Montunates
Ancient people of Roman northern Italy
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The Montunates were the inhabitants of an ancient vicus around modern Albizzate, in Transpadana (northern Roman Italy). They are known from a single votive inscription of the Roman period.
Attestation
The vicani Montunates appear in a dedication to Jupiter Optimus Maximus found at Albizzate (Transpadana) and dated to the 1st or 2nd century AD:[1]
I(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo) / Montunates vicani / Lovanius / v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito)
"To Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The Montunates villagers. Lovanius fulfilled his vow, willingly, gladly and deservedly."
The inscription names the community as a body of vicani, the inhabitants of a vicus (village), and records the offering as the act of an individual, Lovanius, who discharged a vow to the god. The dedication is addressed to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the chief deity of the Roman state.[1]
The name survives in Montonate, a hamlet (frazione) of Mornago.[2]