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Rhaetian people
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Rhaetian people
The Raeti (/ˈraɪtiː/ RY-tee; spelling variants: Rhaeti, Rheti or Rhaetii) were a confederation of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture were related to those of the Etruscans. Before the Roman conquest, they inhabited present-day Tyrol in Austria, eastern Switzerland and the Alpine regions of northeastern Italy. After the Roman conquest, the province of Raetia was formed, which included parts of present-day Germany south of the Danube.
The etymology of the name Raeti is uncertain. The Roman province of Raetia was named after these people.
Ancient sources characterise the Raeti as an Etruscan people who were displaced from the Po Valley by the Gauls and took refuge in the valleys of the Alps. But it is likely that they were predominantly indigenous Alpine people. Their language, the so-called Raetian language, was probably related to Etruscan, but may not have derived from it. At least some of the Raeti tribes (those in northeastern Italy) probably continued to speak the Raetian language as late as the 3rd century AD. Others (those in Switzerland) were probably Celtic-speaking by the era of the Roman emperor Augustus (ruled 30 BC – AD 14).
The Raeti were divided into numerous tribes, but only some of these are clearly identified in the ancient sources.
The Raeti tribes, together with those of their Celtic-speaking neighbours to the north, the Vindelici, were subjugated by the Imperial Roman army in 15 BC and their territories annexed to the Roman Empire. The Roman province of Raetia et Vindelicia was named after these two peoples. The Raeti tribes quickly became loyal subjects of the empire and contributed disproportionate numbers of recruits to the imperial Roman army's auxiliary corps.
The origin of the name Raeti is uncertain. It has similarities to the endonym of the Etruscans: Rasenna, the root of which appears to be Etruscan rasna "the people". However, it is unclear whether the Rhaetians had a similar endonym or if Raeti is an exonym (a name used by outsiders to describe the Rhaetians).
The Roman geographer Pliny the Elder, writing in AD 70, suggests that the people were named after "Raetus", a leader at the time of their supposed "expulsion" from the Po Valley. However, eponymous founders were a common, demonstrably fabricated, origin story. (The most famous illustration of this theory is the legend that the City of Rome derives its name from Romulus, its supposed founder, while if Romulus ever existed at all (which most scholars doubt), then it would be far more likely that he derived his own name from an existing place name Roma, rather than vice versa.).
Virgil [70 BC-19 BC] in his Georgics II praises a person named 'Rhaetian' for the quality of wine grapes from the region. It is assumed from the context that he accounts it to a single person, and not the people in general. It would suggest that Virgil accounted Rhaetus to be the god-father of the Rhaetian people.
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Rhaetian people
The Raeti (/ˈraɪtiː/ RY-tee; spelling variants: Rhaeti, Rheti or Rhaetii) were a confederation of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture were related to those of the Etruscans. Before the Roman conquest, they inhabited present-day Tyrol in Austria, eastern Switzerland and the Alpine regions of northeastern Italy. After the Roman conquest, the province of Raetia was formed, which included parts of present-day Germany south of the Danube.
The etymology of the name Raeti is uncertain. The Roman province of Raetia was named after these people.
Ancient sources characterise the Raeti as an Etruscan people who were displaced from the Po Valley by the Gauls and took refuge in the valleys of the Alps. But it is likely that they were predominantly indigenous Alpine people. Their language, the so-called Raetian language, was probably related to Etruscan, but may not have derived from it. At least some of the Raeti tribes (those in northeastern Italy) probably continued to speak the Raetian language as late as the 3rd century AD. Others (those in Switzerland) were probably Celtic-speaking by the era of the Roman emperor Augustus (ruled 30 BC – AD 14).
The Raeti were divided into numerous tribes, but only some of these are clearly identified in the ancient sources.
The Raeti tribes, together with those of their Celtic-speaking neighbours to the north, the Vindelici, were subjugated by the Imperial Roman army in 15 BC and their territories annexed to the Roman Empire. The Roman province of Raetia et Vindelicia was named after these two peoples. The Raeti tribes quickly became loyal subjects of the empire and contributed disproportionate numbers of recruits to the imperial Roman army's auxiliary corps.
The origin of the name Raeti is uncertain. It has similarities to the endonym of the Etruscans: Rasenna, the root of which appears to be Etruscan rasna "the people". However, it is unclear whether the Rhaetians had a similar endonym or if Raeti is an exonym (a name used by outsiders to describe the Rhaetians).
The Roman geographer Pliny the Elder, writing in AD 70, suggests that the people were named after "Raetus", a leader at the time of their supposed "expulsion" from the Po Valley. However, eponymous founders were a common, demonstrably fabricated, origin story. (The most famous illustration of this theory is the legend that the City of Rome derives its name from Romulus, its supposed founder, while if Romulus ever existed at all (which most scholars doubt), then it would be far more likely that he derived his own name from an existing place name Roma, rather than vice versa.).
Virgil [70 BC-19 BC] in his Georgics II praises a person named 'Rhaetian' for the quality of wine grapes from the region. It is assumed from the context that he accounts it to a single person, and not the people in general. It would suggest that Virgil accounted Rhaetus to be the god-father of the Rhaetian people.
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