Mediomatrici

The Mediomatrici (Greek: Μεδιομάτρικες)[1] were a Belgic tribe, dwelling in the present-day Lorraine region.[2]

Civitas of the Mediomatrici
City scape of Divodurum Mediomatricum (ca. 2nd century AD), ancestor of present-day Metz, capital of the Mediomatrici.

Name

They are mentioned as Mediomatricorum and Mediomatricis by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[3] as Mediomatrikoì (Μεδιοματρικοὶ ) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[4] as Mediomatrici by Pliny (1st c. AD),[5] as Mediomatricos by Tacitus (early 2nd c. AD),[6] and as Mediomátrikes (Μεδιομάτρικες) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[7][8]

The name Mediomatrici derives from the Gaulish *Medio-māteres (literally 'middle-mothers'), formed with medios ('in the middle, central') attached to matir ('mother').[9] It has been interpreted as the 'Mothers of the Middle-World' (i.e. between the sky and the underworld), or as 'between the Matrona (Marne) and the Matra rivers' (i.e. the mother-rivers).[9][10]

The city of Metz, attested as civitas Mediomatricorum around 400 AD ('civitas of the Mediomatrici'), is named after the Celtic tribe.[11][12]

Geography

The territory of the Mediomatrici comprised the upper basins of the rivers Maas, Moselle and Saar, and extended eastwards as far as the Rhine in the mid-first century BC.[2][13] Ptolemy places the Mediomatrici south of the Treviri.

Their capital was Divodurum ('place of the gods, divine enclosure'),[note 1] mentioned by Tacitus in the early 1st century AD.[15][14][2]

History

During the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), the Mediomatrici sent 5,000 men to support Vercingetorix who was besieged in Alesia in 52.[16][2] In 69–70 of the Common Era, their capital Divodurum was sacked by the armies of Vitellius, and 4,000 of its inhabitants massacred.[16] The Romanization of the Metromatrici was apparently slower compared to their neighbours the Treviri.[17][13]

Elements of the Mediomatrici may have settled near Novara, in northwestern Italy, where place-names allude to their presence (e.g., Mezzomerico, attested as Mediomadrigo in 980).[18]

References
  1. Ptolemy. Geographia. II:8 §12 on LacusCurtius.
  2. Schön 2006.
  3. Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 4:10; 7:75
  4. Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:3:4
  5. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:106
  6. Tacitus. Historiae, 4:70
  7. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:9:7
  8. Falileyev 2010, p. entry 2178.
  9. Delamarre 2003, pp. 220, 222.
  10. Mountain, Harry (1998). The Celtic Encyclopedia , Volume 1. Universal-Publishers. p. 194. ISBN 9781581128901.
  11. Nègre 1990, p. 155.
  12. Delamarre 2003, p. 220.
  13. Demougin 1995, p. 193.
  14. Delamarre 2003, p. 156.
  15. Nègre 1990, p. 175.
  16. Demougin 1995, p. 183.
  17. Wightman 1985, pp. 73–74.
  18. Istituto Geografico de Agostini, Nomi d'Italia, ISBN 88-511-0983-4, p. 384

Footnotes
  1. From Gaulish deuos 'god' attached to duron 'gates' > 'enclosed town, market town').[14]

Bibliography

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Belgae" . Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.

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