Calucones Explained
The Calucones were a Gallic or Rhaetian tribe dwelling around present-day Chur (eastern Switzerland) during the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as Calucones (var. Callucones, Allucones) by Pliny (1st c. AD), and as kaloúkōnes (καλούκωνες; var. καλούκονες, κουλούκωνες) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[1] [2]
The etymology of the name remains debated. It could go back to a Celtic form calo-uco-on-, derived from the stem calo- ('call'). Alternatively, it may be derived from a stem *calu- ('hard') attached to -cones ('wolves'), and translated as 'hard wolves'.
An homonym tribe, the Kaloukones, lived further north, near the Germanic Suebi.
Geography
The Calucones probably dwelled around present-day Chur (Curia), in the Canton of Grisons.
Their territory was located north of the Suanetes and Rugusci, west of the Focunates and Venostes, south of the Vennones.[3]
History
They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.[4]
References
Primary sources
- Book: Pliny. Natural History. Harvard University Press. 1938. 978-0674993648. Loeb Classical Library. Rackham. H.. Pliny the Elder.
Bibliography
- Book: Delamarre, Xavier. Dictionnaire des thèmes nominaux du gaulois. Ab-/Iχs(o)- . Les Cents Chemins . 2019 . 978-1-7980-5040-8 . 1.
- Book: Falileyev, Alexander. Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. 2010. 978-0955718236.
- Frei-Stolba. Regula. Regula Frei-Stolba. 2003. Calucones. Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
- Book: Pauli, Ludwig. Die Alpen in Frühzeit und Mittelalter: die archäologische Entdeckung einer Kulturlandschaft. Beck. 1980. 978-3-406-07598-8.
- Book: Talbert, Richard J. A.. Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. 2000. 978-0691031699. Richard Talbert.
See also
Notes and References
- [Ptolemy]
- , s.v. Calucones.
- , Map 19: Raetia.
- [Pliny the Elder|Pliny]
