{{short description|Gallic tribe}} The '''Medulli''' (Gaulish: ''Medulloi'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper valley of Maurienne, around present-day Modane (Savoie), during the Iron Age and Roman period.
== Name == They are named as ''Medulli'' by Vitruvius (in the genitive case as ''Medullorum'', late 1st c. BC),<ref>Vitruvius. ''De architectura'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/vitruvius-architecture/1931/pb_LCL280.169.xml 8:3:20].</ref> ''Méd(o)ulloi'' (Μέδ<ο>υλλοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),<ref>Strabo. ''Geōgraphiká'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/strabo-geography/1917/pb_LCL050.273.xml 4:1:11], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/strabo-geography/1917/pb_LCL050.271.xml? 4:6:5].</ref> ''Medulli'' by Pliny (1st c. AD),<ref name="Pliny">Pliny. ''Naturalis Historia'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL352.103.xml 3:20].</ref> and as ''Medoúllous'' (Μεδούλλους) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).<ref>Ptolemy. ''Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis'', 2:10:7.</ref><ref name="Falileyev">{{Harvnb|Falileyev|2010}}, s.v. ''Medulli''.</ref>
The ethnonym ''Medulli'' is a latinized form of Gaulish ''Medulloi''. It is generally derived from the Celtic root ''medu''-, meaning 'mead, alcoholic drink' (cf. Olr. ''mid'', MW. ''medd'', OBret. ''medot''), and thus may be translated as 'those who drink mead' or 'those inebriated by mead'. This interpretation is encouraged by the mention, in Vitruvius' ''De architectura'', of a "kind of water" (''genus aquae'') drunk by the Medulli.{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=222}}<ref name="Falileyev" /> Alternatively, Javier de Hoz has proposed to interpret the name as 'those who lived in the middle', or 'in the border woods', by connecting it to the stem *''medhi''- ('middle').{{Sfn|de Hoz|2005|p=178}}
== Geography == The Medulli dwelled in the upper Maurienne valley, along the upper course of the Arc river, near the modern town of Modane (Amonada).{{sfn|Prieur|1968|p=78}}{{sfn|Barruol|1969|p=|pp=334–337}}{{sfn|Dietz|2006}} Their territory was located east of the Graioceli (themselves east of the Vocontii), north of the Brigianii and Quariates, west of the Segusini, and south of the Ceutrones (themselves south of the Allobroges).<ref>{{Harvnb|Talbert|2000}}, Map 17: Lugdunum.</ref>
They belonged to the tribes governed by Cottius in Alpes Taurinae and were later integrated into the province of Alpes Cottiae.{{sfn|Dietz|2006}}
== History == They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.{{sfn|Dietz|2006}}<ref name="Pliny" /> They also appear on the Arch of Susa, erected by Cottius in 9–8 BC.{{sfn|Barruol|1969|p=32}}
According to Vitruvius, they were particularly prone to suffer from goitre.{{sfn|Dietz|2006}}
{{Blockquote|text=Among the Aquiculi in Italy and among the tribe of the Medulli in the Alps, there is a kind of water which causes goitre among those who drink it.|source={{harvnb|Vitruvius|1934}}, ''De Architectura'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/vitruvius-architecture/1931/pb_LCL280.169.xml 8:3:20].}}
==See also== * Ceutrones * Graioceli * Segusini
== References == {{Reflist}}
=== Primary sources === {{refbegin}} *{{Cite book|last=Pliny|title=Natural History|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1938|isbn=978-0674993648|series=Loeb Classical Library|translator-last=Rackham|translator-first=H.|author-link=Pliny the Elder}} *{{Cite book|last=Strabo|title=Geography|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1923|isbn=978-0674990562|series=Loeb Classical Library|translator-last=Jones|translator-first=Horace L.|author-link=Strabo}} *{{Cite book|last=Vitruvius|title=On Architecture|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1934|isbn=978-0674993099 |series=Loeb Classical Library|translator-last=Granger|translator-first=Frank|author-link=Vitruvius}} {{refend}}
=== Bibliography === {{refbegin}} *{{Cite book |last=Barruol |first=Guy |title=Les Peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: étude de géographie historique |date=1969 |publisher=E. de Boccard |oclc=3279201 |author-link=Guy Barruol}} *{{Cite book |last=Delamarre |first=Xavier |title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental |year=2003 |publisher=Errance |isbn=9782877723695 |author-link=Xavier Delamarre}} *{{cite book |last=de Hoz |first=Javier |year=2005 |chapter=Ptolemy and the linguistic history of the Narbonensis |title=New approaches to Celtic place-names in Ptolemy's Geography |editor-last=de Hoz |editor-first=Javier |editor-last2=Luján |editor-first2=Eugenio R. |editor-last3=Sims-Williams |editor-first3=Patrick |publisher=Ediciones Clásicas |pages=173–188 |isbn=978-8478825721 |author-link=Javier de Hoz}} *{{Cite journal |last=Dietz |first=Karlheinz |date=2006 |title=Medulli |journal=Brill's New Pauly |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e728780}} *{{Cite book |last=Falileyev |first=Alexander |title=Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World |publisher=CMCS |year=2010 |isbn=978-0955718236}} *{{Cite book |last=Prieur |first=Jean |title=La province romaine des Alpes Cottiennes |date=1968 |publisher=Impr. R. Gauthier |oclc=834310867}} *{{Cite book |last=Talbert |first=Richard J. A. |title=Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0691031699 |author-link=Richard Talbert}} {{refend}}
== Further reading == * L. Comby 1977, ''Histoire des Savoyards'', Nathan
{{Gallic peoples}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Historical Celtic peoples Category:Gauls Category:Tribes in pre-Roman Gaul Category:History of Savoy