Suanetes
The Suanetes were an Raetian tribe living in the Alps, near modern Chur (eastern Switzerland), during the Iron Age and the Roman era.
Name
[edit]They are mentioned as Suanetes (var. suanene-, suannene-) by Pliny (1st c. AD),[1] and as Souánetes (Σουάνετες) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[2][3]
According to Xavier Delamarre, the name could be interpreted as the Celtic Su-anates, from anatia ('soul').[4] The ethnic name Cosuanetes appears to be linguistically related.[4]
Geography
[edit]The tribe was located in the valley of the Hinterrhein and in the Oberhalbstein region, near modern Chur (eastern Switzerland).[5][3][6] Pliny mentions them conjointly with the Cosuanetes and the Rugusci.[6]
History
[edit]They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.[7] Weapons discovered at Tiefencastel and on the Septimer Pass provide further evidence to this account.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:137.
- ^ Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:12:2.
- ^ a b Falileyev 2010, s.v. Suanetes.
- ^ a b Delamarre 2003, pp. 44, 306–207.
- ^ Talbert 2000, Map 19: Raetia.
- ^ a b c Frei-Stolba 2012.
- ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.
Primary sources
[edit]- Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674993648.
- Strabo (1923). Geography. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Jones, Horace L. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674990562.
Bibliography
[edit]- Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
- 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.
- Frei-Stolba, Regula (2012). "Suanetes". Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
- Schumacher, Stefan; Dietz, Karlheinz; Zanier, Werner (2007). "Vindeliker". In Beck, Heinrich (ed.). Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 35 (2 ed.). De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3110187847.
- Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
