Ambarri

The Ambarri were a

Name

They are mentioned as Ambarri and Ambarros by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),^[1] and as Ambarros by Livy (late-1st c. BC),^[2][3]

The

The cities of Ambérieu-en-Bugey, attested ca. 853 as Ambariacus (Ambayreu in 1240), Ambérieux-en-Dombes, attested in 501 as Ambariaco (Ambaireu in 1226), and Ambérieux, attested in 892 as Ambariacum, are named after the Gallic tribe. They originally derive from a form Ambarria attached to the suffix -acos.^[7]

Geography

The Ambarri occupied a tract in the valley of the

History

According to the Roman historian Titus Livius, the Ambarri joined Bellovesus' legendary migrations ca. 600 BC towards Italy:

... but to Bellovesus the gods proposed a far pleasanter road, into Italy. Taking out with him the surplus population of his tribes, the Bituriges, Arverni, Senones, Haedui, Ambarri, Carnutes, and Aulerci, he marched with vast numbers of infantry and cavalry into the country of the Tricastini.

— Livy, Ab Urbe Condita Libri. 5:34:5. trans. B. O. Foster (Loeb, 1924).

Julius Caesar calls them close allies and kinsmen of the Aedui:

At the same time the [Aedui] Ambarri, close allies and kinsmen of the Aedui, informed Caesar that their lands had been laid waste, and that they could not easily safeguard their towns from the violence of the enemy.

— Livy, Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 1:11. trans. H. J. Edwards (Loeb, 1917).

They are also mentioned by Caesar along the Aedui and the Allobroges:

And even if he [Caesar] were willing to forget an old affront, could he banish the memory of recent outrages—their [the Helvetii] attempts to march by force against his will through the Province, their ill-treatment of the Aedui, the Ambarri, the Allobroges?

— Livy, Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 1:14. trans. H. J. Edwards (Loeb, 1917).

References

Bibliography