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), and as Brixántai (Βριξάνται) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD). An identification with Strabo's Brigántioi (Βριγάντιοι) has been proposed.
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'.
Geography
According to the ancient geographer Ptolemy, the Brixentes were a Rhaetian tribe.
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.
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).
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.
References
- ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.
- Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:12:2.
- ^ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Brixenetes.
- ^ 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
- Delamarre 2003, p. 87.
- de Bernardo Stempel 2015, pp. 88–89.
- Ptolemy. Geography, 2:12:2.
- 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.
