The Brixentes or Brixenetes were a Celtic or Rhaetian tribe living in the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman era.

Name

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They are mentioned as Brixentes (var. -xenetis, -xenetes) by Pliny (1st c. AD),[1] and as Brixántai (Βριξάνται) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[2][3] An identification with Strabo's Brigántioi (Βριγάντιοι) has been proposed.[4]

The ethnic name Brixentes might derive from an earlier form *brig-s-ant-, built on the root brig- ('hill, hillfort'). It has been translated as 'those living on hills/hillforts', or as 'those living in *Brigsa/Brigsina'.[5][6][3]

Geography

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According to the ancient geographer Ptolemy, the Brixentes were a Rhaetian tribe.[7]

It is unclear however where in the Alps the Brixentes actually lived. Since they are listed on the Tropaeum Alpium between the Calucones and the Lepontii, modern-day eastern Switzerland or Vorarlberg seems a possible location, which would further corroborate the corresponding information given by Strabo about the Brigántioi and by Ptolemy about the Brixántai.[4]

Another theory, inspired by the similarity to the place name, suggests to locate them at the confluence of the Eisack and Rienz rivers in modern-day South Tyrol, near the modern city of Brixen (if reconstructed as *Brigsa/Brigsina).[8]

History

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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.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:20.
  2. ^ Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:12:2.
  3. ^ a b Falileyev 2010, s.v. Brixenetes.
  4. ^ a b Ernst Meyer: Die geschichtlichen Nachrichten über die Räter und ihre Wohnsitze. In: Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte. Vol. 55, 1970, p. 119—125
  5. ^ Delamarre 2003, p. 87.
  6. ^ de Bernardo Stempel 2015, pp. 88–89.
  7. ^ Ptolemy. Geography, 2:12:2.
  8. ^ Talbert 2000, Map 19: Raetia.

Primary sources

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  • Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674993648.

Bibliography

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