TheLingones (Gaulish: 'the jumpers') were aGallic tribe of theIron Age andRoman periods. They dwelled in the region surrounding the present-day city ofLangres, between the provinces ofGallia Lugdunensis andGallia Belgica.[1]
They are mentioned asLíngōnes (Λίγγωνες) byPolybius (2nd c. BC),[2]Lingones byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),Pliny (1st c. AD) andTacitus (early 2nd c. AD),[3]Díngones (Δίγγονες) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD),[4] and asLóngōnes (Λόγγωνες) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD).[5][6]
TheGaulishethnonymLingones literally means 'the jumpers'. It derives from the stemling- ('to jump'), itself from theProto-Celtic verbal base*leng- ('to jump'; cf.Old Irishlingid 'he jumps'), extended by the suffix -on-es.[7][8][9] The name could be interpreted as 'good at jumping (on horseback)',[10] or else as 'the dancers'.[8]
The city ofLangres, attested ca. 400 AD ascivitas Lingonum, is named after the Gallic tribe.[10]
The territory of the Lingones was situated on the border separatingGallia Lugdunensis fromGallia Belgica, between theSenones and theSequani.[1]
Their capital Andematunnum (present-dayLangres,Haute-Marne) is attested from 43 AD on boundary markers (abbreviated asAND).[11] It was built on aBajocianlimestone promontory, overlooking theMarne valley to the east and north, and the Bonnelle valley to the west. Only the southern part, open to the Langresplateau, did not possess natural defences.[11] Archeological evidence have demonstrated a continuity between theLa Tène and Roman periods on the site of Langres, and the city of Andematunnum appears to have been built at the turn of the 1st century BC on a previous Gallic settlement.[12] The Roman-eracivitas of the Lingones was located at the crossroad of the moderndépartments ofAube,Haute-Marne,Côte d’Or andYonne.[13]
TheCathedral St-Mammes, built in the Burgundian Romanesque style for the ancient diocese that was referred to asLingonae ("of the Lingones") and rivalled Dijon. Three of its early bishops were martyred by the invasion of the Vandals, about 407.[citation needed]
Some of the Lingones migrated across theAlps and settled near the mouth of the Po River inCisalpine Gaul of northernItaly around 400 BC. These Lingones were part of a wave of Celtic tribes that included theBoii andSenones (Polybius,Histories ii.17).[non-primary source needed] The Lingones may have helped sack Rome in 390 BC.[citation needed]
The Gaulish Lingones did not participate in the battles of the Gauls against Caesar. They gained Roman citizenship at the end of the first century AD.[1] They were caught up in theBatavian rebellion (69 AD) described byTacitus.
The strategistSextus Julius Frontinus, author of theStrategemata, the earliest surviving Roman military textbook, mentions the Lingones among his examples of successful military tactics:
In the war waged under the auspices of the Emperor CaesarDomitianus Augustus Germanicus and begun by Julius Civilis in Gaul, the very wealthy city of the Lingones, which had revolted to Civilis, feared that it would be plundered by the approaching army of Caesar. But when, contrary to expectation, the inhabitants remained unharmed and lost none of their property, they returned to their loyalty, and handed over to me seventy thousand armed men.
In Roman Britain, at least three named cohorts of Lingones, probably subscripted from among the Lingones who had remained in the area of Langres and Dijon are attested in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, from dedicatory inscriptions and stamped tiles. The 1st cohort of Lingones (part-mounted) is attested atBremenium, the Roman fort atHigh Rochester in north Northumberland,[14] the 2nd cohort of Lingones is attested atIlkley Roman Fort by their Prefect,[15] and the fourth cohort built part ofHadrian's Wall near Carlisle.[16]
During theRoman period,Mars Cicolluis was the main god of the Lingones.[17]
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