European Kingdoms

Savincates (Gauls)

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, 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 Savincates who occupied a small territory in the Ubaye valley, around today's Faucon-de-Barcelonnette in the Alpes Maritimae.

They were neighboured in the central western Alps by a plethora of small tribes which included the Nemaloni to the north, the Bagienni and various smaller Ligurian units to the east, the Eguituri to the south, and the larger Caturiges tribe and smaller Sebagini tribe to the west.

Their territory was named in two inscriptions as Savincatium, although the name's origins remain obscure, possibly the source of the tribe's name or possibly the result of the tribe occupying the region. The Savines place name has traditionally been compared with the tribe's name, and has also been associated with their chief settlement, although such an association has been criticised by the French historian, Guy Barruol.

The Savincates occupied the Ubaye valley around the town of Rigomagus (today's Faucon-de-Barcelonnette), to the south of the Guil valley. The civitas Rigomagensis, mentioned in AD 400 in the Notitia Galliarum, extended across the entire Ubaye valley.

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.

In the eighth and ninth centuries AD as a settled people, their former territory was designated either as a pagus (Rigomagensis) or a vallis (Reumagensis), with that territory corresponding to the middle Ubaye valley.

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

(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.