Eburones

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Eburones were a Gallic-Germanic tribe dwelling in the northeast of Gaul, in what is now the southern Netherlands, eastern Belgium and the German Rhineland, in the period immediately preceding the Roman conquest of the region. Though living in Gaul, they were also described as being both Belgae and Germani (for a discussion of these terms, see below).

Variants

  • Greek: Ἐβούρωνες, Ἐβουρωνοί

Jat clans

Name

Attestations: They are mentioned as Eburones by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC) and Orosius (early 5th c. AD),[1] as Eboúrōnes (Ἐβούρωνες) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[2] as Ebourōnoí (Ἐβουρωνοί) by Cassius Dio (3rd c. AD).[3]

Etymology: Most scholars derive the ethnonym Eburones from the Gaulish word for 'yew-tree', eburos,[4] itself stemming from Proto-Celtic *eburos ('yew'; cf. OIr. ibar 'yew', MBret. euor 'alder buck-thorn', MW. efwr 'cow parsnip, hog-weed').[5] This interpretation is supported by the story, as told by Julius Caesar, of how the Eburonean king Catuvolcus killed himself with poisonous yew in a ritualistic suicide. [6]

An alternative Germanic etymology from *eburaz ('boar'; cf. ON jofurr, or Ger. Eber) has also been proposed. [7] Xavier Delamarre points out that coins of the Aulerci Eburovices, in Normandy, show the head of a wild boar, and argues that there might have been, further northeast, a "semantic contamination, in the mixed Germano-Celtic Rhenish areas, of the Gaulish eburos by the Germanic quasi-homonym *eburaz." [8] Joseph Vendryes saw a Celtic 'boar-god' *epro behind the name of the yew,[9] and it has been noted that the boar and the yew are both associated with concepts of lordship and longevity in the Germanic and—to a lesser extent—Celtic traditions, which may provided a reason for such a "contamination". [10]

The second part of the ethnonym, -ones, is commonly found in both Celtic (Lingones, Senones, etc.) and Germanic (Ingvaeones, Semnones, etc.) tribal names in the Roman era.[11]

Maurits Gysseling has suggested that place names such as Averbode and Avernas (Hannut) might be derived from the Eburones.[12]

History

The Eburones played a major role in Julius Caesar's account of his "Gallic Wars", as the most important tribe within the Germani cisrhenani group of tribes — Germani living west of the Rhine amongst the Belgae. Caesar claimed that the name of the Eburones was wiped out after their failed revolt against his forces during the Gallic Wars, and that the tribe was largely annihilated. Whether any significant part of the population lived on in the area as Tungri, the tribal name found here later, is uncertain but considered likely.

Territory

The Eburones lived in an area broadly situated between the Ardennes and Eifel region in the south, and the Rhine-Meuse delta in the north. Their territory lay east of the Atuatuci (themselves east of the Nervii), south of the Menapii, and north of the Segni and Condrusi (themselves north of the Treveri).[13] To the east, the Sugambri and Ubii were their neighbours on the opposite bank of the Rhine.[14] When the Germanic Tencteri and Usipetes crossed the Rhine from Germania in 55 BC, they first fell on the Menapii and advanced into the territories of the Eburones and Condrusi, who were both "under the protection of" the Treveri to the south.[15]

According to a description given by Caesar (mid-1st century BC), the greatest part of the Eburones lived between the Meuse and Rhine rivers.[16] However, Caesar also notes that their land bordered on that of the coastal Menapii in the north, and that those among the Eburones "who were nearest the ocean" managed to hide in islands after their defeat against the Romans.[17] This apparent geographical situation, near both the Condroz and the Rhine–Meuse delta, has suggested to many scholars that a significant part of their territory stretched west of the Meuse rather than between the Meuse and the Rhine. [18] Heinrichs (2008) contends that a territory stretching from the Rhine to the North Sea would be "unrealistically large", especially since they were portrayed as clients of the neighbouring Atuatuci until 57 BC. As archaeological findings suggest that the Eburonean territory did not extend substantially east of the Meuse in the direction of the Rhine, Heinrichs argues that the Eburones were rather principally centred in an area located west of the Meuse.[19]

They have been identified by Belgian archaeologists with a material culture in northern Limburg and the Campine. According to Wightman, "this would certainly account for the propinquity of Eburones and Menapii mentioned by Caesar; the distribution of war-time staters attributed to the Eburones (a mixture of transrhenine and Treveran elements) also corresponds with this group."[20] Based on the concentrations of coins, Roymans (2004) has proposed to also regard the eastern half of the Rhine–Meuse delta as part of the Eburonean polity. The area was later inhabited by the Batavians who likely assimilated the local Eburones. [21]

Another part of the Eburones also fled to a remote area of the Ardennes, where Ambiorix himself is said to have gone with some cavalry, and Caesar portrays the Scheldt river (Scaldis) as flowing into the Meuse, apparently confusing the river with the Sambre.[22] This has led scholars to argue that Caesar or later copyists sometimes confused river names or used them differently than later writers.[23] Some scholars have argued for a location in the northern Eifel region, but this is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the Condrusi, who gave their name to the Condroz region, are described by Caesar as dwelling between the Treveri and Eburones. Wightman further notes that "no cultural groupings can be isolated to suit the Eburones in the north Eifel".[24]

Settlements

Caesar describes Atuatuca as a castellum located in the middle of the Eburone territory, which has sometimes been taken to imply that it was between the Meuse and the Rhine rivers where, in another passage, Caesar locates the greatest part of the Eburonean population.[25]The exact location the stronghold remains uncertain, but it is almost certainly not the same as the later Atuatuca Tungrorum, which seems to have been erected ex-nihilo as a Roman military base ca. 10 BC.[26] According to Wightman (1985), "changes which took place after Caesar, involving new folk from across the Rhine and reorganization of existing peoples, make localization difficult."[27]

Atuatuca played an important role in the revolt of Ambiorix against Rome in the winter of 54–53 BC, and in Caesar's subsequent attempts to annihilate the tribe in 53 and 51 BC.[28] Vanvinckenroye (2001) has suggested that the Eburones did not have their own strongholds and used instead the fortress of the neighbouring Atuatuci to house troops since they were tributary to them, which would explain the name.[29]

External links

See also

References

  1. ↑ Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico (BG). 2:4; Orosius. Historiae Adversus Paganos, 6:7.
  2. ↑ Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:3:5.
  3. ↑ Cassius Dio. Rhōmaïkḕ Historía, 60.5.
  4. ↑ Gysseling 1960, p. 297; Delamarre 2003, p. 159; Busse 2006, p. 199; Toorians 2013, p. 112
  5. ↑ Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Brill. ISBN 9789004173361. p. 112.
  6. ↑ Neumann, Günter (1999). "Germani cisrhenani — die Aussage der Namen". In Beck, H.; Geuenich, D.; Steuer, H. (eds.). Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3110164381. p. 111
  7. ↑ Lambert, Pierre-Yves (1994). La langue gauloise: description linguistique, commentaire d'inscriptions choisies (in French). Errance. ISBN 978-2-87772-089-2. p. 34.
  8. ↑ Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (in French). Errance. ISBN 9782877723695. p. 160.
  9. ↑ Delamarre 2003, p. 160.
  10. ↑ Toorians, Lauran (2013). "Aduatuca, 'place of the prophet'. The names of the Eburones as representatives of a Celtic language, with an excursus on Tungri". In Creemers, Guido (ed.). Archaeological Contributions to Materials and Immateriality. Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren. ISBN 978-90-74605-61-8. p. 116.
  11. ↑ Neumann 1986, p. 348.
  12. ↑ Gysseling, Maurits (1960). Toponymisch woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland vóór 1226 (in Dutch). Belgisch Interuniversitair Centrum voor Neerlandistiek. pp. 85–86.
  13. ↑ Wightman 1985, pp. 30–31; von Petrikovits 1999, p. 92; Schön 2006; See Caesar, BG, II.29–II.30, V.38, VI.32, VI.33
  14. ↑ Wightman 1985, p. 42. See Caesar, BG, VI.35
  15. ↑ Caesar, BG, IV.5–6
  16. ↑ Caesar, BG, V.24.
  17. ↑ Caesar, BG, VI.31, VI.33
  18. ↑ von Petrikovits, Harald (1999). "Germani Cisrhenani". In Beck, H.; Geuenich, D.; Steuer, H. (eds.). Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3110164381. p. 92.
  19. ↑ Heinrichs, Johannes (2008). "Die Eburonen, Oder: Die Kunst Des Überlebens". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 164: 203–230. ISSN 0084-5388. JSTOR 20476452. pp. 203, 205–207.
  20. ↑ Wightman 1985, p. 31.
  21. ↑ Roymans, Nico (2004). Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power: The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-90-5356-705-0. pp. 23, 27.
  22. ↑ Caesar, BG, VI.33
  23. ↑ Wightman 1985, p. 42.
  24. ↑ Wightman 1985, p. 31.
  25. ↑ Vanderhoeven & Vanderhoeven 2004, p. 145, von Petrikovits 1999, p. 92. Cf. Caesar 1917, p. 6:32 "...impedimenta omnium legionum Aduatucam contulit. Id castelli nomen est. Hoc fere est in mediis Eburonum finibus...", and Caesar 1917, p. 5:24, "pars maxima est inter Mosam ac Rhenum".
  26. ↑ Vanderhoeven & Vanderhoeven 2004, pp. 148, 151.
  27. ↑ Wightman 1985, p. 30.
  28. ↑ Vanderhoeven & Vanderhoeven 2004, p. 144.
  29. ↑ Vanvinckenroye 2001, p. 53.
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