TheGabali (Gaulish: *Gabli) were a smallGallic tribe living in the mountainousGévaudan region during theIron Age and theRoman period. Clients of the powerfulArverni, they took part in the Gallic uprising against Rome in 52 BC underVercingetorix. Under Roman rule they formed a distinctcivitas, probably created underAugustus to limit Arvernian territorial dominance, with its chief town atAnderitum (modernJavols) Their economy relied primarily on pastoralism, forestry, mining and craft production linked to regional trade networks.
They are named asGabali byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1] asGabalei͂s (Γαβαλεῖς) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD),[2] asGabales byPliny (1st c. AD),[3] and asTábaloi (Τάβαλοι) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD).[4][5]
TheethnonymGabali is a Latinized form ofGaulish *Gabloi. It derives from the stemgablo-, initially designating the 'forked branch of a tree', then more generally a 'fork'. The name is related to the Gallo-Latin *gabalottus ('spear'), which may have given the wordjavelot in French.[6][7]
The city ofJavols, attested ca. 400 AD ascivitas Gabalum ('civitas of the Gabali',Javols in 1109), and theGévaudan region, attested in the 1st c. AD asGabalicus pagus (Gavuldanum in the 10th c.,Gavalda in the 13th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.[8]
The Gabali dwelled in theGévaudan region, on the north-western foot of the Cevennes. Their territory was located south of theArveni, and north of theRuteni.[9] The territory of the Gabali broadly corresponded to the later medieval Gévaudan, thebishopric of Mende, and subsequently to the modern department ofLozère, whose boundaries remained largely similar.[10]
The only oppidum large enough to have served as the Gabalic chief town isSaint-Bonnet-de-Chirac, located about 20 km from Javols. However, finds at Javols indicate occupation in the 2nd–1st centuries BC, and a possible 1st-century BC sanctuary suggests pre-Roman activity, contradicting the idea of anex nihilo Roman foundation.[11]
During the Roman period, their chief town wasAnderitum (present-dayJavols), mentioned asAnderedon byPtolemy in the 2nd century AD. Toward the end of the 3rd century, Anderitum abandoned its original Celtic and became known generically asad Gabalos ('the town of the Gabali').[12] The date of the foundation of the Gallo-Roman town remains uncertain. The settlement expanded significantly from the mid-1st century AD and reached its greatest extent in the 2nd century. From the early 3rd century onward, construction declined and peripheral areas were gradually abandoned, followed by the progressive desertion of the valley centre. By the 5th–6th centuries, occupation had shifted to several smaller, clustered settlements on the valley margins, broadly resembling the modern pattern.[11]
They were clients of the most powerfulAverni. At the beginning of 52 BC, they attackedGallia Narbonensis under the leadership of theCadurcianLucterius, together with theRuteni and theNitiobroges. Later that summer, acting onVercingetorix's instructions, they invaded the territory of theHelvii. Their contingent formed part of the 35,000 troops supplied by the Arverni to the Gallic coalition army.[13]
The creation of a separate civitas for the Gabali, like that of the neighbouringVellavi, may have been motivated by Augustan administrative policy aimed at preventing the powerful Arverni from controlling an overly large territory along the northern frontier of Gallia Narbonensis.[14]
The Gabali were cattle breeders. Many of them were also miners, as their region was rich in silver mines.[9] Gabalian economic integration into the Roman world relied chiefly on the exploitation of local resources: forest products supplied fuel and materials for pottery production and cooperage, silver-bearing lead fromMont Lozère supported mining activity, ceramic workshops developed in connection with thesigillata industry, and the upland environment favoured a largely pastoral economy, including cheese production noted in ancient sources.[12]
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