Oxybii

The Oxybii or Oxubii were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling on the Mediterranean coast during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
According to historian Guy Barruol, the Oxybii were part of the Saluvian confederation.

Name

They are mentioned as Oxubíōn by Polybius and Strabo, and as Oxubi by Pliny.
Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel has proposed to interpret the ethnic name Oxubii as 'the inhabitants of a high place' or else as 'the ox-slayers', from the Celtic stem oxso- or uxso-. According to her, such linguistically Celtic tribal names suggest that a Celto-Ligurian dialect played an important role among the languages spoken in ancient Ligury.

Geography

The Oxybii dwelled on the Mediterranean coast. Their territory was located east of the Suelteri and Verucini, and either east of the Deciates or west of them.
The exact location of the sea-port of the Oxybii, named Aegitna and located west of the river Apro, has been debated. The most popular propositions are Théoule, west of the Deciates, and Cagnes, east of the Deciates.

History

In 155 BC, the Ligurians besieged the Massaliote colonies of Nicaea and Antipolis, which caused the Romans to send the legates Flaminius, Popilius Laenas and Lucius Pupius to the region. The Oxybii tried to prevent them from landing in their territory at Aegitna, but finding that Flaminius had already done so, they wounded him, killed two of his servants and drove the rest back into the sea. The Roman Senate, on hearing of the incident, dispatched an army under the consul Quintus Opimius. They first took Aegitna by assault, sold the inhabitants into slavery and sent the ringleaders to Rome. The Oxybii then collected a force to attack the Romans, and were eventually joined by the Deciates. After the Ligurian defeat, Quintus Opimius granted a great part of their territory to Massalia.