TheVediantii were aCelto-Ligurian tribe dwelling on theMediterranean coast, near present-dayNice, during theIron Age and theRoman period.
They are mentioned asOu̓ediantíōn (Οὐεδιαντίων) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD),[1] and anoppidum Vediantiorum civitatis is documented byPliny (1st c. AD).[2][3]
TheethnonymVediantii is probably Celtic. It has been interpreted as 'pertaining to the praying ones' (from the rootwed- 'to pray' extended by a present participial formation -ie-nt-),[4][5] as the 'Leaders' (from *wedʰ-yā 'guidance, leadership'), or else as the 'Sages' (from *weid-yā 'knowledge, doctrine').[6][7]
The Vediantii dwelled on theMediterranean coast, between theVar river and theMont Agel, around theMassaliote colony ofNikaea (modernNice).[8] Their territory was located east of theDeciates andNerusii, west of theIntimilii, and south of theVesubiani.[9]
Their chief town was theoppidumVediantiorum, known asCemenelum by the 2nd century AD. Corresponding to modernCimiez, now a neighbourhood of Nice, the settlement controlled an important trading route from the Mediterranean coast towards the hinterland and the Alps. The acropolis stood about two kilometres inland, north of the Massaliote port of Nice, at the starting point of routes leading into the Alpine hinterland, in a position from which its inhabitants could defend themselves against pirates and mountain raiders.[10] After the subjugation of the Ligurian tribes in 14 BC, Cemenelum became the centre of the local Roman military government, then served as the capital of the new Roman province from its creation byNero in 63 AD.[11][12]
The territory contained several ports, reflecting both land-based and maritime activity. In addition to Nice, a Massaliote trading post, local landing places recorded in theItinerarium maritimum Antonini included Anao, Olivula and Avisio.Monaco (Portus Herculis Monoeci), another Massaliote port, also lay within their territory. Epigraphy records the name of a Gallo-Roman settlement in the hinterland, thevicus Cuntinus (modernContes), whose inhabitants honoured a protective deity,Segomo Cuntinus. Another small settlement,vicus Navelis in thepagus Licirrus, is attested but cannot be precisely located, though it lay within the territory of thecivitas of Cemenelum.[10]
Contrary to other tribes of the region, the Vediantii were probably allied or tributary toMassalia and theRoman Republic by the mid-2nd century BC.[10][13] In 154 BC, when the Romans intervened on behalf of Massalia to free the Greek colonies of Nikaea and Antipolis (Antibes) from Ligurian groups obstructing land and sea communications, they subdued theOxybii andDeciates west of the Var, but not the Vediantii. The inhabitants of Cemenelum, the indigenous capital of the Vediantii, likely maintained long-standing relations of good neighbourship with the Greek merchants at Nikaea, and nothing suggests that they were subdued together with the other coastal Ligurian tribes. Their traditional loyalty to Rome later led to the choice of Cemenelum to become the capital of theAlpes Maritimae after its foundation in 63 AD.[14]
The Vediantii are not mentioned in theTrophy of the Alps, suggesting that they were either already subjugated by or allied to Rome at the time of the conquest of the region in 14 BC.[15]
Three inscriptions dated to the 1st–2nd centuries AD and dedicated to the Matres Vediantiae, eponymous deities of the country and protectresses of its inhabitants, were found nearTourrette-Levens and Cimiez.[10][7]
Matronis Vediantiabus P(ublius) Enistalius P(ublii) f(ilius) Cl(audia tribu) Paternus Cemenelensis optio ad ordine(m) (centurionis) leg(ionis) XXII Primigeniae Piae Fidelis l(ibens) m(erito)
[To the Matronae Vediantiae, Publius Enistalius Paternus, son of Publius, of the Claudia tribe, from Cemenelum, optio promoted to centurion in the legion XXII Primigenia Pia Fidelis, willingly and deservedly (offered this monument)]
— Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) 5:07872.
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