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They are mentioned asMediomatricorum andMediomatricis(dat.) byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1]Mediomatrikoì (Μεδιοματρικοὶ ) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD),[2]Mediomatrici byPliny (1st c. AD),[3]Mediomatricos(acc.) byTacitus (early 2nd c. AD),[4] and asMediomátrikes (Μεδιομάτρικες) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD).[5][6]
TheethnonymMediomatrici is a Latinized form of theGaulish*Medio-māteres, which literally means 'Middle-Mothers'. It is formed with the stemmedio- ('in the middle, central') attached to a plural form ofmātīr ('mother'). The name could be interpreted as meaning 'those who live between the Matrona (Marne) and the Matra rivers' (i.e. the mother-rivers), or possibly as the 'Mothers of the Middle-World' (i.e. between the heaven and theunderworld).[7]
The city ofMetz, attested ca. 400 AD ascivitas Mediomatricorum ('civitas of the Mediomatrici'), is named after the Celtic tribe.[8]
Before the Roman conquest (57 BC), the territory of the Mediomatrici comprised the upper basins of the riversMaas,Moselle andSaar, and extended eastwards as far as theRhine in the mid-first century BC.[9][10]Ptolemy places them south of theTreviri, between theRemi and theLeuci.[11]
During theGallic Wars (58–50 BC), the Mediomatrici sent 5,000 men to supportVercingetorix who wasbesieged in Alesia in 52.[16][9] In 69–70 of theCommon Era, their capital Divodurum was sacked by the armies ofVitellius, and 4,000 of its inhabitants massacred.[16] The Romanization of the Metromatrici was apparently slower compared to their neighbours theTreviri.[17][10]
Elements of the Mediomatrici may have settled nearNovara, in northwesternItaly, where place-names allude to their presence, such asMezzomerico, attested asMediomadrigo in 980.[18]
^Berggren, J. L.; Jones, Alexander (2000).Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters. Princeton University Press. p. 103.ISBN978-0-691-01042-7.
^Ambrogio, Renzo, ed. (2006).Nomi d'Italia : origine e significato dei nomi geografici e di tutti i comuni. Istituto geografico De Agostini. p. 384.ISBN88-511-0983-4.OCLC605741780.
Falileyev, Alexander (2010).Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS.ISBN978-0955718236.
