Cerdiciates
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cerdiciates were a Celto-Ligurian[1] tribe living south of the Po river, in the Northern Appenine, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
They are mentioned as Cerdiciates by Livy (1st c. AD),[2]
According to Xavier Delamarre, the ethnic name Cerdiciates may derive from the Gaulish stem cerdo(n) ('craftsman'; cf. Old Irish cerd 'skill, art (esp. poetic art), craftsman', Middle Welsh cerdd 'skill, poetry, music').[3]
Geography
Their territory was located south of the Po river, in the Northern Appenine.[1]
History
The Cerdiciates are mentioned by Livy, who describes them as 'Ligurian'.[4] During the war against Philip V of Macedon, the consuls Quintus Minucius Rufus and Gaius Cornelius Cethegus were assigned to Italy with two legions each to suppress revolts among Cisalpine Gauls. While Cornelius campaigned against the Insubres and Cenomani, Minucius advanced to Genoa and attacked several Ligurian communities, including the towns of Clastidium, Litubium, and the peoples of the Celeiates and Cerdiciates.[4]
Quintus Minucius headed up the western flank of Italy to the Tyrrhenian sea and, after bringing his army to Genua, chose the Ligurians as his first adversaries in the war. Clastidium and Litubium, both Ligurian towns, and the Celeiates and the Cerdiciates, two communities of that same people, surrendered; and with that everything south of the Po was under Roman control, apart from the Gallic Boii and the Ligurian Ilvates.
— Livy, History of Rome, 32.29, transl. Loeb
References
- 1 2 Kruta 2000, p. 532.
- ↑ Livy. Hist., 32.29
- ↑ Delamarre 2003, p. 114.
- 1 2 Migliario 2025, p. 224.
Bibliography
- Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
- Kruta, Venceslas (2000). Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire : des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme. Robert Laffont. ISBN 2-221-05690-6.
- Migliario, Elvira (2025). "Liguri, Celti, e altri, all'alba della romanizzazione: appunti di storia dell'Oltrepò". In Battaglia, Manuela; Zamboni, Lorenzo (eds.). Correlazioni. Amici e allievi per Stefano Maggi. Milano University Press. pp. 221–232. ISBN 979-12-5510-313-4.
