The Arecomici or Volcae Arecomici were a Gauls tribe dwelling between the Rhône and the Hérault rivers, around present-day Nîmes, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
The meaning of the
ethnonym Arecomici remains unclear. The
Gaulish language prefix
are- means 'in front of, in the vicinity of', but the translation of the second element, -
comici, is unknown. The name
Volcae stems from
Gaulish language uolcos ('hawk').
Geography
Their chief town Nemausus was inhabited since the
Bronze Age; its original pre-Celtic name was likely forgotten after the takeover of the settlement by the Celtic Volcae.
Another settlement was known as Vindomagus ('white market').
History
The Arecomici were probably first recognized or defined as a political entity by Rome around 75 BC. According to anthropologist Michael Dietler, the Roman colonization of the region, which led to the organization of Nemausus as a
colonia Latina in the late 1st century AD, "resulted in the
ethnogenesis of the Volcae Arecomici out of a formerly fluid coalition of different polities and ethnic groups".
They were indeed part of a political confederation encompassing multiple smaller tribes. By the early first century AD, the Volcae Arecomici were the dominant force of the confederation, ruling over twenty-four subject towns ( oppida ignobilia) from their capital Nemausus.
Economy
The Roman conquest was soon followed up by the first emissions of coins in Nemausus. Coins with the legend 'Volcae Arecomici' (AR/VOLC or VOLC/AREC) are dated to 70 BC.
Bibliography
Further reading
-
Dupraz, Emmanuel. "Commémorations cultuelles gallo-grecques chez les Volques Arécomiques". In: Etudes Celtiques
www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_2018_num_44_1_2180
External links
