The Avatici (Gaulish language: * Auaticoi) were a Gauls tribe dwelling near the Étang de Berre, between the mouth of the Rhône river and Massilia (modern Marseille), during the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as
Au̓atilō͂n (Αὐατιλῶν;
var. Αὐατικῶν) by
Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),
[Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:10:5.] and an
oppidum Maritima Avaticorum is documented by Pliny (1st c. AD) and
Pomponius Mela (mid-1st c. AD).
[Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:34; Pomponius Mela. De situ orbis, 2:78.][, s.v. Avatici.]
Geography
Territory
The Avatici dwelled near the Étang de Berre, southwest of the
Saluvii, and possibly northwest of the
Tricores.
[, Map 15: Arelate-Massalia.] Their territory stretched from the eastern part of the mouth of the Rhône river to the west of
Massilia, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the
Crau in the north. According to historian
Guy Barruol, they were part of the
Salyes.
Settlements
Their chief town, located in the province of Gallia Narbonensis, was known as . The location of the settlement is not precisely indicated by the sources, but most scholars place it in modern
Martigues, possibly at the site of Tholon, on the coast of the Étang de Berre. Ptolemy, and later the Ravenna Cosmography, calls it a
Colonia, but this is likely an error since both Mela and Pliny (who used sources from the
Augustus period) refer to the settlement as an
oppidum in the 1st century AD. The lands situated around the Étang de Berre were probably given to
Arelate (
Arles) by the Romans when their subjugated
Massalia in 49 BC.
Another oppidum was located at Mastromela or Mastramélē (Μαστραμέλη). It has been traditionally identified with the , although this has been criticized since the settlement is too far from the Étang de Berre (Stagnum Mastromela), after which it is named. Alternatively, archaeologist has proposed the , occupied from the mid-5th century BC until the end of the 2nd century BC, as the most probable location.
See also
-
Gaul
-
List of peoples of Gaul
-
List of Celtic tribes
Primary sources
Bibliography
