European Kingdoms

Varciani (Noricum Gauls / Illyrians?)

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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).

The Taurisci were a major tribe or confederation which also seems to have included the Norici (Strabo refers to the Taurisci as a tribe and the Norici as a collective). By the middle of the first century BC, both groups and their attached minor tribes were occupying what is now central Austria, extending into western Slovenia and part of northern Croatia, with the Danube forming the northern border, and the fractured Alpine tribes to their west.

One of those attached minor tribes was the Varciani. Thought of as Gaulish, they appear to have been a later sub-division of the confederation, just like the Iasi. They were located in Pannonia, seemingly on the south-eastern edge of the Noricum and the upper edge of Illyrian territory. Nearby tribes included the Latovici, Belgites, and Iasi.

The Varciani name minus the suffixes sounds like 'wark'. This is close to 'warg', a wolf in Nordic. This is another unit which links back to the 'Taurisk', meaning 'bull-ish', a tribe with what appears to be a Germanic suffix. Could the Varciani be a tribe from the Jutland peninsula, with a mixed Celto-German ancestry which perhaps marks them out as true border Belgae or Germanics with a Celtic leadership?

They could have been dragged along (willingly or not) with the proposed Taurisci migration from Northern Europe to the Danube, as outlined for the Taurisci themselves. Alternatively, the Cambridge Ancient History states that they were formed as a division of the former Breuci tribe of Pannonian Ilyrians. Given their location, this would seem to the be more likely option despite the pointers in the name analysis.

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(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from The Harleian Miscellany: A Collection of Scarce, Curious and Entertaining Tracts Volume 4, William Oldys & Thomas Park, from Geography, Ptolemy, from The Illyrians, John Wilkes (Blackwell Publishers Inc, 1995 & 1996), from The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol 10: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC-AD 69, Alan K Bowman, Edward Champlin, & Andrew Lintott (Eds, Second Edition, University of Oxford, 1996), 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: On the Celtic Tribe of Taurisci, Mitka Guštin, and Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples, and the Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition), and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and The Illyrian Wars, Appian (Livius.org), and Polybius, Histories, and Noricum (The Provinces of the Roman Empire), G Alföldy (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974, available for purchase via Cambridge University Press), and Le Alpi (Università di Trento).)

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 the Raeti and Ligurians.

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

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. The archaeological presence of the 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 tribes concerned are determined by the historian Albert Muchar to be the Latovici, Serapili, Sereti, and Taurisci. The Serapili and Sereti would appear to be minor units (or else they become so, dominated in time within the confederation by the Taurisci).

The 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.

Existing Celtic tribes in Carinthia are also soon dominated, including the Ambidravi and Ambisontes. The aforementioned 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.

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)

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).

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

Other tribes which are 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.

A Taurisci silver tetradrachm produced by the regionally-dominant Taurisci around 100 BC showing the stylised head of Apollo and a Celtic horseman throwing a spear

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 associated 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.

56 BC

Following the establishment of secure Roman forts in northern Friuli, the Taurisci, together with the Liburni and Iapydes are forced to pay tribute to Rome.

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

35 - 33 BC

Appian's account of the Illyrian Wars proves highly useful in documenting the fall of the Taurisci. Following the conquest of several Illyrian tribes, the eastern Tauriscan tribes are also 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.

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).

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)

The Laianci and Saevates form their own mini-confederation, becoming the civitas Saeuatum et Laiancorum. Some of these mergers give rise to Roman municipia which are organised around a common metropolis. In the case of these latter two tribes the metropolis is set at Aguntum, and the two tribes henceforth are known as the 'Aguntenses', although by that time the Saevates are in Südtirol rather than Osttirol.

16 - 15 BC

The Norican kingdom is subdued by Rome, at the hands of Drusus and Tiberius. The Ambidravi are included in this defeat, although they seem not to have been included in the recent Alpine Wars. The Noricum is now dominated by Roman culture and administration.

AD 6 - 9

Heavy-handed Roman administration of the Illyricum, Dalmatia, and Pannonia causes a native revolt. Known primarily as the Great Illyrian Revolt, it is also covered under Bellum Batonianum ('Batonian War') thanks to the name of no less than two of its primary leaders, the Pannonian & Dalmatian War or uprising, and the Bato Uprising.

This tactically-inaccurate but highly detailed painting shows Illyrians on the left fighting Romans on the right, giving the empire a taste of things to come when faced with fighting unified mass barbarian opposition in place of piecemeal tribal conquests

Rome faces some of its toughest battles as it manoeuvres to put down the revolt on several fronts, with the Illyrians properly uniting for the first time. The Breuci surrender in AD 8. The tribes of the Dalmatae also surrender after a winter blockade and another hard campaigning season, in AD 9.

The Breuci appear to be broken up. The Osseriates are created from their number, as are the Colapiani and Varciani (despite both previously having been seen between 60-40 BC). The use of 'created' may mean enhanced or reformed. Pannonia and Dalmatia are subdued.