Cavares
The Cavares were a Gallic confederation of tribes[1] located in the lower Rhone valley during the Roman period. Their strongholds were Avignon (Avennio), Orange (Arausio) and Cavaillon (Cabellio).
![](../I/m/Tarasque_de_Noves_(profil_-_%C3%A9poque_incertaine).png)
Name
They are mentioned as Kaouárōn (Καουάρων) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[2] as Cauarum by Pliny (1st c. AD),[3] as Avennio Cavarum and Cavaras by Pomponius Mela (mid-1st c. AD),[4] as Kaúaroi (Καύαροι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),[5] and as Cavares on the Tabula Peutingeriana (5th c. AD).[6]
The name Cauares stems from Gaulish cauaros ('hero, champion'), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kawaro- ('hero, champion'; cf. Old Irish cuar 'hero, champion, warrior', Breton kaour, Welsh cawr 'giant, champion').[7][8]
Geography
Their closest neighbours were the Segallauni, the Tricastini, the Salyes, the Albici (or Albioeci) and the Vocontii.[9]
Archaeology
![](../I/m/Denier_au_buste_de_cheval_frapp%C3%A9_par_les_Cavares.jpg)
The Tarasque de Noves anthropophagous statue, displayed in the Musée Calvet in Avignon, is attributed to the Cavares.
References
- Falileyev 2010, p. entry 3499.
- Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:1:11
- Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:34; 3:36
- Pomponius Mela. De situ orbis, 2:5:75; 2:5:79
- Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:10:8
- Falileyev 2010, entry 3499.
- Delamarre 2003, p. 112.
- Matasović 2009, p. 196.
- Ptolemy, Geography, Book II, Chapter 9, Location of Narbonensis Gallia (Third Map of Europe).
Bibliography
- Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (in French). Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
- Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Brill. ISBN 9789004173361.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)