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Lingones

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For the Slavic tribe of Lingones from Poland, seeLendians.
A map ofGaulshowing the relative position of the Lingones tribe, near centre right.

TheLingones(Gaulish:'the jumpers') were aGallictribe of theIron AgeandRomanperiods. They dwelled in the region surrounding the present-day city ofLangres,between the provinces ofGallia LugdunensisandGallia Belgica.[1]

Name[edit]

Attestations[edit]

They are mentioned asLíngōnes(Λίγγωνες) byPolybius(2nd c. BC),[2]LingonesbyCaesar(mid-1st c. BC),Pliny(1st c. AD) andTacitus(early 2nd c. AD),[3]Díngones(Δίγγονες) byStrabo(early 1st c. AD),[4]and asLóngōnes(Λόγγωνες) byPtolemy(2nd c. AD).[5][6]

Etymology[edit]

TheGaulishethnonymLingonesliterally means 'the jumpers'. It derives from the stemling-('to jump'), itself from theProto-Celticverbal base*leng-('to jump'; cf.Old Irishlingid'he jumps'), extended by the suffix -on-es.[7][8][9]The name could be interpreted as 'good at jumping (on horseback)',[10]or else as 'the dancers'.[8]

The city ofLangres,attested ca. 400 AD ascivitas Lingonum,is named after the Gallic tribe.[10]

Geography[edit]

The territory of the Lingones was situated on the border separatingGallia LugdunensisfromGallia Belgica,between theSenonesand theSequani.[1]

Settlement[edit]

Their capital Andematunnum (present-dayLangres,Haute-Marne) is attested from 43 AD on boundary markers (abbreviated asAND).[11]It was built on aBajocianlimestonepromontory, overlooking theMarnevalley to the east and north, and the Bonnelle valley to the west. Only the southern part, open to the Langresplateau,did not possess natural defences.[11]Archeological evidence have demonstrated a continuity between theLa Tèneand Roman periods on the site of Langres, and the city of Andematunnum appears to have been built at the turn of the 1st century BC on a previous Gallic settlement.[12]The Roman-eracivitasof the Lingones was located at the crossroad of the moderndépartmentsofAube,Haute-Marne,Côte d’OrandYonne.[13]

TheCathedral St-Mammes,built in the Burgundian Romanesque style for the ancient diocese that was referred to asLingonae( "of the Lingones" ) and rivalled Dijon. Three of its early bishops were martyred by the invasion of the Vandals, about 407.[citation needed]

History[edit]

Some of the Lingones migrated across theAlpsand settled near the mouth of the Po River inCisalpine Gaulof northernItalyaround 400 BC. These Lingones were part of a wave of Celtic tribes that included theBoiiandSenones(Polybius,Historiesii.17).[non-primary source needed]The Lingones may have helped sack Rome in 390 BC.[citation needed]

The Gaulish Lingones did not participate in the battles of the Gauls against Caesar. They gained Roman citizenship at the end of the first century AD.[1]They were caught up in theBatavian rebellion(69 AD) described byTacitus.

The strategistSextus Julius Frontinus,author of theStrategemata,the earliest surviving Roman military textbook, mentions the Lingones among his examples of successful military tactics:

In the war waged under the auspices of the Emperor CaesarDomitianusAugustus Germanicus and begun by Julius Civilis in Gaul, the very wealthy city of the Lingones, which had revolted to Civilis, feared that it would be plundered by the approaching army of Caesar. But when, contrary to expectation, the inhabitants remained unharmed and lost none of their property, they returned to their loyalty, and handed over to me seventy thousand armed men.

In Roman Britain, at least three named cohorts of Lingones, probably subscripted from among the Lingones who had remained in the area of Langres and Dijon are attested in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, from dedicatory inscriptions and stamped tiles. The 1st cohort of Lingones (part-mounted) is attested atBremenium,the Roman fort atHigh Rochesterin north Northumberland,[14]the 2nd cohort of Lingones is attested atIlkley Roman Fortby their Prefect,[15]and the fourth cohort built part ofHadrian's Wallnear Carlisle.[16]

Religion[edit]

During theRoman period,MarsCicolluis was the main god of the Lingones.[17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcLafond 2006.
  2. ^Polybius.Historíai,2:17:7.
  3. ^Caesar.Commentarii de Bello Gallico,1:25:6, 1:40:11;Pliny.Naturalis Historia,4:106;Tacitus.Historiae,1:53.
  4. ^Strabo.Geōgraphiká,4:3:4.
  5. ^Ptolemy.Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis,2:9:9.
  6. ^Falileyev 2010,s.v.Lingones.
  7. ^Lambert 1994,p. 34.
  8. ^abDelamarre 2003,p. 203.
  9. ^Matasović 2009,p. 237–238.
  10. ^abNègre 1990,p. 155.
  11. ^abJoly 2003,p. 211.
  12. ^Joly 2003,pp. 213–214.
  13. ^Joly et al. 2015,p. 217.
  14. ^"RIB 1276. Dedication-slab".Roman Inscriptions of Britain online.Retrieved2 June2020.
  15. ^"RIB 635. Altar dedicated to Verbeia".Roman Inscriptions of Britain online.Retrieved2 June2020.
  16. ^"RIB 2014. Building inscription of the Fourth Cohort of Lingonians".Roman Inscriptions of Britain online.Retrieved2 June2020.
  17. ^Derks 1998,p. 97.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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