Bagienni

The Bagienni (or Vegenni or Vagienni) were an ancient Ligurian people of north-western Italy mentioned in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia. They were based in various areas of what is today south-western Piedmont, but particularly in the upper part of the Tanaro valley. They were also present in the Val Trebbia in today's Emilia Romagna. Their capital, known to the Ancient Romans as Augusta Bagiennorum, was located in the frazione Roncaglia of Bene Vagienna in the modern Province of Cuneo.

Name

The manuscript tradition of Pliny's text is inconsistent. The 9th-century Codex Leidensis Vossianus F 4 reads uagienni, while other manuscripts have bagiensi. The form uagienni also appears in Ligurum Vagiennorum from the same codex (3.20.117), likely influenced by the preceding <m> in Ligurum, whereas other witnesses read gabi-. In 3.24.135, however, Vagienni is transmitted by all manuscripts and is emended by editors to Bagienni.^[1]

History

Pliny the Elder writes in his Natural History book on the Vagienni:

The more celebrated of the Ligurian tribes beyond the Alps are the Salluvii, the Deciates, and the Oxubii; on this side of the Alps, the Veneni and the Vagienni, who are derived from the Caturiges.^[2]

— Pliny the Elder (1st century).

The Bagienni were conquered by the Romans around the middle of the second century BC, their territories becoming part of Roman Italy.^[3][4]

References

1. Borel 2019, pp. 86–87.
2. "Pliny the Elder, the Natural History, BOOK III. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED., CHAP. 7.—OF THE NINTH1 REGION OF ITALY. 1 Italy was divided by Augustus into eleven districts; the ninth of which nearly corresponded to the former republic of Genoa".
3. Michele Tosi, Bobbio: Guide artistic and historical environment of the city and surroundings-Historical Archives Bobiensi 1983
4. Brunette Boccaccia, Bobbio: Cities of Europe - Ed Pontegobbo 2000. ISBN 88-86754-33-7

Bibliography

• Borel, F. Rubat (2019). "Incolae iugi. I popoli delle Alpi occidentali in storici e geografi dell'età di Livio". Preistoria Alpina. 9bis: 81–91.