Brixentes

The Brixentes or Brixenetes were a Celtic or Rhaetian tribe living in the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman era.

Name

They are mentioned as Brixentes (var. -xenetis, -xenetes) by Pliny (1st c. AD),[1] and as Brixántai (Βριξάνται) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[2][3] An identification with Strabo's Brigántioi (Βριγάντιοι) has been proposed.[4]

The ethnic name Brixentes might derive from an earlier form *brig-s-ant-, built on the root brig- ('hill, hillfort'). It has been translated as 'those living on hills/hillforts', or as 'those living in *Brigsa/Brigsina'.[5][6][3]

Geography

According to the ancient geographer Ptolemy, the Brixentes were a Rhaetian tribe.[7]

It is unclear however where in the Alps the Brixentes actually lived. Since they are listed on the Tropaeum Alpium between the Calucones and the Lepontii, modern-day eastern Switzerland or Vorarlberg seems a possible location, which would further corroborate the corresponding information given by Strabo about the Brigántioi and by Ptolemy about the Brixántai.[4]

Another theory, inspired by the similarity to the place name, suggests to locate them at the confluence of the Eisack and Rienz rivers in modern-day South Tyrol, near the modern city of Brixen (if reconstructed as *Brigsa/Brigsina).[8]

History

They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.[1]

References
  1. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.
  2. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:12:2.
  3. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Brixenetes.
  4. Ernst Meyer: Die geschichtlichen Nachrichten über die Räter und ihre Wohnsitze. In: Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte. Vol. 55, 1970, p. 119—125
  5. Delamarre 2003, p. 87.
  6. de Bernardo Stempel 2015, pp. 88–89.
  7. Ptolemy. Geography, 2:12:2.
  8. Talbert 2000, Map 19: Raetia.

Primary sources
  • Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674993648.

Bibliography
  • de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia (2015). "Zu den keltisch benannten Stämmen im Umfeld des oberen Donauraums". In Lohner-Urban, Ute; Scherrer, Peter (eds.). Der obere Donauraum 50 v. bis 50 n. Chr. Frank & Timme. ISBN 978-3-7329-0143-2.
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
  • Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
  • Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
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