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The Helvii (also Elui, ancient Greek Ἑλουοί) were a relatively small Celtic polity west of the Rhône river on the northern border of Gallia Narbonensis. Their territory was roughly equivalent to the Vivarais, in the modern French department Ardèche. Alba Helviorum was their capital, possibly the Alba Augusta mentioned by Ptolemy,〔''Alba'' was a common town-name in Latin antiquity.〕 and usually identified with modern-day Alba-la-Romaine (earlier Aps). In the 5th century the capital seems to have been moved to Viviers.〔A.L.F. Rivet, ''Gallia Narbonensis'' (London 1988), p. 183.〕 From the mid-2nd to mid-1st century BC, Helvian territory was on the northern border of the Roman province of Gallia Transalpina (later the Narbonensis). As a border people, the Helvii played a crucial if limited role in the Gallic Wars under the leadership of Gaius Valerius Caburus, who had held Roman citizenship since 83 BC, and his sons Troucillus and Domnotaurus.〔Julius Caesar, ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' 1.19, 1.47, 1.53, 7.8, 7.65.〕 Julius Caesar calls the Helvii a ''civitas,''〔''Bellum Gallicum'' 7.65.2.〕 a polity with at least small-scale urban centers (''oppida''),〔John Koch notes that the Gallo-Brittonic word corresponding to Caesar's usage of ''civitas'' is most likely '' *touta'' (Old Irish ''túath''): "'tribe' would not be a perfect translation, but is less misleading than 'state,' 'city,' or 'nation'" (''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'' (ABC-Clio, 2000), p. 450 (online. ) John Drinkwater, however, argues in ''Roman Gaul: The Three Provinces, 58 BC–AD 260'' (Cornell University Press, 1983), for "'nation' in the American Indian sense, made up of a number of tribes — Caesar's ''pagi''" (p. 30, note 2; concept of ''civitas'' discussed in depth pp. 103–111). See also A.N. Sherwin-White on ''civitas'', ''populus'', ''municipium'' and ''oppidum'' in ''The Roman Citizenship'' (Oxford University Press, 1973) ''passim''; if '' *touta'' is correctly translated as "a people," the sense of ''civitas Helviorum'' might be analogous to that of the Roman People (''populus'') as a political entity. In his edition of Tacitus' ''Germania'' (Oxford University Press, 1999), J.B. Rives, drawing on Cicero's definition of ''civitas'' as "an assembly and gathering of men associated under law" (''Republic'' 6.13), says that it is the usual word for a "community viewed under its political aspect," equivalent to the Greek ''polis'' (p. 153). Further discussion by Olivier Büchsenschütz, "The Significance of Major Settlements in European Iron Age Society," in ''Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State'' (Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 53–64; consideration of the term "proto-state" by Patrice Brun, "From Chiefdom to State Organization," in ''Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State'' p. 7; see also Greg Woolf, "Urbanizing the Gauls," in ''Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 106–141. In ''Gods, Temples, and Ritual Practices: The Transformation of Religious Ideas and Values in Roman Gaul'' (Amsterdam University Press, 1998), Ton Derks views the ''civitates'' of the Augustan era as "city-states": "a ''civitas'' was a community, whose constitution was shaped after the Roman example and whose social and political life was centred on a single town" (p. 39 (online )).〕 and not a ''pagus'' ("sub-tribe"). ==Geography== The source of the Loire river (Latin ''Liger'') was located in Helvian territory, near their northern border along the crest of the Cévennes, where their lands were contiguous with those of the Gabali and the Vellavi; to the east, the Rhône offers a natural boundary, despite some indications that their holdings extended across the river. The ridge between the rivers Ardèche and Cèze was likely their southern border, delimiting their territory from that of the Volcae Arecomici, though it is also possible that the Ardèche itself served this purpose. To the northeast, they were neighbors to the Segovellauni, separated perhaps by a ridge between the Eyrieux and the Ouvèze rivers.〔Rivet, ''Gallia Narbonensis'' p. 184.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Helvii」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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