Reii

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Reii were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling in the modern department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name[]

The ethnonym Reii has been interpreted as meaning 'the free ones', stemming from an earlier *Reiī < *Riioi, itself formed with the Gaulish root *riio- ('free'). According to Xavier Delamarre, the Reii could have been a group of freedmen or, more probably, an autonomous tribe among a group of subjugated peoples.[1]

The city of Riez, attested as Alebaece Reiorum Apollinarium in the 1st c. AD (concilium Regense in 439, civitati Regensi in 990–7, Rietz in 1402) is named after the tribe.[2]

Geography[]

Territory[]

Vestige of the Roman temple in Riez, probably dedicated to Apollo.[3]

The Reii dwelled in the valleys of the  [fr] river and its tributaries, and in the lower Verdon valley up to the Durance in the west. They probably also occupied the valleys of the Asse and the  [fr]. The eastern frontier of their territory was the boundary between the provinces of Narbonensis and Alpes Maritimae.[4][3] Their territory was located north of the and (themselves north of the Saluvii), south of the Vocontii, east of the Dexivates, and west of the Sentii, Suetrii and Vergunni.[5] According to historian Guy Barruol, they were part of the Saluvian confederation.[6][7]

Settlements[]

Their capital was Alebaece (modern Riez), located at the foot of the hill of Saint-Maxime, at the confluence of the Colostre with its tributary the  [fr]. The city was located near a main route linking Fréjus with Sisteron and other places further north. From the reign of Augustus, it became known as Iulia Augusta Apollinaris Reiorum.[3][8] Reiorum is a Latin formation based on the name of the tribe.[9] Alebaece was probably the name of the pre-Roman hill-fort on St-Maxime, and it has been connected with the ethnonym , the tribe that helped Massalia in her fight against Caesar in 49 BC.[3] The Council of Reii was held in the city in 439 AD.[3]

Another important settlement was located at Gréoux-les-Bains, a Roman spa town where was found a dedication to the Nymphae Griselicae made by Annia Fundania Faustina.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ Delamarre 2015, p. 131.
  2. ^ Nègre 1990, p. 1203.
  3. ^ a b c d e Rivet 1988, pp. 243–244.
  4. ^ Barruol 1969, p. 220.
  5. ^ Talbert 2000, Map 16: Col. Forum Iulii-Albingaunum.
  6. ^ Barruol 1969, p. 188.
  7. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 16.
  8. ^ Lafond & Olshausen 2006.
  9. ^ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Reii and Augusta Apollinaris Reiorum.
  10. ^ Rivet 1988, p. 245.

Bibliography[]

  • Barruol, Guy (1969). Les Peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: étude de géographie historique. E. de Boccard. OCLC 3279201.
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2015). "Affranchis, chevaux sauvages, libérateurs et mercenaires : le mot gaulois pour "libre"". Études celtiques. 41 (1): 129–144. doi:10.3406/ecelt.2015.2454.
  • 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.
  • Lafond, Yves; Olshausen, Eckart (2006). "Reii". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1020190.
  • Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.
  • Rivet, A. L. F. (1988). Gallia Narbonensis: With a Chapter on Alpes Maritimae: Southern France in Roman Times. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-5860-2.
  • Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
Retrieved from ""