported by the Augustan
-era Roman historian Livy
. If this historiography is correct, then the displacement from the Po valley would have taken place in the period 600-400 BC, when major migrations of Celtic tribes from Gaul resulted in the Celtisation of that entire region.
But the traditional "migration theory" of socio-linguistic change espoused by classical authors and, until recently, by most modern scholars, is no longer considered generally valid in modern archaeology and must be treated with caution. It is just as likely that the Raeti, if they spoke an Etruscan-like language, were Alpine indigenes who had spoken it as long as, if not longer, than the Etruscans of Etruria
(especially if, as some believe, Etruscan represents the pre Indo-European base language of Italy and the Alps). Alternatively, if the indigenes originally spoke a language not related to Etruscan, they may have adopted "Etruscan" through cultural interchange with the Etruscans of the Po valley and not necessarily as a result of large-scale immigration by the latter.
. The language has been called "Raetian" by linguists because it is assumed to have been spoken by the Raeti, but this naming convention obviously involves a degree of circularity. It is possible, although unlikely, that the language dubbed "Raetian" by modern scholars had, in reality, no connection whatever to the people known to ancient Romans as the "Raeti".
Even if "Raetian" was the ancestral language of the Raeti, there is considerable doubt as to how widely "Raetian" was spoken among the tribes by the time of Augustus (ruled 30 BC - AD 14). In the Alpine region as a whole, there is evidence that the non-Celtic elements were often assimilated by the influx of Celtic tribes. According to Livy
, the "sound" of the Raeti's original Etruscan tongue (sonum linguae) had become corrupted as a result of inhabiting the Alps. This may indicate the loss of their ancestral tongue by at least some of the tribes. Celtisation finds support in the Roman practice of twinning the Raeti with their neighbours to the North, the Vindelici (whose territory was between the river Danube
and the Alps - Württemberg
and southern Bavaria
), who are regarded by most historians to have been Celtic
- speakers. The two peoples were combined for administrative purposes from an early stage and eventually, under the emperor Claudius
(ruled 41-54), their territories formed the province of Raetia et Vindelicia. In addition a pair of joint Raetorum et Vindelicorum auxiliary cohorts were established under Augustus.
Also problematic is the distribution of "Raetian" inscriptions. These are almost all from northeastern Italy: South Tyrol
, Trentino, and the Veneto
region. Although some of these areas were inhabited by Raeti tribes, according to ancient sources, a number of other Raeti locations such as the sources of the river Rhine area, have not yielded "Raetian" inscriptions. However, in northeastern Italy, inscriptions indicate that "Raetian" survived as late as the 3rd century AD, suggesting that Raeti tribes in this region at least may not have been Celtised.
During the centuries of Roman rule, the Raeti became predominantly Latin speakers. It has been suggested that a surviving relic of Raeti's Latin speech is Romansh, a so-called "Rhaeto-Romance language", which survives today in a few valleys of Swiss canton Grisons (most of which is today German
-speaking). However, a Raetian origin for Romansch is uncertain, as Rhaeto-Romance languages appear most closely related to the Gallo-Romance group, strengthening the case for a Celtic origin.
) the river Aenus (Inn
) from its confluence with the Danube as far South as, and then by the river Isarcus (Eisack
). Its northern border with the "free" German tribes was defined by the course of the upper Danube. On the West, Raetia et Vindelicia included the whole of Lake Constance
and the upper Rhine valley and then a long tract westwards along the upper Rhone
valley as far as Lake Leman. To the South its border with the Italian regiones (administrative districts) of Gallia transpadana and Venetia et Histria was roughly similar to the northern border of present-day Italy.
The Vindelici were, according to Ptolemy, confined to the East of the river Licca (Lech), while West of that river, upper Bavaria was inhabited by Raeti. A contrary view is that the whole region between the Danube and the Alps was occupied by Vindelici, with the Raeti confined to the Alps themselves.
The latter view accords with Strabo, who records that the territory occupied by the Raeti tribes stretched from the upper reaches of the river Rhine in northern Switzerland to as far South as the cities of Como
and Verona
in northern Italy. The Raeti were bounded in the East by the Taurisci of Noricum
and in the West by the Helvetii
.
Strabo names the Lepontii
, Camunni
(who gave their name to the Val Camonica
, Lombardy
, Italy), Cotuantii and Rucantii as Raeti tribes. Of these, the first two are listed with the same spelling in Augustus' inscription, while the latter two are probably the Cosuanetes and the Rucinates respectively in Augustus. However, the inscription text appears to identify the Rucinates as one of the 4 tribes of the Vindelici recorded as conquered. (But it is possible that the Strabo's Rucantii were actually another tribe, the Rugusci, in Augustus).
Against Strabo, Pliny considers the Lepontii as a Celtic tribe akin to the Taurisci and classifies the Camunni as an Euganean tribe, together with the Trumplini of the neighbouring valley, Val Trompia
. However, neither of Pliny's comments is fatal to the identification of the Lepontii and Camunni as Raeti. The Lepontic language has been definitively classified as Celtic, but it contains non Indo-European elements in a similar way to contemporary Celtiberian
in Spain. This is consistent with a Raetic origin to the Lepontii and subsequent Celtisation. As for the Euganei, their linguistic classification is uncertain. It is possible that their speech too was related to Etruscan and that they could be considered a sub-group of the Raeti nation. Alternatively they may have been proto-Italic akin to the Veneti
.
In addition, it appears that "Raetia et Vindelicia" was inhabited by a number of non-Raetic tribes also. The Breuni and Genauni are classified as Illyrian
by Strabo, while a number of tribes in the region such as the Caturiges
and Nantuates
have plausible Celtic etymologies: from catu- ("fight" or "warriors") and nantu- ("valley") respectively.
In addition to the tribal names supplied by the ancient sources, the Tropaeum Alpium inscription contains a number of other names which have been identified as inhabiting the territory of Raetia et Vindelicia, based on philology and proximity to documented tribes. Eliminating those tribes that are probably Celtic (on personal names) the following list of possible Raeti tribes results:
Augustus
' stepsons and senior military commanders Tiberius
and Drusus in a two-pronged campaign in 15 BC.
Until ca. AD 100, the region was garrisoned, on its western edge (at Vindonissa
from ca. AD 15), by at least one Roman legion
(probably legio XIX
until AD 9, when it was destroyed in the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest). In addition, Roman auxiliary forces and leves armaturae ("light troops", probably a local militia) were stationed there. But these forces were mainly for security against external threats, not internal unrest. Strabo reports that the Alpine tribes as a whole adapted easily to Roman rule and had not rebelled in the 33 years that had elapsed (by the time of his writing) since the initial conquest.
The Raeti (and the Vindelici) were obliged to pay taxes to Rome. However, their combined territory was not, apparently, organised as a full Roman province
initially, but as a military district under a Roman equestrian officer, attested as "praefectus of the Raeti, Vindelici and the Poenine Valley". It was apparently not before emperor Claudius
(ruled 41-54), that the district became a full province with the official name of Raetia et Vindelicia (abbreviated to simply Raetia in the later 1st century), while the Poenine Valley (Canton Valais, Switz.) was separated to join the Alpes Graiae. Raetia was governed by an equestrian procurator
.
According to the epigraphic record, the early Julio-Claudian period of the Roman empire
(30 BC - AD 37) saw the formation of at least 10 auxiliary infantry regiments from the Raeti tribes (the cohortes Raetorum). This represents some 5,000 recruits, an onerous levy from sparsely-populated Alpine valleys. It suggests that the Raeti were strongly attracted to a career in the Roman military. (See Alpine regiments of the Roman army).
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
tribes, whose language and culture may have derived, at least in part, from the Etruscans. From not later than ca. 500 BC, they inhabited the central parts of present-day Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the Alpine regions of north-central Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
The etymology of the name Raeti is unknown. It gave rise to the name of the Roman province of Raetia
Raetia
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...
.
Ancient sources characterise the Raeti as Etruscan people who were displaced from the Po valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
and took refuge in the valleys of the Alps. But it is more likely that they were predominantly Alpine indigenes who had spoken a tongue related to Etruscan for as long as the Etruscans themselves.
The Raeti were divided into numerous tribes, but only some of these are clearly identified in the ancient sources.
At least some of the Raeti tribes (those in northeastern Italy) probably spoke the Raetian language as late as the 3rd century AD. Others (those in Switzerland) were probably Celtic-speaking by the time of the emperor Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
(ruled 30 BC - AD 14).
The Raeti tribes, together with those of their neighbours to the North, the Vindelici, were subjugated by Roman forces, and their territories annexed to the Roman empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in 15 BC. The Roman province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
of Raetia et Vindelicia
Raetia
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...
was named after these two peoples. The Raeti tribes quickly became loyal subjects of the empire who contributed disproportionate numbers of recruits to the imperial Roman army
Imperial Roman army
The Imperial Roman army refers to the armed forces deployed by the Roman Empire during the Principate era .Under the founder–emperor Augustus , the legions, which were formations numbering about 5,000 heavy infantry recruited from Roman citizens only, were transformed from a mixed conscript and...
's auxiliary corps.
Name etymology
The origin of the name "Raeti" is unknown. It is not even clear if it derives from an "endonym", a name that the Raeti used to describe themselves or from an "exonym", a name used by outsiders to describe the Raeti. (A parallel is "GreeksGreeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
". This derives from Graeci, a Roman exonym for this people, whose own name for themselves was "Hellenes").
It has been suggested that the name is an exonym derived from the Celtic root rait, meaning "highland", but this is guesswork, unsupported by any documentary evidence. The similarity of name of the deity Reitia
Reitia
Reitia is a goddess, one of the best known deities of the Adriatic Veneti of northeastern Italy.While her place in the Venetic pantheon cannot be known for certain, the importance of her cult to Venetic society is well attested in archaeological finds...
, which is attested in a number of votive inscriptions by the Italic Veneti
Veneti
Veneti may refer to:*Veneti , an ancient Celtic tribe described by classical sources as living in what is now Brittany, France*Adriatic Veneti, an ancient historical people of northeastern Italy, who spoke an Indo-European language related to the Italic languages*Vistula Veneti, an ancient...
people, has also been advanced. But there is no evidence that this goddess was revered by the Raeti also, unless the reithus in one "Raetic" inscription refers to her. But reithus, if it refers to a deity at all, is more likely to be an unrelated Raeti god, probably the man-fish figure shown above the inscription's wording.
If the name is an endonym, then it may derive from a non Indo-European root meaning "noble", "superior", "brave" or "strong", common self-attributes of primitive peoples e.g. the "Sarmatians
Sarmatians
The Iron Age Sarmatians were an Iranian people in Classical Antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD....
", which may derive from Iranic sar martan ("high - i.e. noble - men") and the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, probably from a Germanic root meaning "strong". In this case, it is possible that reithus is that root.
Origins
The earliest mention of the Raeti in the classical sources is in the HistoriesThe Histories (Polybius)
Polybius’ Histories were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are existent in their entirety. The bulk of the work is passed down to us through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in Byzantium, for the most part....
of Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, written before 146 BC. The Raeti, according to Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, were Etruscans driven into the Alps from the Po Valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
by invading Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
. This account of Raeti origins is supported by the Augustan
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
-era Roman historian Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
. If this historiography is correct, then the displacement from the Po valley would have taken place in the period 600-400 BC, when major migrations of Celtic tribes from Gaul resulted in the Celtisation of that entire region.
But the traditional "migration theory" of socio-linguistic change espoused by classical authors and, until recently, by most modern scholars, is no longer considered generally valid in modern archaeology and must be treated with caution. It is just as likely that the Raeti, if they spoke an Etruscan-like language, were Alpine indigenes who had spoken it as long as, if not longer, than the Etruscans of Etruria
Etruria
Etruria—usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia—was a region of Central Italy, an area that covered part of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna, and Umbria. A particularly noteworthy work dealing with Etruscan locations is D. H...
(especially if, as some believe, Etruscan represents the pre Indo-European base language of Italy and the Alps). Alternatively, if the indigenes originally spoke a language not related to Etruscan, they may have adopted "Etruscan" through cultural interchange with the Etruscans of the Po valley and not necessarily as a result of large-scale immigration by the latter.
Ethno-linguistic affiliation
Because of their reported Etruscan connection, the Raeti are believed by many scholars to have spoken the so-called "Raetian language", an extinct tongue known only from a series of inscriptions, written in a variant of the Etruscan alphabet, discovered in some areas indicated by the ancient sources as inhabited by the Raeti. This tongue is commonly regarded by philologists to be related to, or at least strongly influenced by, Etruscan, a non Indo-European language which is best documented in the central Italian region of TuscanyTuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
. The language has been called "Raetian" by linguists because it is assumed to have been spoken by the Raeti, but this naming convention obviously involves a degree of circularity. It is possible, although unlikely, that the language dubbed "Raetian" by modern scholars had, in reality, no connection whatever to the people known to ancient Romans as the "Raeti".
Even if "Raetian" was the ancestral language of the Raeti, there is considerable doubt as to how widely "Raetian" was spoken among the tribes by the time of Augustus (ruled 30 BC - AD 14). In the Alpine region as a whole, there is evidence that the non-Celtic elements were often assimilated by the influx of Celtic tribes. According to Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
, the "sound" of the Raeti's original Etruscan tongue (sonum linguae) had become corrupted as a result of inhabiting the Alps. This may indicate the loss of their ancestral tongue by at least some of the tribes. Celtisation finds support in the Roman practice of twinning the Raeti with their neighbours to the North, the Vindelici (whose territory was between the river Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
and the Alps - Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
and southern Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
), who are regarded by most historians to have been Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
- speakers. The two peoples were combined for administrative purposes from an early stage and eventually, under the emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
(ruled 41-54), their territories formed the province of Raetia et Vindelicia. In addition a pair of joint Raetorum et Vindelicorum auxiliary cohorts were established under Augustus.
Also problematic is the distribution of "Raetian" inscriptions. These are almost all from northeastern Italy: South Tyrol
South Tyrol
South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...
, Trentino, and the Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
region. Although some of these areas were inhabited by Raeti tribes, according to ancient sources, a number of other Raeti locations such as the sources of the river Rhine area, have not yielded "Raetian" inscriptions. However, in northeastern Italy, inscriptions indicate that "Raetian" survived as late as the 3rd century AD, suggesting that Raeti tribes in this region at least may not have been Celtised.
During the centuries of Roman rule, the Raeti became predominantly Latin speakers. It has been suggested that a surviving relic of Raeti's Latin speech is Romansh, a so-called "Rhaeto-Romance language", which survives today in a few valleys of Swiss canton Grisons (most of which is today German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-speaking). However, a Raetian origin for Romansch is uncertain, as Rhaeto-Romance languages appear most closely related to the Gallo-Romance group, strengthening the case for a Celtic origin.
Territory
The evidence suggests that the original Roman district of Raetia et Vindelicia, as established under Augustus, had as its eastern border (with the province of NoricumNoricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
) the river Aenus (Inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
) from its confluence with the Danube as far South as, and then by the river Isarcus (Eisack
Eisack
The Eisack is a river in Northern Italy, the second largest river in South Tyrol. Its source is near the Brenner Pass, at an altitude of about 1990 m above sea level. The river draws water from an area of about 4,200 km². After about 96 km, it joins the Adige river south of Bolzano. At first the...
). Its northern border with the "free" German tribes was defined by the course of the upper Danube. On the West, Raetia et Vindelicia included the whole of Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...
and the upper Rhine valley and then a long tract westwards along the upper Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
valley as far as Lake Leman. To the South its border with the Italian regiones (administrative districts) of Gallia transpadana and Venetia et Histria was roughly similar to the northern border of present-day Italy.
The Vindelici were, according to Ptolemy, confined to the East of the river Licca (Lech), while West of that river, upper Bavaria was inhabited by Raeti. A contrary view is that the whole region between the Danube and the Alps was occupied by Vindelici, with the Raeti confined to the Alps themselves.
The latter view accords with Strabo, who records that the territory occupied by the Raeti tribes stretched from the upper reaches of the river Rhine in northern Switzerland to as far South as the cities of Como
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
and Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
in northern Italy. The Raeti were bounded in the East by the Taurisci of Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
and in the West by the Helvetii
Helvetii
The Helvetii 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...
.
Tribes
Although the ancient sources concur in ascribing an Etruscan origin to the Raeti, there is less clarity as to precisely which tribes attested in the region known as Raetia could be classified as Raeti. In addition, there are considerable discrepancies in the names of tribes given by the sources. Some locations of the tribes recorded are uncertain, although many have been established securely by toponymic and other evidence.Strabo names the Lepontii
Lepontii
The Lepontii were an ancient people occupying portions of Rhaetia in the Alps during the time of the Roman conquest of that territory. The Lepontii have been variously described as a Celtic, Ligurian, Raetian, and Germanic tribe...
, Camunni
Camunni
The Camuni or Camunni were an ancient population located in Val Camonica during the Iron Age ; the Latin name Camunni was attributed to them by the authors of the 1st century. They are also called ancient Camuni, to distinguish them from the current inhabitants of the valley...
(who gave their name to the Val Camonica
Val Camonica
Val Camonica is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, about 90 km long. It starts from the Tonale Pass, at 1883 metres above sea level and ends at Corna Trentapassi, in the comune of Pisogne, near Lake Iseo...
, Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, Italy), Cotuantii and Rucantii as Raeti tribes. Of these, the first two are listed with the same spelling in Augustus' inscription, while the latter two are probably the Cosuanetes and the Rucinates respectively in Augustus. However, the inscription text appears to identify the Rucinates as one of the 4 tribes of the Vindelici recorded as conquered. (But it is possible that the Strabo's Rucantii were actually another tribe, the Rugusci, in Augustus).
Against Strabo, Pliny considers the Lepontii as a Celtic tribe akin to the Taurisci and classifies the Camunni as an Euganean tribe, together with the Trumplini of the neighbouring valley, Val Trompia
Gardone Val Trompia
Gardone Val Trompia is a town and comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is bounded by other communes of Marcheno and Sarezzo. It is located in the Trompia valley. It is well-known for being the base of the major small arms manufacturers FAMARS and Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta....
. However, neither of Pliny's comments is fatal to the identification of the Lepontii and Camunni as Raeti. The Lepontic language has been definitively classified as Celtic, but it contains non Indo-European elements in a similar way to contemporary Celtiberian
Celtiberian language
Celtiberian is an extinct Indo-European language of the Celtic branch spoken by the Celtiberians in an area of the Iberian Peninsula lyingbetween the headwaters of the Duero, Tajo, Júcar and Turia rivers and the Ebro river...
in Spain. This is consistent with a Raetic origin to the Lepontii and subsequent Celtisation. As for the Euganei, their linguistic classification is uncertain. It is possible that their speech too was related to Etruscan and that they could be considered a sub-group of the Raeti nation. Alternatively they may have been proto-Italic akin to the Veneti
Veneti
Veneti may refer to:*Veneti , an ancient Celtic tribe described by classical sources as living in what is now Brittany, France*Adriatic Veneti, an ancient historical people of northeastern Italy, who spoke an Indo-European language related to the Italic languages*Vistula Veneti, an ancient...
.
In addition, it appears that "Raetia et Vindelicia" was inhabited by a number of non-Raetic tribes also. The Breuni and Genauni are classified as Illyrian
Illyrians
The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
by Strabo, while a number of tribes in the region such as the Caturiges
Caturiges
The Caturiges were a Celtic Alpine tribe in the ancient Roman province of Alpes Maritimae, at first located on the Druentia river , towards its source, west of Vapincum , but later extending into Viennensis and Narbonensis....
and Nantuates
Nantuates
The Nantuates or Nantuatae were an ancient people of modern day Switzerland, whose territory extended into adjacent areas now in modern-day France....
have plausible Celtic etymologies: from catu- ("fight" or "warriors") and nantu- ("valley") respectively.
In addition to the tribal names supplied by the ancient sources, the Tropaeum Alpium inscription contains a number of other names which have been identified as inhabiting the territory of Raetia et Vindelicia, based on philology and proximity to documented tribes. Eliminating those tribes that are probably Celtic (on personal names) the following list of possible Raeti tribes results:
| Tribal name (as on Tropaeum Alpium) | Name variants | Territory (main valley/river) | Main town (Roman era) | Modern district | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BREUNI | upper valley of fl. Aenus (r. Inn INN InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas... ) |
Tirol (Austria) | Identified as Illyrian tribe by Strabo | ||
| BRIXENETES | valley of fl. Atesis (r. Adige) | Brixina (Brixen Brixen Brixen is the name of two cities in the Alps:*Brixen, South Tyrol, Italy*Brixen im Thale, Tyrol, AustriaBrixen may also refer to:*Bishopric of Brixen, the former north-Italian state.... ) |
South Tyrol South Tyrol South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants... (Italy) |
||
| CALUCONES Calucones The Calucones were a Germanic tribe mentioned by a few of the classical sources, but not all. Pliny the Elder quotes a monument to the reign of Augustus, the tropeaum Alpium, located in the Rhaetia of his day, stating that Augustus subdued the Alpine peoples from the upper sea to the lower sea,... |
Calanda Calanda (mountain) The Calanda is a mountain in the Glarus Alps with two main peaks Haldensteiner Calanda and Felsberger Calanda , both located on the border between the cantons of St. Gallen and Graubünden in eastern Switzerland... (upper valley of fl. Rhenus - r. Rhine) |
Curia (Chur Chur Chur or Coire is the capital of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and lies in the northern part of the canton.-History:The name "chur" derives perhaps from the Celtic kora or koria, meaning "tribe", or from the Latin curia.... ) |
Canton Grisons (Switzerland) | ||
| CAMUNNI Camunni The Camuni or Camunni were an ancient population located in Val Camonica during the Iron Age ; the Latin name Camunni was attributed to them by the authors of the 1st century. They are also called ancient Camuni, to distinguish them from the current inhabitants of the valley... |
Camuni | Val Camonica Val Camonica Val Camonica is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, about 90 km long. It starts from the Tonale Pass, at 1883 metres above sea level and ends at Corna Trentapassi, in the comune of Pisogne, near Lake Iseo... (river Oglio) |
Civitas Camunnorum (Cividate Camuno Cividate Camuno Cividate Camuno is an Italian comune of 2,732 inhabitants in Val Camonica, province of Brescia, in Lombardy.-Geography:... ) |
Brescia Province (Lombardia, It.) | A tribe of the Euganei Euganei The Euganei is a semi-mythical proto-Italic ethnic group that dwelt an area among Adriatic Sea and Rhaetian Alps... , acc. to Pliny |
| COSUANETES | Cotuantii? | upper valley of fl. Isaras (r. Isar) (Bavarian Alps) | Turum (Dorfen Dorfen Dorfen is a town in the district of Erding, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 18 km east of Erding and 29 km south of Landshut.... ) |
Oberbayern (Ger.) | Tribe of the Vindelici, acc. to possible interpretation of tropaeum Alpium inscription. Raeti, acc. to Strabo, if his Cotuantii are the same |
| FOCUNATES | Upper valley of fl. Aenus (r. Inn) | Tirol (Austr.) | Neighbours to Genaunes and Breuni | ||
| GENAUNES | Genauni | upper valley of fl. Aenus (r. Inn) | Tirol | Identified as Illyrian tribe by Strabo | |
| ISARCI | valley of fl. Isarcus (r. Isarco) | South Tyrol | |||
| LEPONTI Lepontii The Lepontii were an ancient people occupying portions of Rhaetia in the Alps during the time of the Roman conquest of that territory. The Lepontii have been variously described as a Celtic, Ligurian, Raetian, and Germanic tribe... |
Lepontii, Lepontes | Val d'Ossola | Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Verbano-Cusio-Ossola is the northernmost province in the Italian region of Piedmont. It was created in 1996 through the fusion of three distinct regions which had previously been part of the Province of Novara... (Piemonte, It.) |
Named as Raeti by Strabo. Celtic, according to Pliny | |
| RUCINATES | Runicates, Rucantii? | ? between rivers Isaras (Isar Isar The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria and Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald, and flows through Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reaching the Danube near Deggendorf. At 295 km in length, it is the fourth largest river... ) and Danuvius (Danube Danube The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway.... ) |
Sorviodunum (Straubing Straubing Straubing is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held.... ) |
Oberbayern | Tribe of the Vindelici, acc. to possible interpretation of Tropaeum Alpium inscription. Named as Raeti by Strabo, if they are same as Rucantii) |
| RUGUSCI | Ruigusci, Rucantii? | Alta Engadin Engadin The Engadin or Engadine is a long valley in the Swiss Alps located in the canton of Graubünden in southeast Switzerland. It follows the route of the Inn River from its headwaters at Maloja Pass running northeast until the Inn flows into Austria one hundred kilometers downstream... a (fl. Aenus - r. Inn) |
Canton Grisons | May be Rucantii in Strabo | |
| SUANETES | Sarunetes | valley of r. Albula Albula The term albula can refer to:*Albula Range, a mountain range in Switzerland*Albula , in Switzerland*Albula , a district in canton Graubünden, Switzerland*Albula Pass*Albula Railway, which forms part of the Rhaetian Railway... |
Lapidaria (Zillis) | Canton Grisons | Identified as Raeti by Pliny |
| TRUMPILINI | Trumplini | Val Trompia Gardone Val Trompia Gardone Val Trompia is a town and comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is bounded by other communes of Marcheno and Sarezzo. It is located in the Trompia valley. It is well-known for being the base of the major small arms manufacturers FAMARS and Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta.... |
Brescia province | A tribe of the Euganei Euganei The Euganei is a semi-mythical proto-Italic ethnic group that dwelt an area among Adriatic Sea and Rhaetian Alps... , acc. to Pliny |
|
| UBERI | upper valley of fl. Rhodanus (r. Rhone) | Canton Valais Valais The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley... |
Part of the Leponti, acc. to Pliny | ||
| VENNONETES | Vennones, Vennonienses | upper valley of fl. Rhenus (r. Rhine) | Canton Saint Gallen | Identified as Raeti by Pliny | |
| VENOSTES | Vinschgau (fl. Atesis - r. Adige Adige The Adige is a river with its source in the Alpine province of South Tyrol near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland. At in length, it is the second longest river in Italy, after the River Po with .... ) |
South Tyrol |
Roman conquest
The Raeti, together with their probably Celtic neighbours to the North, the Vindelici, were subdued by the Roman emperorRoman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
' stepsons and senior military commanders Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
and Drusus in a two-pronged campaign in 15 BC.
Until ca. AD 100, the region was garrisoned, on its western edge (at Vindonissa
Vindonissa
Vindonissa was a Roman legion camp at modern Windisch, Switzerland. It was probably established in 15 AD. In an expansion around 30, thermal baths were added....
from ca. AD 15), by at least one Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
(probably legio XIX
Legio XIX
Legio undevigesima was a Roman legion levied in 41 or 40 BC by Augustus. It was destroyed in 9 in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest...
until AD 9, when it was destroyed in the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest). In addition, Roman auxiliary forces and leves armaturae ("light troops", probably a local militia) were stationed there. But these forces were mainly for security against external threats, not internal unrest. Strabo reports that the Alpine tribes as a whole adapted easily to Roman rule and had not rebelled in the 33 years that had elapsed (by the time of his writing) since the initial conquest.
The Raeti (and the Vindelici) were obliged to pay taxes to Rome. However, their combined territory was not, apparently, organised as a full Roman province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
initially, but as a military district under a Roman equestrian officer, attested as "praefectus of the Raeti, Vindelici and the Poenine Valley". It was apparently not before emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
(ruled 41-54), that the district became a full province with the official name of Raetia et Vindelicia (abbreviated to simply Raetia in the later 1st century), while the Poenine Valley (Canton Valais, Switz.) was separated to join the Alpes Graiae. Raetia was governed by an equestrian procurator
Procurator
Procurator may refer to:*Procurator , the title of various officials of the Roman Empire...
.
According to the epigraphic record, the early Julio-Claudian period of the Roman empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
(30 BC - AD 37) saw the formation of at least 10 auxiliary infantry regiments from the Raeti tribes (the cohortes Raetorum). This represents some 5,000 recruits, an onerous levy from sparsely-populated Alpine valleys. It suggests that the Raeti were strongly attracted to a career in the Roman military. (See Alpine regiments of the Roman army).
Ancient
- Dio CassiusDio CassiusLucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek...
Roman History (ca. 130 AD) - LivyLivyTitus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
Ab Urbe ConditaAb urbe conditaAb urbe condita is Latin for "from the founding of the City ", traditionally set in 753 BC. AUC is a year-numbering system used by some ancient Roman historians to identify particular Roman years...
(ca. 20 AD) - Pliny the ElderPliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
Naturalis HistoriaNaturalis HistoriaThe Natural History is an encyclopedia published circa AD 77–79 by Pliny the Elder. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny...
(ca. 70 AD) - PolybiusPolybiusPolybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
The Histories (Polybius)The Histories (Polybius)Polybius’ Histories were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are existent in their entirety. The bulk of the work is passed down to us through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in Byzantium, for the most part....
(ca. 160 BC) - StraboStraboStrabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
GeographicaGéographicaGéographica is the French-language magazine of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society , published under the Society's French name, the Société géographique royale du Canada . Introduced in 1997, Géographica is not a stand-alone publication, but is published as an irregular supplement to La...
(ca. 20 AD)
Modern
- Alfoldy, Geza (1974): Noricum
- Cambridge Ancient History (1996): Vol X, The Augustan Empire
- 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica (online)
- Faliyeyev, Alexander (2007): Dictionary of Continental Celtic Placenames (online)
- Holder, Paul (1980): Studies in the Auxilia of the Roman Army
- Zavaroni, Adolfo (2001): Le Iscrizioni Retiche ("Raetic Inscriptions") (online)
External links
- Raetic inscriptions Adolfo Zavaroni