European Kingdoms

Cotti Regnum (Celto-Ligurians) (Italy)

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. Major ethnic groups included the Etruscans, Euganei, Ligurians, Raeti, and Veneti, mainly either on the north Italian plain, the Alpine foothills, in the Trentino and Alto Adige valleys, or on the northern coast of the Ligurian Sea.

In the first millennium BC the majority of these groups were linked in some way to the Golasecca culture. During the early Roman republic period, a major breakthrough into northern Italy by Celtic groups saw them replace Etruscan dominance. They also began integrating into many of the local groups, especially the Ligurians of the western Alps who quickly became Celto-Ligurians.

Individual Celto-Ligurian tribes seem poorly documented, but by the first century BC they included a swathe of small groups. This multiplicity was probably the result of the broken landscape of the western Alpine region, with its many valleys and passes which would have forced fairly independent-minded groups to develop.

One of these first century BC Celto-Ligurian groups included several tribes in or around the Cottian Alps. By the middle of the century they were part of a confederation which was governed by a chieftain named Donnus. The territory today forms the French-Italian border, roughly eighty kilometres to the south-west of Turin.

What was probably only a recent move towards confederation was likely a response to increasing Roman interference in the Alps. Such a confederation appears to have been in existence by the time of the final conquest of Gaul in 52 BC. This later became defined as the Cotti Regnum, although the term - and several variants - seems largely to have been applied by Roman writers.

(Information by Trish Wilson, Peter Kessler, & Edward Dawson, 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 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).)

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. The tribes he controls are not specified - although the Brigianii are later claimed as being included - but the region will later be named the Cottian Alps, in honour of his son. He initially opposes Caesar, but the two come to an agreement which means peace in this particular Alpine region.

fl 50s BC

Chieftain of Celto-Ligurian tribes in the Cottian Alps.

52 BC

The Celts have rallied around Vercingetorix of the Arverni. After some success against Julius Caesar and his Roman legions, the Gaulish cavalry is routed in battle. Vercingetorix withdraws in good order to Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii which Caesar subsequently besieges until the Gauls surrender.

Having surrendered with honour to Caesar in 52 BC, Vercingetorix remained a potent symbol of resistance to Roman domination, so his murder in 46 BC dealt a terminal blow to hopes of renewed Celtic freedom

fl 30s - 3 BC

Son. Became prefect of Rome, nominally independent.

27 BC

By the time at which Caesar Augustus (Octavian) becomes dictator of Rome in fact but not in name, many of the non-Indo-European elements in the Alpine region and the western Alps largely seem to have lost their native language, with it having been replaced by Celtic speech, and they now face the certainty of being Latinised.

25 - 15 BC

The Alpine Wars sees the commanders of the recent Cantabrian Wars of Iberia (where they had fought against the Astures and Cantabri confederations) now in the Alps. These commanders are Tiberius, his brother Drusus, and Publius Silius Nerva (Noricum) who, despite his cack-handed efforts in Iberia, has since become governor of Illyricum.

This is part of a series of three wars which follow one another, ending in Germania Magna. The Alpine Wars (or Bellum Alpinum) prepare the ground for the Roman onslaught against the Germanic tribes. They cover four stages, the major being the third, a two-pronged attack which is spearheaded by Tiberius and Drusus, one moving in from Gaul and the other from northern Italy.

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

Stage one of the attack sees the Salassi as the first to fall. Stage two occurs in the Noricum and Pannonia, although this has nothing to do with the Trumpilini, Camuni, Venostes, and Vennonetes who are the first to fall under the imperial heel during stage three. This campaign must be quite something, given what is achieved during the summer of 15 BC.

The wars are necessary from the Roman standpoint in order to secure full control, in turn, both of Iberia and the Alps. Doing so in the latter will fill in a gap between Roman Italy and occupied Gaul.

The Brigantii and their immediate neighbours are defeated by 15 BC, including the Vindelici, the Raeti, and the Ambisontes. All of them are drawn into the newly-forming imperial structure for the duration of its existence.

The Tropaeum Alpium ('Trophy of the Alps') stands majestically in the commune of La Turbie on the French Riviera, overlooking the principality of Monaco, and marking the final victory over the Alpine tribes by Augustus

13 - 12 BC

Cottius - for whom the Cottian Alps are named - has maintained the independence of his people (who may or may not include the Segusini but certainly do include the Adenates). In fact, from the use of the Segusini chief oppidum of Segusio, it could be the case that Cottius is of that tribe.

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.

8 BC

As a prefect of Rome, Cottius invests in ensuring a better road infrastructure across his Alpine territory, which will ensure better profits for his state. He also shows his gratitude to Augustus in 8 BC by erecting at Segusio (today's Suza), a triumphal arch in honour of the emperor.

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

This bears an inscription in which the praefect is named as M Julius Cottius, and the names of his people are included. His authority is inherited by Gaius Julius Donnus and Marcus Julius Cottius, the latter of whom is conferred the title of king by Emperor Claudius.

3 BC - AD 4

Son. Prefect of Rome, nominally independent.

AD 5 - 63

Son. Prefect of Rome. Territories annexed upon death.

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 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

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.