European Kingdoms

Quariates (Gauls)

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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, while also extending 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, there existed a cluster of smaller tribes in the Alpine region of western Switzerland and the French/Italian border (see map link for all tribal locations). This included the Quariates who occupied a small territory in the western Alps, in the valley of Queyras. They were neighboured by the Edenates to the north, the Taurini to the east, the Brigianii to the south, and the Tricastii to the west.

Their territory lay around the basin of the River Guil, a tributary of the Durance. The valley and local range of Queyras apparently take their name from the tribe. With a chief settlement near the town of Aiguilles, not far from the Massif du Queyras in Hautes-Alpes, they would have monitored access through their particular Alpine pass, but they managed to avoid the horrors of the Alpine Wars of Augustus.

Their name appears to be Gaulish, although these particular Gauls apparently made the rare step of retaining the 'k' in their pronunciation while others transitioned to a 'p' sound. Nevertheless the term 'qario' is recognised as Gaulish, meaning 'cauldron, pot'. The '-ati' or '-ti' suffix means 'belonging'. A possible interpretation of this breakdown is a tribe which was 'of the cauldron' or, a little more plainly, the 'pot people'.

The tribe was later integrated into the Cotti Regnum, with its name being one of those on the Arch of Augustus in Susa which was erected by Cottius in honour of Augustus. Little else is known about them other than the certainty that they would have been integrated into the Roman empire following the death of Marcus Julius Cottius in AD 63.

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(Information by Trish Wilson, with additional information 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 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).)

58 BC

The Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar begin when he becomes governor of Gaul. Over the course of the next decade or so he conquers all of the Celts in western Gaul. His efforts begin with a showdown against Ariovistus of the Suevi at the Battle of Vosges. Superior Roman tactics breaks that line and the Suevi host makes a run for the Rhine.

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)

A chieftain called Donnus commands one or more Celto-Ligurian tribes which sit across one of the better routes between Rome and Gaul, probably including the Brigianii and quite possibly the Quariates and Savincates.

The region will later be named the Cottian Alps, in honour of his son who will also command the Cotti Regnum. He initially opposes Caesar, but the two come to an agreement which means peace in this particular Alpine region.

13 - 12 BC

Cottius - for whom the Cottian Alps are named - has maintained the independence of his people following the Alpine Wars. From the use of the Segusini chief oppidum of Segusio, it could be the case that Cottius is of that tribe.

The jagged peaks and wooded gorges of the little-known Valle Maira are part of the Cottian Alps, the basis of the small, briefly-independent Celto-Ligurian 'Cotti Regnum' state during the first centuries BC and AD

After witnessing Rome's many triumphs against fellow Ligurians and also Celts, around this time he agrees to an alliance with Rome which in effect makes him a client king of the Cotti Regnum.

He and his family continue as prefects of Rome to govern twelve Celto-Ligurian tribes. Not all of those tribes include fully blended Celto-Ligurians however, as the Quariates and Savincates are apparently counted as subjects of Cottius, while the Sebagini remain a mystery.

AD 63

The Cottian prefecture is annexed peacefully by Emperor Nero upon the death of Cottius II. In its place Nero creates the province of Alpes Cottiae, one of three Alpine provinces which also includes the Alpes Graiae et Poeninae and Alpes Maritimae. During the medieval period this territory is divided between the duchy of Savoy and the county of Albon.

The impressive, immaculately-restored triumphal Arch of Augustus sits just outside the centre of the modern town of Susa, a town which has its origins in the Segusini tribal oppidum of Segusio

The fact that the Roman empire now unquestionably controls the entire Alpine region - giving it free access to Gaul and Germania - probably hastens the final decline and disappearance of any non-Indo-European or Celto-Ligurian traits, customs, and languages here.