Nitiobroges


The Nitiobroges were a Gallic tribe dwelling on the middle Garonne river, around their chief town Aginnon, during Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name

They are mentioned as Nitiobroges, Nitiobrogum and Nitiobrogibus by Caesar, Nitiobroges by Pliny, Nitióbriges by Ptolemy, and as Nisiobroges by Sidonius Apollinaris. The name is also attested as Nitiobrogeis on an inscription written on a torc with the Greek alphabet, found in Mailly-le-Camp and dated to the mid-1st century BC.
The ethnonym Nitiobroges is a latinized form of the Gaulish *Nitiobrogis, which literally means 'those who have their own country/territory', that is to say the 'indigenous', presumably in opposition to their neighbours that were not. It stems from the Celtic prefix nitio- attached to brogi-s. The same stem is found in the personal name Nitio-genus. Their name can be contrasted with that of the Allo-broges, who lived further northeast between the Rhône and the Alps, and also be compared with the Old Welsh *Kom-brogi-s, which is at the origin of the ethnonym Cymro.

Geography

The Nitiobroges lived in the modern-day Lot-et-Garonne department. Their territory was located south of the Bituriges Vivisci, west of the Cadurci and Ruteni, north of the Sotiates, Volcae Tectosages and the Ausci, and east the Vasates.
Their chief town was Aginnon, erected on the middle Garumna.

History

The Nitiobroges settled in their attested homeland during the 4th century BC. They participated in the Gallic coalition of Vercingetorix against Rome, providing 5,000 men led by the Nitiobrogian king Teutomatos at the Battle of Gergovia in 52 BC.