Santons
The Santones (lat. SANTONES ) were a Celtic tribe in the area of the lower Charente . Their tribal designation can still be found today in the name of the city of Saintes ( Mediolanum Santonum in Roman times ). Strabo emphasizes the Celticism of the Santonen and Biturigen in the midst of the non- Celtic "Iberoid" Aquitanian peoples (Strabo IV, 2,1).
In Caesar ( bellum gallicum I, 10) there is an indication that the Helvetians 58 BC Planned to immigrate to the "land of the Santones",
- without it becoming clear whether they were planning forcible land grabbing or whether older treaties provided for peaceful settlement.
Even with the formation of the Gallic relief army in 52 BC. BC, which Vercingetorix was supposed to liberate in Alesia , the santons with a troop of 12,000 warriors were called ( bellum gallicum VII, 75).
The cuculla or sagum , the Gallic hooded cloak, later Roman legionary costume, was called birrus ("the short one", to me. Berr , mkymr. Byrr "short"), from which French béret , "(Basque) cap" and our beret originate.
A Greek-influenced Cantonese gold coin and a silver coin from the 5th to the 1st century BC. BC document a local coinage of the santons.
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd, corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , p. 283.