Osismii

The Osismii were a Gaulish tribe on the western Armorican peninsula.[1] They were first described as the Ostimioi by the Greek geographer and traveller Pytheas in the fourth century BC.

Coins of the Osismii.
Map of the Gallic people of modern Brittany :
  Osismii
  Veneti
  Coriosolites
  Redones
  Namnetes

Etymology

They are mentioned as Osismos and Osismi by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[2] as O̓sísmioi (Ὀσίσμιοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[3] as Ossismos by Pliny (1st c. AD),[4] as O̓sismíous (Ὀσισμίους) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),[5] and as Osismis in the Notitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD).[6][7]

The name Ostimioi stems from Gaulish ostimos ('ultimate, extreme'), as they dwelt on a headland in the western parts of the Armorican peninsula.[8]

Geography

Pytheas situated the Osismii at the end of the peninsula of Kabaïon, which is not clearly identifiable today. This could be related to large peninsula of Cap-Sizun, on the southern-western coast of Finistère, just before reaching the difficult maritime pass of Pointe du Raz where the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and of the English channel are joining; this peninsula offers to the south a natural safe harbour in the aber and bay of today's town of Audierne, as well as in the bay of today's Douarnenez, to the north of the peninsula. Other hypotheses situate it in the small peninsula of Kermorvan in today's commune of Ploumoguer and bordering the ria of Le Conquet, but the whole peninsula of Crozon with its large bays and safe harbors is not excluded, even if it does not extend to the westernmost point.

History

They survived into Roman times and are found in the texts of Julius Caesar, Pliny the Elder, and Strabo.[9] They submitted to Caesar during the Gallic Wars, in 57 BC. The next year, they revolted along with the Veneti, but were put down. They became a Roman civitas and their identity survived into Late Antiquity.

Sources
  • Smith, Julia M. H. Province and Empire: Brittany and the Carolingians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

References
  1. Galliou, P., R. Talbert, S. Gillies, T. Elliott, J. Becker. "Places: 69547 (Osismii)". Pleiades. Retrieved December 30, 2015.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 2:34: 3:9:10; 7:75:4
  3. Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:4:1
  4. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, IV:107
  5. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:8:6
  6. Notitia Dignitatum. oc. 37, 17
  7. Falileyev 2010, p. entry 1004b.
  8. Delamarre 2003, pp. 244–245.
  9. Strabo 4.4.1

    Bibliography

    See also


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