Mediomatrici

Map of Gaul with tribes, 1st century BC; the Mediomatrici are circled.

The Mediomatrici (Gaulish: *Medio-māteres) were according to Caesar a Gaulish tribe at the frontier to the Belgicae dwelling in the present-day regions Lorraine, Upper Moselle during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name

They are mentioned as Mediomatricorum and Mediomatricis (dat.) by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),^[1] Mediomatrikoì (Μεδιοματρικοὶ ) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),^[2] Mediomatrici by Pliny (1st c. AD),^[3] Mediomatricos (acc.) by Tacitus (early 2nd c. AD),^[4] and as Mediomátrikes (Μεδιομάτρικες) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).^[5]^[6]

The ethnonym Mediomatrici is a Latinized form of the Gaulish *Medio-māteres, which literally means 'Middle-Mothers'. It is formed with the stem medio- ('in the middle, central') attached to a plural form of mātīr ('mother'). The name could be interpreted as meaning 'those who live between the Matrona (Marne) and the Matra rivers' (i.e. the mother-rivers), or possibly as the 'Mothers of the Middle-World' (i.e. between the heaven and the underworld).^[7]

The city of Metz, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Mediomatricorum ('civitas of the Mediomatrici'), is named after the Celtic tribe.^[8]

Geography

Territory

The territory of the Mediomatrici comprised the upper basins of the rivers Maas, Moselle and Saar, and extended eastwards as far as the Rhine in the mid-first century BC.^[9]^[10] Ptolemy places them south of the Treviri, between the Remi and the Leuci.^[11]

Settlements

Their chief town was Divodurum ('place of the gods, divine enclosure'),^{[note 1]} mentioned by Tacitus in the early 1st century AD.^[13]^[12]^[9]

A secondary agglomeration, whose original name is unknown, was located in Bliesbruck, in the eastern part of their civitas.^[14]^[15]

History

During the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), the Mediomatrici sent 5,000 men to support Vercingetorix who was besieged in Alesia in 52.^[16]^[9] In 69–70 of the Common Era, their capital Divodurum was sacked by the armies of Vitellius, and 4,000 of its inhabitants massacred.^[16] The Romanization of the Metromatrici was apparently slower compared to their neighbours the Treviri.^[17]^[10]

Elements of the Mediomatrici may have settled near Novara, in northwestern Italy, where place-names allude to their presence, such as Mezzomerico, attested as Mediomadrigo in 980.^[18]

References

^ Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 4:10, 7:75.
^ Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:3:4.
^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:106.
^ Tacitus. Historiae, 4:70.
^ Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:9:7.
^ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Mediomatrici.
^ Delamarre 2003, pp. 220, 222.
^ Nègre 1990, p. 155.
^ ^a ^b ^c Schön 2006.
^ ^a ^b Demougin 1995, p. 193.
^ Berggren, J. L.; Jones, Alexander (2000). Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters. Princeton University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-691-01042-7.
^ ^a ^b Delamarre 2003, p. 156.
^ Nègre 1990, p. 175.
^ Petit & Santoro 2016.
^ Antonelli & Petit 2017.
^ ^a ^b Demougin 1995, p. 183.
^ Wightman 1985, pp. 73–74.
^ Ambrogio, Renzo, ed. (2006). Nomi d'Italia : origine e significato dei nomi geografici e di tutti i comuni. Istituto geografico De Agostini. p. 384. ISBN 88-511-0983-4. OCLC 605741780.

Footnotes

^ From Gaulish deuos 'god' attached to duron 'gates' > 'enclosed town, market town').^[12]

Bibliography

Antonelli, Sonia; Petit, Jean-Paul (2017). "L'agglomération de Bliesbruck (Moselle) durant l'Antiquité tardive : entre ruptures et continuités". Gallia. Archéologie des Gaules. 74 (74–1): 149–164. doi:10.4000/gallia.2428. ISSN 0016-4119.
Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
Demougin, Ségolène (1995). "À propos des Médiomatriques". Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz. 6: 183–194. doi:10.3406/ccgg.1995.1608. ISSN 1016-9008. JSTOR 24359561.
Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.
Petit, Jean-Paul; Santoro, Sara (2016). "Le centre public d'une agglomération secondaire de la cité des Médiomatriques : Bliesbruck (Moselle)". Gallia. Archéologie des Gaules. 73 (73–2): 213–283. doi:10.4000/gallia.2734. ISSN 0016-4119.
Schön, Franz (2006). "Mediomatrici". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e728280.
Wightman, Edith M. (1985). Gallia Belgica. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05297-0.

[1] Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 4:10, 7:75.

[2] Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:3:4.

[3] Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:106.

[4] Tacitus. Historiae, 4:70.

[5] Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:9:7.

[6] Falileyev 2010, s.v. Mediomatrici.

[FOOTNOTEDelamarre2003220,_222-7] Delamarre 2003, pp. 220, 222.

[FOOTNOTENègre1990155-8] Nègre 1990, p. 155.

[FOOTNOTESchön2006-9] Schön 2006.

[FOOTNOTEDemougin1995193-10] Demougin 1995, p. 193.

[11] Berggren, J. L.; Jones, Alexander (2000). Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters. Princeton University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-691-01042-7.

[FOOTNOTEDelamarre2003156-12] Delamarre 2003, p. 156.

[FOOTNOTENègre1990175-14] Nègre 1990, p. 175.

[FOOTNOTEPetitSantoro2016-15] Petit & Santoro 2016.

[FOOTNOTEAntonelliPetit2017-16] Antonelli & Petit 2017.

[FOOTNOTEDemougin1995183-17] Demougin 1995, p. 183.

[FOOTNOTEWightman198573–74-18] Wightman 1985, pp. 73–74.

[19] Ambrogio, Renzo, ed. (2006). Nomi d'Italia : origine e significato dei nomi geografici e di tutti i comuni. Istituto geografico De Agostini. p. 384. ISBN 88-511-0983-4. OCLC 605741780.

[13] From Gaulish deuos 'god' attached to duron 'gates' > 'enclosed town, market town').^[12]

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