Baiocasses
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The people known to us by the Latin form of their name as Baiocasses (or Baïocasses) were tribe in ancient Gaul.
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[edit] Early location and relationships
They were apparently a subtribe of the tribe Lexovii in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis, East of the Venelli, west of the Belgic tribe Veliocasses. Their territory was known as Pagus Baiocensis, corresponding to the area in Normandy now known as le Bessin. This is the location of the modern city of Bayeux, which takes its name from the tribe.
Julius Caesar does not mention them in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (ca. 50 BC, but they would fall under his:[1]
"...qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur."
"Those who are called Celts in their own language, but Gauls in ours."
They are apparently the same as the group named Bodiocasses by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis historia:[2]
"Lugdunensis Gallia habet...Viducasses, Bodiocasses, Venelli...."
"The province of Gallia Lugdunensis has...the Viducasses, the Bodiocasses, the Venelli...."
[edit] Capital city
Their principal city was called by the Romans Civitas Baiocassium "City of the Baiocasses"; later it was given the Latin name Augustodorum. By Merovingian times the city was being called Baiocas. In the time of William the Conqueror the name was already written Bayeaux.
[edit] Form of the name
It appears that the final <-x> in Bayeaux was pronounced [-k(a)s]. Whether this is an evolution, or a regression to an earlier, more nearly native name is, unclear. The Latin name takes the form of a third-declension I-stem noun formed on *[bajokas]; the adjective being Baiocensis. Noting the intrusive [-d-] in the form cited by Pliny, the original form of name of the tribe may be assumed to have been *[badjoc-as] or something similar.
[edit] Coinage
The Baiocasses of the 2nd century A.D. are known to have minted silver-plated bronze coins in the denomination of one stater. A number of these have been preserved.[3]
[edit] References
[edit] Bibliography
- Smith, William, ed. 1854. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, illustrated by numerous engravings on wood. London: Walton and Maberly (13.04)
- Hazlit, William. 1851. The Classical Gazetteer. Online verson at AncientLibrary.com
