Suanetes

The Suanetes were a Gallic or Raetian tribe living in the Alps, near modern Chur (eastern Switzerland), during the Iron Age and the Roman era.

Name

They are mentioned as Suanetes (var. suanene-, suannene-) by Pliny (1st c. AD),[1] and as Souánetes (Σουάνετες) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[2][3]

According to Xavier Delamarre, the name could be interpreted as the Celtic Su-anates, from anatia ('soul').[4] The ethnic name Cosuanetes appears to be linguistically related.[4]

Geography

The tribe was located in the valley of the Hinterrhein and in the Oberhalbstein region, near modern Chur (eastern Switzerland).[5][6] Pliny mentions them conjointly with the Cosuanetes and the Rugusci.[6]

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.[7] Weapons discovered at Tiefencastel and on the Septimer Pass provide further evidence to this account.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:137.
  2. ↑ Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:12:2.
  3. ↑ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Suanetes.
  4. 1 2 Delamarre 2003, pp. 44, 306–207.
  5. ↑ Talbert 2000, Map 19: Raetia.
  6. 1 2 3 Frei-Stolba 2012.
  7. ↑ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.

Primary sources

  • Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674993648. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  • Strabo (1923). Geography. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Jones, Horace L. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674990562. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

Bibliography

  • 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.
  • Frei-Stolba, Regula (2012). "Suanetes". Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
  • Schumacher, Stefan; Dietz, Karlheinz; Zanier, Werner (2007). "Vindeliker". In Beck, Heinrich (ed.). Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 35 (2 ed.). De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3110187847.
  • Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
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