European Kingdoms

Salassi (Gauls / Celto-Ligurians?)

Alpine Tribes (Intro) Alpine Tribes Alpine Groups (Pre-Roman) Aquitani Tribes Celtic Tribes Rome

In general terms, the Romans coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the Celtic tribes of what is now central, northern, and eastern France. The Gauls were divided from the Belgae to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south by the River Garonne, while also extending into Switzerland, northern Italy, and along the Danube (see feature link for a discussion of the origins of the Celtic name).

By the middle of the first century BC, there existed a cluster of smaller tribes in the Alpine region of western Switzerland and the French/Italian border (see map link for all tribal locations). This included the Salassi who were located in what is now the farthest north-western corner of Italy, in the mountainous region immediately south-east of Lake Geneva. They were neighboured to the north by the Seduni and the mysterious Acitavones, to the east by the possibly-Ligurian Lepontii and Celtic Insubres, to the south by the Graioceli, and to the west by the Veragri (see map for more information).

The Salassi tribal name is problematic in terms of breaking it down to provide a meaning. The first element is 'sal-', which may either be 'salt, saline' or it may be 'dirt or dung'. The second element seems even worse, and the proto-Celtic word list shows two unlikely possible choices, *āso- (?), meaning 'mouth', and *āso- (?), meaning 'seat'. Combining the above produces hilariously strange names, none of which seem believable.

The Salassi are quite often accounted as a tribe of the Ligurians, like their near-neighbours the Taurini, which would certainly explain the difficulty in breaking down their name. The inclusion of them in a list of Gaulish tribes indicates a Gaulish takeover at some point after 600 BC, when Celts began flooding into northern Italy via the Alpine crossings from Gaul.

(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information by Trish Wilson, from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, from Geography, Ptolemy, from Les peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: Étude de géographie historique, Guy Barruol (De Boccard, 1999), and from External Links: Roman History, Cassius Dio, and the Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition), and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively).)

143 BC

Thanks to Dio Cassius and Livy, the Salassi receive their first mentions in history when they are attacked without provocation by Consul Appius Claudius. However, he is punished for his aggression by being defeated with the loss of five thousand men. He soon returns with more men and wreaks his revenge, apparently slaying 50,100 members of the tribe and claiming the honour of a triumph.

The origins of the Euganei, Ligurians, Raeti, Veneti, and Vindelici are confused and unclear, but in the last half of the first millennium BC they were gradually being Celticised or were combining multiple influences to create hybrid tribes (click or tap on map to view full sized)

From this point onwards - perhaps unsurprisingly - the tribe appears frequently to be involved in hostilities with Rome. Although they are nominally tributary to the republic, they continually break out in revolt, and go on to ravage the plains in the vicinity of their lands or plunder Roman convoys and harass Roman troops passing through their country.

c.100 BC

Around this date a Roman colony is established at Eporedia (modern Ivrea), at the mouth of the valley. The idea is to keep the Salassi in check, but the colony suffers severely from their incursions. One of the main bones of contention between the Salassi and Romans are the goldwashings which are found in the valley and which can produce a tidy profit. Rome wants that wealth.

c.50s BC

The Salassi are reported to be the tribe which is responsible for launching an ambush against Julius Caesar as he passes through the Alps. They plunder his baggage. This behaviour is typical of the Alpine tribes, and when they aren't attacking passing Romans and their armies, they are extracting payment from them.

The Roman colony of Eporedia (modern Ivrea) spelled the beginning of the end of Salassi independence, preventing them from expanding their borders and partially tying them to tributary status

43 BC

Strabo states that Decimus Brutus, on his way into Gaul after the Battle of Mutina, is compelled by the Salassi to purchase his passage with a large sum of money. He is currently using his position as praetor peregrinus to keep clear of Rome, just the year after his part in assassinating Julius Caesar.

35 - 34 BC

The tribe revolts afresh, and for some time they are able to defy the efforts of Antistius Vetus to repress them. In the following year they are forced to submit by Valerius Messala. That submission remains far from perfect, however.

25 - 15 BC

Augustus determines that the Alpine tribes need to be pacified in order to end their warlike behaviour, alternately attacking or extracting money from Romans who pass through the region, even when they have armies in tow. He wages a steady, determined campaign against them during the Alpine Wars, and in a period of ten years he 'pacifies the Alps all the way from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian seas' (written by Augustus himself).

The Tropaeum Alpium ('Trophy of the Alps') stands majestically in the commune of La Turbie on the French Riviera, overlooking the principality of Monaco, and marking the final victory over the Alpine tribes by Augustus

Seemingly the Salassi are the very first target, with Terentius Varro being sent against them. He compels the whole nation to lay down their arms (presumably after defeating them in battle), and sells them without distinction as slaves.

The number of captives sold in this manner is said to amount to thirty-six thousand persons, of whom eight thousand are of an age to be warriors. With the tribe thereby being removed from the face of the earth, a Roman colony is established at Praetoria Augusta Salassorum (modern Aosta, a butchered form of 'Augusta'), and a road is laid through the valley.

The Salassi name survives the tribe's extinction, being recognised as a geographical distinction both by Pliny and Ptolemy. Some of the tribe's people also survive: a dedication to Augustus is placed near the colony's western gate and is dated to 23 BC, with the inscription reading 'the Salassi who had joined the colony from its beginning'. Following this action, the history of the Alpine region's population of Celts and Celto-Ligurians is tied to that of the empire.