European Kingdoms

Latovici / Latobici (Gauls / Belgae?)

Indo-Europeans - Celtic Tribes (Intro) Anatolian Tribes Balkans Tribes Baltic Tribes Celtic Tribes Germanic Tribes Italic Tribes Indo-Iranian/Aryan Tribes Slavic Tribes Tocharians (Intro)

In general terms, the Romans coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the Celtic tribes of what is now central, northern, and eastern France. The Gauls were divided from the Belgae to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south by the River Garonne, and they also extended into Switzerland, northern Italy, and along the Danube (see feature link for a discussion of the origins of the Celtic name).

By the middle of the first century BC, the minor Latovici tribe was located in north-western Illyria, (in the Balkans), the most southern of all the Gaulish tribes. They were neighboured to the north by the Carni and a pocket of the Boii, to the east and south by Illyrian tribes, and across the Adriatic Gulf of Venice by the Veneti.

This tribe should not be confused with the Latovici on the east bank of the Rhine, although they may once have been a single people. Instead they were counted as a more distant part of the Norici, Celts 'from the north' who occupied territory between the southern bank of the Danube and north-western Illyria.

That use of 'from the north' suggests infiltration from Northern Europe, perhaps by a possible Germanic element but perhaps also by Celts migrating southwards to submerge an earlier population (whether this earlier population were Celts themselves or - almost certainly - something else, such as Raetians).

The tribal names all point to Germanic influence though, so from just how far north did these Celts travel? Given the Germanic influence at such an early date, prior to general Germanic migration outwards from Scandinavia and the Cimbric peninsula, then it must have been from around this area, Northern Europe, in modern Denmark or the nearby southern shore of the Baltic Sea.

If that is indeed the case - and it would seem to be - then the Taurisci and their associated (and equally weirdly-named) sub-tribes must have been Belgae, not Gauls. The date of their migration from the Baltic to their arrival on the Danube at around 300 BC would give them time enough if they were part of the general movement of Belgic peoples, with many going east (to form the Venedi) and west (to form the Belgae of Caesar's time).

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information from Geography, Ptolemy, from Roman History, Cassius Dio, from Research into the Physical History of Mankind, James Cowles Pritchard, from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, from The History of Rome, Volume 1, Titus Livius, translated by Rev Canon Roberts, from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from Celts and the Classical World, David Rankin, from The Civilisation of the East, Fritz Hommel (Translated by J H Loewe, Elibron Classic Series, 2005), from Europe Before History, Kristian Kristiansen, from the Encyclopaedia of European Peoples, Carl Waldman & Catherine Mason, from Caesar's Conquest of Gaul, TR Holmes, from Geography, Strabo, translated by H C Hamilton Esq & W Falconer, M A, Ed (George Bell & Sons, London, 1903), from The Celtic Encyclopaedia, Harry Mountain, from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), and from External Links: On the Celtic Tribe of Taurisci, Mitka Guštin, and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition), and The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars and Perseus Digital Library, and the Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Jones' Celtic Encyclopaedia, 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).)

c.300 BC

By the late Iron Age the area between the southern edge of the eastern Alps and the northern Adriatic has long been inhabited by diverse prehistoric populations, such as Raeti and Ligurians.

Some newcomers arrive into the area around this time in the form of Celtic communities from north of the Danube, the heart of Celtic culture (possibly from so far north that they are in fact Belgae). The presence of Celts in this area is first noted after AD 1829, when hoards of Celtic coins are discovered in the area of Celje, in Vrhnika and in Šmarjeta.

The modern southern Austrian region of Carinthia marked the upper edge of the Adriatic hinterland which was first occupied by Celts towards the end of the fourth century BC

The tribes concerned are determined by the historian Albert Muchar to be the Latovici, Serapili, Sereti, and Taurisci. Native communities in the hinterland of the Adriatic between Carinthia and Carniola are relatively rapidly assimilated by the Celtic newcomers, soon completely losing their identity.

The Celtic coins are classed as 'Tauriscan coinage' (also known as the 'Eastern Norican' type). They display the motif of Apollo with a diadem on the adverse, and a horseman who is identified with the name of a prince on the reverse.

1st century BC

The graves of this period show typical inventories comprising red burnt biconical pots, cups, grave vessels with brushed ornamentation, and ritually destroyed weapons (in addition to Celtic swords, the graves also contain five gladii and two Roman Weisenau-type helmets, and early metal and pottery vessels frequently accompany footed beakers in the graves.

The Taurisci burial site at Zvonimirovo lies midway between Zagreb and Osijek in modern Croatia, and has yielded artefacts which can be dated between the Middle Ages and the third century BC, including this ritually destroyed sword

These all serve to indicate that the population of Verdun, Novo Mesto, and Mihovo below the slopes of the Gorjanci mountains is Celtic, perhaps belonging to the Latovici - a small community which is mentioned in the texts of Roman writers.

Their territory is defined by ceramic footed beakers typical of central Slovenia during the first century BC and by characteristic house-shaped cinerary urns from the Roman period. The Roman names of some settlements, such as Praetorium Latobicorum (modern Trebnje) and Municipium Flavium Latobicorum Neviodunum (modern Drnovo near Krško) bear witness to the presence of the Latovici.

c.60 - 40 BC

From the latter part of the first century BC and into the next century, various historians mention a variety of tribes and their affiliates which are uniformly identified as being Taurisci, together with a variety of other Cisalpine tribes which include the Norici and Iapydes (not all of which are Celtic in origin).

This vast map covers just about all possible tribes which were documented in the first centuries BC and AD, mostly by the Romans and Greeks, and with an especial focus on 52 BC (click or tap on map to view at an intermediate size)

Strabo mentions the Taurisci in his Natural History as being strictly Celtic, as does Livy writing the History of Rome around 10 BC. Pliny the Elder, writing his own Natural History in the mid-first century AD, does the same, along with Apian and Cassius Dio in the second and third centuries AD, saying that the Taurisci are a warrior-like tribe whuch often plunders Roman territory in the hinterlands of Tergestica (modern Trieste).

By this time, the Taurisci and their fellow Celts have picked up a good deal of local influence, partially from the Scordisci and partially from the remaining indigenous population.

Other tribes mentioned as individual groups of the Taurisci confederation include: the Carni, who occupy the Carnian Alps, on the edge of the south-eastern Alps; the Latovici between Krka and Sava; the Varciani along the Sava towards Sisak; the Serapili and Sereti along the River Drava on the edge of Pannonia; and the Iasi towards Varaždin.

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)

Ancient authors also list several smaller indigenous communities, such as the Illyrian Colapiani along the River Kolpa, the Celtic Ambisontes in the Soča Valley, the Subocrini around Razdrto, and the Rundicti in the Kras and Notranjska regions.

The greater Tauriscan tribal community with some identified smaller tribes (such as the Agones, (probably), Laianci, Latovici, and Uperaci) has never developed into a state formation, but it is becoming known collectively as the Norici.

35 - 33 BC

Eastern Tauriscan tribes are defeated by Octavian between these dates, while the western tribes which border the Carni come under the dominion of the 'Kingdom of Noricum'. This means that the Norici name is starting to take over from that of the Taurisci as a description not only of that tribe but of all the region's Celts, probably as a result of the defeat by Rome.

In the Roman era, the Latovici settlement at Praetorium Latobicorum (near modern Trebnje in Slovenia) became a military outpost which has left surviving ruins

The Roman state gradually absorbs the Celtic and indigenous populations and completely Romanises them through a combination of military force, economic pressure, political organisation, and their own way of life.

The indigenous population survives in the towns and village settlements, whose names frequently denote the area of a specific tribal group (such as, for example, Praetorium Latobicorum (modern Trebnje), and Municipium Flavium Latobi-corum Neviodunum (modern Drnovo, near Krško).

16 - 15 BC

The Norican kingdom is subdued by Rome, at the hands of Drusus and Tiberius. Later in the Augustinian period Roman weaponry appears in the territory of the Taurisci, such as the short gladii and Wiesenau-type helmets.

During his long 'reign' as Rome's first citizen, Augustus brought peace to the city and oversaw its transition from failing republic to vigorous and expanding empire

Their presence indicates that these Celts, especially those above Gorjanci, frequently opt to serve in Roman auxiliary units and preserve some rights in the middle and end of the first century BC and into the beginning of the first century AD. While the Norici name survives to collectively describe Celts in this region, the names of individual tribes fade out.