The Acitavones were a small Gauls tribe dwelling in the Alps during the Iron Age.
Name
They are mentioned as
Acitavones (
var. agitabo-) by Pliny (1st c. AD),
[Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.] and as
Acitavones on the
Tropaeum Alpium.
[CIL 5:7817.][, s.v. Acitavones.]
The etymology of the name Acitauones is unclear. The first element, acito-, could mean 'field' (cf. Old Irish ached, achad) , or else be a variant of agido- ('face, appearance').
Geography
According to historian
Guy Barruol, they may have dwelled in the
Aosta Valley, near the Little St Bernard Pass. Their territory was located north of the
Medulli and
Segusini, south of the
Veragri, west of the
Salassi, and east of the
Ceutrones.
[, Map 17: Lugdunum.]
History
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.
Primary sources
Bibliography
