Libui

The Libui (or Libici, Libii) were a Gallic-Ligurian tribe living of southern Gaul and northern Italy during Iron Age. Their presence is recorded in the Rhône delta (Camargue), as well as in the Po plain following migrations in the 5th century BC.

Name

They are mentioned as Lebékioi (Λεβέκιοι) by Polybius (2nd c. BC),^[1] Libui by Livy (late 1st c. BC),^[2] Libii and Libiciorum by Pliny (1st c. AD),^[3] and as Libikō̃n (Λιβικῶν) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).^[4][5]

According to Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, the ethnonym Libikoi could derive from an earlier *lub^hikoi ('the loving ones'; from Gaulish lubi 'love') with pretonic vowel assimilation (u...i > i...i).^[6]

Geography

The Libui lived around the two 'Libic mouths' (ora Libica) of the Rhône mentioned by Pliny, a designation corresponding to the western branch of the delta (the Petit-Rhône [fr]) and thus to the Camargue region.^[7] Their territory was situated west of the Anatilii and Avatici, south of the Volcae Arecomici and Cavari.^[8] According to historian Guy Barruol, they were part of the Saluvian confederation.^[9]

An oppidum with Latin Rights given by Pliny as Libii was probably the name of their chief town.^[7]

History

Livy writes that groups of Libui and Salyes settled in the Po plain, near the Ligurian Laevi on the banks of the Ticino, at the time of major Celtic incursions during the 5th century BC. Pliny refers to these Libui as Libicii, specifying that they lived around Vercellae.^[7]

References

1. Polybius. Historíai, 2:17:4.
2. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 5:35:1-2.
3. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:124; 3:37.
4. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 3:1:32.
5. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Libicii.
6. de Bernardo Stempel 2000, p. 107.
7. Barruol 1969, pp. 192–193.
8. Talbert 2000, Map 15: Arelate-Massalia.
9. Barruol 1969, pp. 187–188.

Primary sources

• Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674993648.

Bibliography

• Barruol, Guy (1969). Les Peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: étude de géographie historique. E. de Boccard. OCLC 3279201.
• de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia (2000). "Ptolemy's Celtic Italy and Ireland: A linguistic analysis". In Parsons, David N.; Sims-Williams, Patrick (eds.). Ptolemy: Towards a Linguistic Atlas of the Earliest Celtic Place-names of Europe. CMCS. pp. 83–112. ISBN 978-0952747833.
• 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.
• Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.