Tarbelli

Aquitani tribes at both sides of the Pyrenees.

The Tarbelli were an Aquitani tribe dwelling in the present-day regions of Labourd and Chalosse, in the west of Aquitania, during the Iron Age.

Alongside the Auscii, they were one of the most powerful peoples of Aquitania.[1]

They were subjugated in 56 BC by the Roman forces of Caesar's legatus P. Licinius Crassus.[2]

Name

They are mentioned as Tarbelli by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[3] as Tárbelloi (Τάρβελλοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[4] as Tarbelli Quattuorsignani by Pliny (1st c. AD),[5] and as Tarbellus on an inscription.[6][7]

Joaquín Gorrochategui proposed to see the name as the suffix tar- attached to the adjective bel ('black'), which is common in Aquitanian onomastics.[7]

Geography

The Tarbelli lived in the regions of Labourd and Chalosse, on both sides of the Adour river.[8][2] Their territory was located east of the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Vardulli, south of the Cocosates, west of the Tarusates, Atures and Venarni.[9]

Their chief town was known as Aquae Terebellicae or Aquae Tarbellicae (present-day Dax).[2]

Culture

It is believed that the Tarbelli spoke a form or dialect of the Aquitanian language, a precursor of the Basque language.[10]

Political organization

The Tarbelli were a confederation of four tribes. The Cocosates and Tarusates were probably their clients.[11]

Economy

Gold extraction and mineral springs brought them a certain wealth, although their main activities remained centred on field and meadow husbandry.[2]

See also

• Aquitani
• Gallia Aquitania

References

1. Duval 1989, p. 739.
2. Demarolle 2006.
3. Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 3:27:1.
4. Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:2:1.
5. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:108.
6. CIL 2:3876.
7. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Tarbelli (Quattuorsignani).
8. Duval 1989, p. 725.
9. Talbert 2000, Map 25: Hispania Tarraconensis.
10. Jacques Lemoine, Toponymie du Pays Basque Français et des Pays de l'Adour, Picard 1977, ISBN 2-7084-0003-7
11. Duval 1989, pp. 725, 728.

Bibliography

• Demarolle, Jeanne-Marie (2006). "Tarbelli". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1200600.
• Duval, Paul-Marie (1989). "Les peuples de l'Aquitaine d'après la liste de Pline". Travaux sur la Gaule (1946-1986). Vol. 116. École Française de Rome. pp. 721–737. ISBN 9782728301676.
• Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
• Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.