TheMemini were aGallic tribe living in theComtat Venaissin region, in the area of present-dayCarpentras, during theIron Age and theRoman period.
They are mentioned asMeminorum byPliny (1st c. AD).[1][2]
Their chief town was Carpentorate (modernCarpentras), listed byPliny in the 1st century AD asCarpentoracte Meminorum as anoppidum Latinum.[3][2] Its pre-Roman ancestor may have been the hill-fort of La Légue.[4][2] In the early 2nd century,Ptolemy, drawing on earlier sources, refers to the settlement asForum Neronis, a temporary designation intended to replace the indigenous nameCarpentorate and likely introduced during the colonial foundation byTiberius Claudius Nero around 46–45 BC. This designation did not endure, and the settlement later reverted to its native name. Epigraphic evidence further indicates that Carpentorate attained the status of a Latin colony under the nameColonia Iulia Meminorum.[3][2]
The Memini were located east of theCavari, south of theVocontii, and west of theAlbici.[5] The boundaries of their pre-Roman territory were later preserved in those of thecivitas Carpentoratensis, and later thebishopric of Carpentras andComtat Venaissin. This area was enclosed by theDentelles de Montmirail andMont Ventoux to the north and theMonts de Vaucluse to the east. To the west and south, the border followed marshland and low-lying terrain, with natural barriers such as wetlands and sterile hills marking the limits between their territory and neighbouring regions.[5]
In the pre-Roman era, the Memini were clients of the most powerful Cavari.[6][2]
