TheCeutrones (orCentrones) were aGallic tribe dwelling in theTarantaise Valley, in modernSavoie, during theIron Age andRoman period.
They are mentioned asCeutrones byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1]Keútrōnes (Κεύτρωνες;var. Κέντ-) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD),[2]Ceutrones byPliny (1st c. AD),[3] and asKeutrónōn (Κευτρόνων) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD).[4][5]
The hamlet of Centron, located in the village ofMontgirod, may be named after the Gallic tribe.[6]
They had a homonym tribe inGallia Belgica, documented in 54 BC, which was probably apagus of the Nervii.[7][8]
The Ceutrones dwelled in theTarantaise Valley, along the upperIsère river, near theLittle St Bernard Pass (Alpis Graia) on the route stretching from theRhône Valley to the north of theItalian Peninsula.[9][7] Their territory was located north of theGraioceli andMedulli, southeast of theAllobroges, southwest of theVeragri, and west of theSalassi, on the other side of the Alps.[10]
Among the passes which lead over from Italy to the outer—or northerly—Celtica, is the one that leads through the country of the Salassi, to Lugdunum; it is a double pass, one branch, that through the Ceutrones, being practicable for wagons through the greater part of its length, while the other, that through the Poeninus, is steep and narrow, but a short cut.
— Strabo 1923,Geōgraphiká,4:11.
Their chief town was known as Axima (modernAime-la-Plagne). Renamed to Forum Claudii Ceutronum underClaudius (41–54 AD), probably when the Ceutrones were grantedLatin Rights, it became the chief town of Alpes Graiae, one of the two divisions of the province ofAlpes Graiae et Poeninae. Theprocurator of the province had an occasional residence in the Ceutronian chief town.[9] InLate Antiquity, the city lost its position to Darentasia (Moûtiers), which became the capital of theDiocese of Tarentaise in 426.[9]
In the mid-1st century BC, the Ceutrones are mentioned byJulius Caesar as a tribe hostile to Rome. In what appears to be a concerted attack, they attempted to prevent his passage through the upperDurance along with theCaturiges andGraioceli in 58 BC.[11][12]
There [Titus Labienus] enrolled two legions, and brought out of winter quarters three that were wintering about Aquileia; and with these five legions made speed to march by the shortest route to Further Gaul, over the Alps. In that region the Ceutrones, the Graioceli, and the Caturiges, seizing points on the higher ground, essayed to stop the march of his army. They were repulsed in several actions; and on the seventh day he moved from Ocelum, the last station of Hither Gaul, into the borders of the Vocontii in Further Gaul.
— Caesar 1917,Commentarii de Bello Gallico,1:10:4.
The Ceutrones were possibly ofCelto-Ligurian origin.[13]
The Ceutrones were known for copper mining. They also produced a renowned cheese namedvatusicus.[8][13]
