TheSalyes orSalluvii (Greek:Σάλυες) were an ancientCelto-Ligurian people dwelling between theDurance river and theGreek colony ofMassalia during theIron Age. Although earlier writers called them 'Ligurian',Strabo used the denomination 'Celto-ligurian' in the early 1st century AD. A Celtic influence is noticeable in their religion, which centred on the cult of thetête coupée ('severed head'), as well as in the names of their towns and leaders. During the 2nd century BC, the Salyes were most likely at the head of a political and military confederation that united both Gallic and Ligurian tribes.
During most of their early history, the Salyes were in conflict with the neighbouring Greek inhabitants of Massalia, and later on with their ally theRoman Republic, until the consulGaius Sextius Calvinus sacked their hill-fortEntremont ca. 122 BC. Revolts against the Roman conquerors were crushed in 90 and 83 BC.
They are mentioned asSallyas byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1]Salluvii andSaluum (var.Saluium,Salluuiorum) byLivy (late 1st c. BC),[2]Sálluas (Σάλλυας),Sállues ( Σάλλυες) andSalúōn (Σαλύων) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD),[3]Sallui andSalluuiorum byPliny (1st c. AD),[4]Sálues (Σάλυες;var. Σάλικες) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD),[5] and asSalyes byAvienius (4th c. AD).[6][7]
The origin of the name remains obscure. The original form was most likelySalyes ≈Salues (pronounced /Salwes/), later latinized asSalluvii (/Salluwii/). It is the form used by Caesar under the variantSallyas in the oldest surviving attestation of the name, while Pliny wroteSalluvii some decades later in the late 1st century BC.[8][9][10] According to linguistPatrizia de Bernardo Stempel,Salues may be a Celtic rendering of an original *Sḷwes, meaning 'the own ones'.[9] In the Celtic context, the name iscognate with theCeltiberianSalluienses andTurma salluitana.[10] It has also been compared with the Italic personal namesSalluvius,Sallubius,Salluius, andSallyius.[11]
The Salyes dwelled in the hinterland ofMassalia, between theMassif de l'Étoile and theDurance river.[8] Their homeland was located north of theAvatici,Tricores andSegobrigii, south of theDexivates, west of theTritolli, and east of theAnatilii.[12]
As for the stretch of country which begins atAntipolis and extends as far as Massilia or a little farther, the tribe of the Sallyes inhabits the Alps that lie above the seaboard and also—promiscuously with the Greeks—certain parts of the same seaboard.
— Strabo 1923,Geōgraphiká,4:6:3.
The Salluvian confederation, a political entity dominated by the Salyes that likely emerged in the 2nd century BC, covered a much larger area stretching from theRhône to theLoup river (just west of theVar), and reaching the Mediterranean sea to the south, between theArecomici, theCavari and the later province ofAlpes Maritimae.[8][13][14]
Their pre-Roman chief town was theoppidum ofEntremont (3 km north of modernAix-en-Provence). It displays Greek influence in its sculpture, its defences, and the layout of its streets.[15] However, the religious monuments and iconography were overwhelmingly native. The settlement saw a relatively late development during the 3rd–2nd centuries BC. It was able to control the east-west routes connecting the Rhône to the Alps, as well as the north-south routes between Massalia and the Durance.[16] Entremont was seized ca. 122 BC by the Roman consulGaius Sextius Calvinus, who founded agarrison near some warm spring in its vicinity. Refounded byCaesar as acolonia latina, it was made a full colony known asColonia Iulia Augusta Aquis Sextiis underAugustus (27 BC–14 AD).[17]
Another settlement was known asGlanon (LatinGlanum, near modernSt-Rémy-de-Provence). The name, meaning 'the clear/transparent one' inGaulish, probably took its origin from a nearby river.[18][19] Located on the great trade route connecting theIberian Peninsula to Italy and occupied from the 6th–5th centuries BC onward,[20] Glanon came under Greek influence from the mid-2nd century BC, which has been interpreted either as a takeover by the Massaliotes, or else as a Greek cultural imprint on the local Salluvian aristocracy.[21][22] Glanon may have become the chief town of the Salyes after the sack of Entremont by the Romans ca. 122 BC. Major construction programs were launched between ca. 120 and 90 BC, including sanctuaries, public squares and administrative buildings, presumably for Glanon to assert itself as the dominant settlement of the area and display its new status to its neighbours.[22] Glanon was abandoned ca. 270 AD after suffering from raids by Germanic tribes, and a new walled town was built in its vicinity at the site of St-Rémy.[21]
The oppidum of Baou-Roux was located between Entremont and Massalia.[16]
The Salyes settled in the hinterland ofMassalia at the latest in the 6th century BC.[15] According to a legend recounted byLivy, they fought against thePhocaean settlers at the time of the foundation ofMassalia ca. 600, but were defeated by the roving armies ofBellovesus.[23] During the 5th century BC, the Salyes remained a small tribal group, although they controlled an important trade route that went through the valley of theArc. By the time of theSecond Punic War (218–201 BC), they also controlled areas as far south as the coastal mountains near Massalia.[13]
These were the first of the Transalpine Celti that the Romans conquered, though they did so only after carrying on war with both them and the Ligures for a long time—because the latter had barred all the passes leading to Iberia that ran through the seaboard. And, in fact, they kept making raids both by land and sea, and were so powerful that the road was scarcely practicable even for great armies. And it was not until the eightieth year of the war that the Romans succeeded, though only with difficulty, in opening up the road for a breadth of only twelve stadia to those travelling on public business.
— Strabo 1923,Geōgraphiká,4:6:3.
Conflicts between Rome and the Salyes lasted during nearly eighty years from the end of the Second Punic War (201 BC), during which the eastern part of Iberia came under Roman control and Massalia remained a faithful ally of Rome, up until the rendition of the Salluvian chief town Entremont ca. 122 BC.[24] Involved in piracy and raids, the Ligurians threatened throughout the 2nd century BC the Massaliotes colonies along the Mediterranean coast, and more generally the trade route between the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. This culminated in a Roman military intervention in 154 BC against theDeciates andOxybii, two Ligurian tribes that were presumably part of the Salluvian confederation.[25]
In 125 BC, the Salyes waged war on Massalia, leading theRoman Senate to send the consulMarcus Fulvius Flaccus to Massalia's assistance.[26] The establishment of a Greek colony at Glanum, on Salluvian territory, may have been thecasus belli.[27] Flaccus defeated the Salyes, along with theVocontii and some other Ligurian tribes presumably part of the Salluvian confederation on the eastern borders of the Massaliote territory, then celebrated his triumph in Rome in 123 BC. Shortly after, another consul,Gaius Sextius Calvinus, sacked their chief town,Entremont, and established near its ruin a Romangarrison post, thereafter to be known as Aquae Sextiae (modernAix-en-Provence). Sextius also forced the Salyes to cede the areas they controlled near the Mediterranean coast; part of their territory was granted to the Massaliotes.[26][28][29]
During the conflict, the leaders of the Salyes, including their kingToutomotulos (or Teutomalius), fled with the rest of their armies to their allies theAllobroges, who refused to hand them over to Rome.[30][24] A further and larger Roman force, includingwar elephants, was sent under the command ofGnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, who defeated the Allobroges at theBattle of Vindalium in 121 BC. In August of the same year, the Roman army, strengthened by the troops ofQuintus Fabius Maximus, inflicted a decisive defeat on a massive combined force of Allobroges,Arveni and the remaining Salyes at theBattle of the Isère River.[30] Toutomotulus' followers were killed, enslaved, or driven into exile, while Crato, the Salluvian leader of the pro-Graeco-Roman faction, was granted 900 of his fellow citizens from slavery.[31]
Between 120 and 117, the territory of the Salyes was incorporated into theRoman province ofGallia Transalpina.[28]
During theCimbrian War (113–101 BC), theBattle of Aquae Sextiae took place in their territory in 102 BC.[29] In 90 BC, the consulGaius Coelius Caldus suppressed a revolt of the Salyes.[32][28] Another revolt was crushed in 83 BC.[15]
After the foundation of acolonia romana atArelate (Arles) in 46 BC, a large area west ofAquae Sextiae, including much of the Salluvian lands that had been handed over to Massalia ca. 122 BC, became subject to Arelate (modernArles).[33]
Writing in the early 1st century AD, Greek geographerStrabo implies that the 'Ligurian' (Λίγυας) Salyes mentioned by earlier writers occupied the hinterland of Massalia, whereas the later 'Celto-Ligurian' (Κελτολίγυας) Salyes also controlled the area between theRhône and theLuberon.[34]
... though the early writers of the Greeks call the Sallyes 'Ligues', and the country which the Massiliotes hold, 'Ligustica', later writers name them 'Celtoligues', and attach to their territory all the level country as far as Luerio and the Rhodanus, the country from which the inhabitants, divided into ten parts, used to send forth an army, not only of infantry, but of cavalry as well.
— Strabo 1923,Geōgraphiká,4:6:3.
.jpg)
In fact, the area surrounding the Salluvian chief-town ofEntremont (near modernAix-en-Provence) represented the frontier between the Ligurian tribes dwelling along the Mediterranean coast and the Celtic tribes of the lower Rhône Valley, who displayed a common force against the Roman conqueror at the end of the 2nd century BC. This geo-cultural frontier was probably used by the Romans when tracing the administrative border between thecivitates ofArelate andAquae Sextiae in the 1st century BC.[35]
The Celtic names of Salluvian rulers (Toutomotulos) and towns (Glanon) may suggest that Celtic speakers formed the ruling class of the confederation. As seen during the Roman conquest of the region, the local aristrocracy developed links with neighbouring Gallic tribes such as the Allobroges, although literary sources point towards a more complex reality, with significant Greek and Ligurian influences.[13][36]
The religion of the Salyes centred on the cult of thetête coupée ('severed head'), with important shrines located asRoquepertuse andEntremont.[15] The cult persisted at Entremont until the sack of the settlement by the Romans ca. 122 BC.[37]
A Celtic-Ligurian sanctuary dedicated to the god Glan and the Matres was found atGlanon near a mineral spring.[38]
As originally proposed by historianGuy Barruol in 1969, the Salyes were probably at the head of what he has called the "Salluvian confederation", a political entity dominated by the Salyes that likely emerged in the 2nd century BC. It may have included at its height theAnatilii,Libicii,Nearchi,Avatici,Dexivates,Segobrigii,Comani,Tricores,Tritolli,Camactulici,Suelteri,Oxybii,Ligauni,Deciates, andReii.[39][40][36]
The ties uniting those various tribes were probably loose, and local oppida must have retained considerable autonomy, as evidenced by the short lapse of time during which the confederacy collapsed when the Romans destroyed the Salluvian chief town and subjugated their leaders in 122–121 BC.[16]
{{cite book}}:|journal= ignored (help)