European Kingdoms

Hercates (Ligurians)

Alpine Tribes (Intro) Alpine Tribes Alpine Groups (Pre-Roman) Aquitani Tribes Celtic Tribes Rome

Prior to domination by Rome, the Alpine region contained various populations which had a complex, obscure, and ethnically-multilayered history. Two major ethnic groups were recorded (aside from intrusions by the Etruscans and Veneti), these being the Euganei on the north Italian plain and the Alpine foothills, and the Raeti in the Trentino and Alto Adige valleys.

There were a great many more minor groups, all of which seem to have formed part of the initial phase of the Golasecca culture. Generally they belonged to one or the other of these though, or to the coastal Ligurians who had gradually penetrated the Alps from the south, but who also extended a considerable way westwards along the Mediterranean coast.

The Ligurians were a people who, before and during the Roman republic period, could be found in north-western Italy. They largely occupied territory which today forms the region of Liguria, extending west into Piedmont to the south of the River Po and even as far as the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Prior to Roman pressure they may have extended as far as northern Tuscany and across the Pyrenees into Catalonia.

The first century BC writer, Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus), wrote about the initial Celtic breakthrough into Italy through the western Alps, with the story dated to about 600 BC. Continuous waves of Celts followed that path over the next two or three hundred years to create a substantial Celtic population across the north Italian plain.

This not only pushed out the previously-dominant Etruscans (through at-least-partially documented warfare), but certainly would also have compressed the main Ligurian population southwards (primarily) towards the coast.

Other Ligurian groups - certainly those in the western Alps - became Celto-Ligurians over time as the powerful newcomers increased dominance over them. More potential Ligurians in the north were compressed into the foothills of the Alps (the Lepontii), perhaps also taking on board a Raeti influx (or vice versa - their story is complicated), while the Vindelici could be found on the opposite side of the Alps.

The Hercates tribe of Ligurians is one of those which formed at some point after the arrival of West Indo-Europeans. Little is known of them other than Livy's mention of them when he placed them on the southern side of the Apennines and went no further than that. He noted them in 175 BC when they appeared 'finally' to be conquered by Rome. Clearly they and other local groups - especially the Ingauni and Intemelii groups - provided Rome with something of a nuisance value.

(Information by Trish Wilson, with additional information by Peter Kessler & Edward Dawson, from The History of Rome, Volume 1, Titus Livius (translated by Rev Canon Roberts), from The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Les peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: Étude de géographie historique, Guy Barruol (De Boccard, 1999), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), from Die Kelten in Österreich nach den ältesten Berichten der Antike, Gerhard Dobesch (in German), from Urbanizzazione delle campagne nell'Italia antica, Lorenzo Quilici & Stefania Quilici Gigli (in Italian), from La frontiera padana, Mauro Poletti (in Italian), and from External Links: Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples, and Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith (1854, Perseus Digital Library), and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively), and Le Alpi (Università di Trento).)

from c.2000 BC

Following their gradual arrival over the previous few centuries, West Indo-European groups (probably the earliest arrivals, the proto-Italics) have amalgamated into pre-existing late Neolithic native populations (Ligurians) to produce the first hybrid groups.

The mountainous Alpine country of the Raeti into which some Ligurians also penetrated would have supplied a relatively tough tribal life, with little thriving or expansion, and relatively easy absorption into Celtic and Latin cultures

Expanding outwards from their initial Alpine and nearby territories, these tribes are currently in control of large areas of central and Western Europe, but not necessarily the deep Mediterranean coastal strip which forms the core Ligurian territory.

Represented by Bell Beaker culture, and with some knowledge of copper-working, some of the outermost elements of these new arrivals also begin moving into the British Isles. Those which remain behind are gradually superseded by Urnfield folk and eventually become fully Celticised.

The Hercates tribe of Ligurians is one of those to form at some point after the arrival of West Indo-Europeans. The tribe's name is an interesting one, not least because it closely mirrors that of the Celtic tribe called the Hercuniates. Both are named after an ancient proto-Indo-European word for an oak.

The Romans later record the name of Hercynia silva, the vast Hercynian Forest, which spread eastwards from southern Germany and which proves a serious impediment to Roman expansion. The Greeks know it as Orcynia - the same name with a slight variation in spelling.

The Riesengebirge was part of the once-vast Hercynian Forest which spread eastwards from southern Germany and which proved a serious impediment to Roman expansion

This is the 'oak forest', and its name seems already to be old by the time it is recorded - so old in fact that 'herk' means 'oak' no matter who lives there or records its existence.

This implies that it dates back to proto-West-Indo-European, virtually the first arrival of Indo-Europeans in the region. It also means that early-forming hybrid Ligurian units could adopt the name as the Hercates, and later-emerging Celts could do so as the Hercuniates.

c.600 BC

The first century BC writer, Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus), writes of an invasion into Italy of Celts during the reign of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome. This event will reshape the Alpine populations into a pattern which is familiar to Romans of the first century BC.

The Ligurian coastline of modern Italy owes its name to the Ligurian people, a pre-Indo-European grouping which probably consisted of several influences prior to being Latinised by the Romans

As archaeology seems to point to a start date of around 500 BC for the beginning of a serious wave of Celtic incursions into Italy, this event has either been misremembered by later Romans or is an early precursor to the main wave of incursions, probably as a result of the same apparent overpopulation which doubtless forces the start of migration into Iberia around a century earlier than this.

That overpopulation is very evident in Gaul, as this is the direction from which the Celts travel. Their advance into the Po Valley means confrontation with Etruscans who dwell between the Apennines and the Alps.

It also forces the Ligurians southwards, and the ancestors of the Lepontii northwards, while the Raeti also have to relocate, concentrating themselves in the Alps (according to Pliny the Elder).

It is possible that the Ligurian relocation serves to fracture once-large tribes into the many smaller units which are later recorded in the western Alps (and beyond in the case of a potential component of the Cantabri tribe). Celticisation follows relocation to create a swathe of Celto-Ligurian tribes, many of which are located in what is now France, close to the Italian border.

The origins of the Euganei, Ligurians, Raeti, Veneti, and Vindelici are confused and unclear, but in the last half of the first millennium BC they were gradually being Celticised or were combining multiple influences to create hybrid tribes (click or tap on map to view full sized)

185 - 180 BC

The Ligurian Ingauni are at war with the Romans in 185 BC. Their territory is invaded by Consul Appius Claudius, who defeats them in several battles and takes six of their towns. Four years later, in 181/180 BC, they are still in arms, and are attacked for the second time, by Proconsul Aemilius Paullus, having come close to overwhelming him in his camp.

Roman accounts state that fifteen thousand of the enemy are killed and two-and-a-half thousand are taken prisoner (seemingly an imbalance as prisoners more normally outnumber fatalities). This victory procures the submission of the whole of the Ligurian people to Roman authority.

The maritime Intemelli and Ingauni and their piratical habits are mentioned at this point in history - 180 BC - when a Roman squadron has to pay them a visit to repress their activities.

Pictured here are both sides of a Roman silver dinarius from the official mint, dated to around 146 BC - the mounted attacker on the reverse accompanied by his dog is fairly typical as Roman troops would often bring their mastiffs along with them so that, while the soldier was fighting the enemy above with spear and long knife, their dogs would be biting the enemy's legs from below

175 BC

Livy notes that the obscure tribes of the Bri--iates [name incomplete], Garuli, Hercates, and Lapicini appear finally to be subdued in this year. Certainly the Hercates seem not to be mentioned again in history.

Such Ligurians for a while remain identifiable in the form of the Ingauni and Intemelii, two main groups which are sometimes referred to by modern writers as tribes. The main settlement for the former is Albingaunum (modern Albenga), and for the latter Albium Intemelium (now Vintimiglia).

They retain their piratical habits but, in effect, live on reservations (prescribed territory which is fixed in sized by the Romans). In time all Ligurians and Celto-Ligurians are subsumed by Roman (Latin) culture and language.