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Varduli
The Varduli were a pre-Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the western region of the Basque Country.
Their historical territory corresponds with the current Basque area; however, it is not entirely clear whether the Varduli were actually Aquitanians, related to the Vascones, or Celticized tribes, related to Cantabri or Celtiberians which later underwent Basquisation. It seems probable the group shared the proto-Basque cultural-ethnic identity of the people of this region.
Their ethnonym Varduli is connected with an area that is referred to in documents from the early Middle Ages as Bardulia, which is mentioned as the cradle of Old Castile, following the decline of the Navarrese Kingdom.
Julio Caro Baroja, a Basque anthropologist and linguist asserted in his works that the term Varduli was not of Basque origin.
The Varduli are mentioned for the first time during Roman times, by Strabo, who called them Bardyetai, and placed them on the Basque coast, between the Cantabri and Vascones; they are also mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy, who placed them roughly in present-day Gipuzkoa, and by Roman historians, notably Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, where he reported that Amanum Portus (Roman name: Flaviobriga), present-day Castro Urdiales, was a Varduli settlement. The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela located them also on the coast, but west of the Vascones and east of the Caristii. This lack of agreement about their exact position may have been caused by the continuous movement of the tribes of the northern Iberian Peninsula during events such as the Cantabrian Wars. The first census of the Varduli population took place under the orders of Augustus.
According to Pliny the Elder, the main Vardulian settlement was Tullonium, that was in the present-day Zadorra river basin, on a main Roman road from Virovesca (capital of the Autrigones), to Pompaelo (Pamplona or Iruña) in Vasconian land. According to several authors in Classical antiquity, such as Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela other Vardulian cities were Alba and Gebala (today's Gebara), in the interior; while Tritium Tuboricum, a little west of the Deba river (Deva, Deua or Deba = Goddess), Menosca and Morogi or Morosgi, were on the Atlantic coast (on the south coast of the Bay of Biscay).
In 114 BC, Gaius Marius had a personal guard composed of Varduli people, (who were called Barduaioí) as slaves in Rome. By the year 44, according to Pomponius Mela, the Varduli inhabited lands close to the Pyrenees and composed a united society. The defeat of the Cantabri by Augustus did not have any effect on the Varduli, as they had not joined the wars. The Varduli served in cohorts in the invasion of Britannia: Varduli are mentioned in an inscription on a Roman altar at Rochester, (Roman Bremenium) and at Milecastle 19 along Hadrian's Wall, where an altar inscription made by members of the First Cohort of Varduli cavalrymen is one of the few dedications to the Matres, or mother goddesses, found in Roman Britain. The First Cohort of the Varduli are also mentioned in inscriptions at the Antonine Wall, Longovicium in Durham, Bremenium and Corstopitum in Northumberland and on the Dere Street in Cappuck in the Scottish Borders.
As with the Caristii, it is not totally clear whether the Varduli were an Aquitanian tribe or a Celticized one, related to the Cantabri and Celtiberians. Some of their Toponyms were clearly of Indo-European origin (probably in the Proto-Celtic language), as Uxama (comes from Upsama, meaning "the highest"), Deobriga (comes from Deiuo-Briga, meaning "holy hill"), Tullonium (comes from Tullo, meaning "valley"), among others. Hydronyms, such as Deva (Deua or Deba for "Goddess") were also considered of Indo-European etymology. As with the Caristii, not a single toponym related to the Aquitanian-Basque languages has been found, further supporting the theory of their Celtic origin and possible late Basquisation. However, apart from a few exceptions (Deba, Zegama, Arakama) present-day place-names show a clear prevalence of the Basque linguistic element (sometimes mixed with Latin/Romance lexical roots).
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Varduli
The Varduli were a pre-Roman tribe settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the western region of the Basque Country.
Their historical territory corresponds with the current Basque area; however, it is not entirely clear whether the Varduli were actually Aquitanians, related to the Vascones, or Celticized tribes, related to Cantabri or Celtiberians which later underwent Basquisation. It seems probable the group shared the proto-Basque cultural-ethnic identity of the people of this region.
Their ethnonym Varduli is connected with an area that is referred to in documents from the early Middle Ages as Bardulia, which is mentioned as the cradle of Old Castile, following the decline of the Navarrese Kingdom.
Julio Caro Baroja, a Basque anthropologist and linguist asserted in his works that the term Varduli was not of Basque origin.
The Varduli are mentioned for the first time during Roman times, by Strabo, who called them Bardyetai, and placed them on the Basque coast, between the Cantabri and Vascones; they are also mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy, who placed them roughly in present-day Gipuzkoa, and by Roman historians, notably Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, where he reported that Amanum Portus (Roman name: Flaviobriga), present-day Castro Urdiales, was a Varduli settlement. The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela located them also on the coast, but west of the Vascones and east of the Caristii. This lack of agreement about their exact position may have been caused by the continuous movement of the tribes of the northern Iberian Peninsula during events such as the Cantabrian Wars. The first census of the Varduli population took place under the orders of Augustus.
According to Pliny the Elder, the main Vardulian settlement was Tullonium, that was in the present-day Zadorra river basin, on a main Roman road from Virovesca (capital of the Autrigones), to Pompaelo (Pamplona or Iruña) in Vasconian land. According to several authors in Classical antiquity, such as Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela other Vardulian cities were Alba and Gebala (today's Gebara), in the interior; while Tritium Tuboricum, a little west of the Deba river (Deva, Deua or Deba = Goddess), Menosca and Morogi or Morosgi, were on the Atlantic coast (on the south coast of the Bay of Biscay).
In 114 BC, Gaius Marius had a personal guard composed of Varduli people, (who were called Barduaioí) as slaves in Rome. By the year 44, according to Pomponius Mela, the Varduli inhabited lands close to the Pyrenees and composed a united society. The defeat of the Cantabri by Augustus did not have any effect on the Varduli, as they had not joined the wars. The Varduli served in cohorts in the invasion of Britannia: Varduli are mentioned in an inscription on a Roman altar at Rochester, (Roman Bremenium) and at Milecastle 19 along Hadrian's Wall, where an altar inscription made by members of the First Cohort of Varduli cavalrymen is one of the few dedications to the Matres, or mother goddesses, found in Roman Britain. The First Cohort of the Varduli are also mentioned in inscriptions at the Antonine Wall, Longovicium in Durham, Bremenium and Corstopitum in Northumberland and on the Dere Street in Cappuck in the Scottish Borders.
As with the Caristii, it is not totally clear whether the Varduli were an Aquitanian tribe or a Celticized one, related to the Cantabri and Celtiberians. Some of their Toponyms were clearly of Indo-European origin (probably in the Proto-Celtic language), as Uxama (comes from Upsama, meaning "the highest"), Deobriga (comes from Deiuo-Briga, meaning "holy hill"), Tullonium (comes from Tullo, meaning "valley"), among others. Hydronyms, such as Deva (Deua or Deba for "Goddess") were also considered of Indo-European etymology. As with the Caristii, not a single toponym related to the Aquitanian-Basque languages has been found, further supporting the theory of their Celtic origin and possible late Basquisation. However, apart from a few exceptions (Deba, Zegama, Arakama) present-day place-names show a clear prevalence of the Basque linguistic element (sometimes mixed with Latin/Romance lexical roots).