Aquitani

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Aquitanians
)
pre-Indo-European
tribes are in black

The Aquitani were a tribe that lived in the region between the

Atlantic ocean, and the Garonne, in present-day southwestern France[1] in the 1st century BCE. The Romans dubbed this region Gallia Aquitania. Classical authors such as Julius Caesar and Strabo clearly distinguish the Aquitani from the other peoples of Gaul, and note their similarity to others in the Iberian Peninsula
.

During the process of

Roman civilization. Their old language, the Aquitanian language, was a precursor of the Basque language[2]
and the .

History

At the time of the Roman conquest, Julius Caesar, who defeated them in his campaign in Gaul, describes them as making up a distinct part of Gaul:

All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani[3]

Despite apparent cultural and linguistic connections to (Vascones), the area of Aquitania, as a part of Gaul ended at the Pyrenees according to Caesar:

Aquitania extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Hispania: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star.[4]

Relation to Basque people and language

The presence, on late Romano-Aquitanian funerary slabs and altars, of what seem to be the names of deities or people similar to certain names in modern

Vasconia in the Early Middle Ages, a name that evolved into the better known form of Gascony
, along with other toponymic evidence, seems to corroborate that assumption.

Tribes

Aquitania
(as was defined in the 1st century BCE)
Aquitania
proper (as was defined in the 1st century BCE)

Although the country where the original Aquitanians lived came to be named Novempopulania (nine peoples) in the late years of the Roman Empire and Early Middle Ages (up to the 6th century), the number of tribes varied (about 20 for Strabo, but comparing with the information of other classical authors such as Pliny, Ptolemy and Julius Caesar, the total number were 32 or 33):[citation needed]

Aquitani tribes

Aquitani related peoples or tribes

In the southern slopes of western

Aquitania but in northern Hispania Tarraconensis
:

See also

References

  1. . The Aquitani [...] lived in Gaul in the region between the Garonne River and the Pyrenees in present-day southwestern France [...].
  2. ^ These are indeed the opening lines of Caesar’s account of his war in Gaul: Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen [...] dividit. Julius Caesar, De bello Gallico 1.1, edition of T. Rice Holmes
  3. ^ Aquitania a Garumna flumine ad Pyrenaeos montes et eam partem Oceani quae est ad Hispaniam pertinet; spectat inter occasum solis et septentriones.
  4. .
  5. ^ .

External links