TheAmbarri were aGallic people dwelling in the modernAindepartment during theIron Age and theRoman period.
The name is given asAmbarri byJulius Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1] and byLivy (late-1st c. BC).[2][3] TheGaulishethnonymAmbarri could mean 'on both sides of theSaône river', stemming from theGaulish suffixamb- ('around') attached to thepre-Celtic name of the Saône river,Arar.[4] It has also been interpreted as a contraction ofAmbi-barii ('the very-angry'), formed with the intensifying Gaulish suffixambi- attached tobar(i)o- ('wrath, fury, passion'; cf. Welsham-far 'mad rage',Old Irishbarae 'fury, anger').[5][6]
The cities ofAmbérieu-en-Bugey, attested ca. 853 asAmbariacus (Ambayreu in 1240),Ambérieux-en-Dombes, attested in 501 asAmbariaco (Ambaireu in 1226), andAmbérieux, attested in 892 asAmbariacum, are named after the Gallic tribe. They originally derive from a formAmbarria attached to the suffix-acos.[7]
The Ambarri occupied a tract in the valley of theRhône, probably in the angle between theSaône and the Rhône; and their neighbors on the east were theAllobroges. They are mentioned by Livy (v. 34) with the Aedui among those Galli who were said to have crossed theAlps intoItaly in the time ofTarquinius Priscus.[citation needed]
According to the Roman historianTitus Livius, the Ambarri joinedBellovesus' legendary migrations ca. 600 BC towards Italy:
... but to Bellovesus the gods proposed a far pleasanter road, into Italy. Taking out with him the surplus population of his tribes, the Bituriges, Arverni, Senones, Haedui, Ambarri, Carnutes, and Aulerci, he marched with vast numbers of infantry and cavalry into the country of the Tricastini.
— Livy,Ab Urbe Condita Libri. 5:34:5. trans. B. O. Foster (Loeb, 1924).
Caesar does not mention them among theclientes of theAedui (B. G. vii. 75.) but calls them close allies and kinsmen:
At the same time the [Aedui] Ambarri, close allies and kinsmen of the Aedui, informed Caesar that their lands had been laid waste, and that they could not easily safeguard their towns from the violence of the enemy.
— Livy,Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 1:11. trans. H. J. Edwards (Loeb, 1917).
They are also mentioned by Caesar along with the Aedui and the Allobroges:
And even if he [Caesar] were willing to forget an old affront, could he banish the memory of recent outrages—their [theHelvetii] attempts to march by force against his will through the Province, their ill-treatment of the Aedui, the Ambarri, the Allobroges?
— Livy,Commentarii de Bello Gallico. 1:14. trans. H. J. Edwards (Loeb, 1917).
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