TheBoii (Latin plural, singularBoius;Ancient Greek:Βόιοι) were aCeltic tribe of the laterIron Age, attested at various times inCisalpine Gaul (present-dayNorthern Italy),Pannonia (present-dayAustria andHungary), present-dayBavaria, in and around present-dayBohemia (after whom the region is named in most languages; comprising the bulk of today'sCzech Republic), parts of present-daySlovakia andPoland, andGallia Narbonensis (located in modernLanguedoc andProvence).
In addition, the archaeological evidence indicates that in the 2nd century BC Celts expanded from Bohemia through theKłodzko Valley intoSilesia, now part ofPoland and the Czech Republic.[1]
They first appear in history in connection with theGallic invasion of northern Italy, 390 BC,[2] when they made theEtruscan city of Felsina their new capital,Bononia (Bologna).[3]
After a series of wars, they were decisively beaten by the Romans in theBattle of Mutina (193 BC) and their territory became part of the Roman province ofCisalpine Gaul. According toStrabo, writing two centuries after the events, rather than being destroyed by the Romans like their Celtic neighbours,
The Boii were merely driven out of the regions they occupied; and after migrating to the regions round about theIster, lived with theTaurisci, and carried on war against theDaci until they perished, tribe and all—and thus they left their country, which was a part ofIllyria, to their neighbours as a pasture-ground for sheep.[4]
Around 60 BC, a group of Boii joined theHelvetiis' ill-fated attempt to conquer land in western Gaul and were defeated byJulius Caesar, along with their allies, in theBattle of Bibracte.
Caesar settled the remnants of that group inGorgobina, from where they sent 2,000 warriors toVercingetorix's aid at theBattle of Alesia six years later. The eastern Boii on the Danube were incorporated into theRoman Empire in 8 AD.
From all the different names of the same Celtic people in literature and inscriptions, it is possible to abstract aContinental Celtic segment,boio-.[5]
There are two major derivations of this segment, both presupposing that it belongs to the family ofIndo-European languages: from 'cow' and from 'warrior.' The Boii would thus be either 'the herding people' or 'the warrior people'.
The 'cow' derivation depends most immediately on theOld Irish legal term for 'outsider':ambue, fromProto-Celtic*ambouios (<*an-bouios), 'not a cattle owner'.[6]
In a reference to the first known historical Boii,Polybius relates[7] that their wealth consisted of cattle and gold, that they depended on agriculture and war, and that a man's status depended on the number of associates and assistants he had. The latter were presumably the*ambouii, as opposed to the man of status, who was*bouios, a cattle owner, and the*bouii were originally a class, 'the cattle owners'.[8]
The 'warrior' derivation was adopted by the linguistJulius Pokorny, who presented it as being from Indo-European*bhei(ə)-,*bhī-, 'hit'; however, not finding any Celtic names close to it (except for the Boii), he adduces examples somewhat more widely from originals further back in time:phohiio-s-, aVenetic personal name;Boioi, anIllyrian tribe;Boiōtoi, a Greek tribal name (theBoeotians); and a few others.[9]
The same wider connections can be hypothesized for the 'cow' derivation: the Boeotians have been known for well over a century as a people of kine, which might have been parallel to the meaning ofItaly as 'land of calves'. Indo-European reconstructions can be made using*gʷou- 'cow' as a basis, such as*gʷowjeh³s;[10] the root may itself be an imitation of the sound a cow makes.[11][better source needed]
Other ancient names which appear to be derived from the name of the Boii includeBoiorix ('king of the Boii', one of the chieftains of theCimbri) andBoiodurum ('gate/fort of the Boii', modernPassau) in Germany. Their memory also survives in the modern regional names ofBohemia (Boiohaemum), a mixed-language form fromboio- andProto-Germanic*haimaz, 'home': 'home of the Boii'.Bavaria,Bayern, is derived from the name of theBaiovarii tribe. The first component is most plausibly explained as a Germanic version ofBoii, while the second part is a common formational morpheme of Germanic tribal names, meaning 'dwellers', as inOld English-ware.[citation needed]
According to the ancient authors, the Boii arrived in northern Italy by crossing theAlps. While of the other tribes who had come to Italy along with the Boii, theSenones,Lingones andCenomani are also attested in Gaul at the time of the Roman conquest. It remains therefore unclear where exactly theCentral Europe origins of the Boii lay, if somewhere in Gaul,Southern Germany or in Bohemia.
Polybius relates that theCelts were close neighbors of theEtruscan civilization and "cast covetous eyes on their beautiful country".[7]
Invading thePo Valley with a large army, they drove out the Etruscans and resettled it, the Boii taking the right bank in the center of the valley.Strabo confirms that the Boii emigrated from their lands across theAlps[12] and were one of the largest tribes of the Celts.[13] The Boii occupied the old Etruscan settlement of Felsina, which they namedBononia (modernBologna). Polybius describes the Celtic way of life inCisalpine Gaul as follows:
They lived in unwalled villages, without any superfluous furniture; for as they slept on beds of leaves and fed on meat and were exclusively occupied with war and agriculture, their lives were very simple, and they had no knowledge whatever of any art or science.Their possessions consisted of cattle and gold, because these were the only things they could carry about with them everywhere according to circumstances and shift where they chose. They treated comradeship as of the greatest importance, those among them being the most feared and most powerful who were thought to have the largest number of attendants and associates.[7]
The archaeological evidence from Bologna and its vicinity contradicts the testimony of Polybius and Livy on some points, who say the Boii expelled the Etruscans and perhaps some were forced to leave.
It indicates the Boii neither destroyed nor depopulated Felsinum, but simply moved in and became part of the population by intermarriage.[14][dubious –discuss]
The cemeteries of the period in Bologna containLa Tène weapons and other artifacts, as well as Etruscan items such as bronze mirrors. AtMonte Bibele not far away one grave contained La Tène weapons and a pot with an Etruscan female name scratched on it.[8]
In the second half of the 3rd century BC, the Boii allied with the other Cisalpine Gauls and the Etruscans against Rome. They also fought alongsideHannibal, killing the Roman generalLucius Postumius Albinus in 216 BC, whose skull was then turned into a sacrificial bowl.[15]
A short time earlier, they had been defeated at theBattle of Telamon in 225 BC, and were again atPlacentia in 194 BC (modernPiacenza) andMutina in 193 BC (modernModena).Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica completed the Roman conquest of the Boii in 191 BC, celebrating atriumph for it.[16] After their losses, according to Strabo, a large portion of the Boii left Italy.[17]
Contrary to the interpretation of the classical writers, the Pannonian Boii attested in later sources are not simply the remnants of those who had fled from Italy, but rather another division of the tribe, which had settled there much earlier.
The burial rites of the Italian Boii show many similarities with contemporary Bohemia, such asinhumation, which was uncommon with the other Cisalpine Gauls, or the absence of the typically western Celtictorcs.[18]
This makes it much more likely that the Cisalpine Boii had actually originated from Bohemia rather than the other way round.[19]
Having migrated to Italy from north of the Alps, some of the defeated Celts simply moved back to their kinsfolk.[note 1]
The Pannonian Boii are mentioned again in the late 2nd century BC when they repelled theCimbri andTeutones (Strabo VII, 2, 2). Later on, they attacked the city ofNoreia (in modern Austria) shortly before a group of Boii (32,000 according toJulius Caesar) joined theHelvetii in their attempt to settle in western Gaul.[20]
After the Helvetian defeat atBibracte, the influentialAedui tribe allowed the Boii survivors to settle on their territory, where they occupied theoppidum ofGorgobina. Although attacked byVercingetorix during one phase of the war, they supported him with two thousand troops at the battle ofAlesia (Caesar,Commentarii de Bello Gallico, VII, 75).
Again, other parts of the Boii had remained closer to their traditional home, and settled in the Slovak andHungarian lowlands by theDanube and theMura, with a centre atBratislava.
In the middle of the 1st century BC, the Boii tried to expand eastwards into modern-day Hungary, but clashed with the rising power of theDacians under their kingBurebista and were defeated. This war is often dated to the 60s or 50s BC or even precisely to 60/59 BC, but cannot be dated with that certainty. The numismatic material suggests that the clash may in fact have only happened by 41/40 BC.[21] The Dacians under Burebista likely used a combination of military force and political strategies to conquer the Boii and compel some of them to migrate.
Once the Boii were defeated or weakened, the Dacians would have annexed their territory, incorporating it into their expanding kingdom. If the early dating of the clash with Burebista is accepted, the migration of the Boii to Gaul and other parts ofEurope may have been a consequence of their defeat and the Dacian occupation of their lands, as they sought new territories and opportunities elsewhere. However, specific details of this conquest and migration are often scarce in historical records, leaving much open to interpretation.
When the Romans finally conqueredPannonia in 8 AD, the Boii seem not to have opposed them. Their former territory was now calleddeserta Boiorum (deserta meaning 'empty or sparsely populated lands').[22]
However, the Boii had not been exterminated: There was acivitas Boiorum et Azaliorum (the Azalii being a neighbouring tribe) which was under the jurisdiction of a prefect of the Danube shore (praefectus ripae Danuvii).[23] Thiscivitas, a common Roman administrative term designating both a city and the tribal district around it, was later adjoined to the city ofCarnuntum.[citation needed]
Plautus refers to the Boii inCaptivi:
At nunc Siculus non est, Boius est, Boiam terit
(Translation:) But now he is not aSicilian – he is a Boius, he has got a Boia woman.
There is a play on words:Boia means 'woman of the Boii', also 'convicted criminal's restraint collar'.[24]
In volume 21 of hisHistory of Rome,Livy (59 BC – 17 AD) claims that it was a Boio man that offered to show Hannibal the way across theAlps.
When, after the action had thus occurred, his own men returned to each general,Scipio could adopt no fixed plan of proceeding, except that he should form his measures from the plans and undertakings of the enemy: and Hannibal, uncertain whether he should pursue the march he had commenced intoItaly, or fight with the Roman army which had first presented itself, the arrival of ambassadors from the Boii, and of a petty prince calledMagalus, diverted from an immediate engagement; who, declaring that they would be the guides of his journey and the companions of his dangers, gave it as their opinion, that Italy ought to be attacked with the entire force of the war, his strength having been nowhere previously impaired.[25]
In the first century BC, the Boii living in anoppidum ofBratislava mintedBiatecs, high-quality coins with inscriptions (probably the names of kings) in Latin letters. At the oppidum ofManching there was a ceramic found bearing the labeling "Boius" or "Baius" which is being displayed at the local Celts and Romans museum.
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