- Cenomani
:"This article is about the Cenomani in Gallia Celtica; for the Cenomani in Cisalpine Gaul, see
Cenomani (Cisalpine Gaul) ."The Cenomani or Aulerci Cenomani were a Gallic people, a branch of the
Aulerci inGallia Celtica , whose territory corresponded generally to Maine in the modern "départment " ofSarthe , west of theCarnutes between theSeine and theLoire . Their chief town was "Vindinum" or "Suindinum" (corrupted into 'Subdinnum'), afterwards "Civitas Cenomanorum" (whenceLe Mans ) and later "Cenomani" as in theNotitia Dignitatum , the original name of the town, as usual in the case of Gallic cities, being replaced by that of the people. According to Caesar ("Bell. Gall." vii.75.3), they assistedVercingetorix in the great rising (52 BC ) with a force of 5,000 men. UnderAugustus they formed a "civitas stipendiaria" ofGallia Lugdunensis , and in the4th century part of "Gallia Lugdunensis III".There was another people called Cenomani that held extensive territory in
Cisalpine Gaul ; however, there is disagreement whether they are one and the same people. The orthography and the quantity of the penultimate vowel of Cenomani have given rise to discussion. According toArbois de Jubainville , the Cenomni of Italy are not identical with theCehomni (orCenomanni ) ofGaul . In the case of the latter, the survival of the syllable "man" in "Le Mans" is due to the stress laid on the vowel; had the vowel been short and unaccented, it would have disappeared. In Italy, Cenomani is the name of a people; in Gaul, merely a surname of the Aulerci. William Smith adopts the difference, placing the peoples in two separate articles in his "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography ". On the other hand, if the tradition recorded byCato (in Pliny, "Nat. Hist." iii. 19. s. 23) is true, that the Cenomani formed a settlement near Massilia (modernMarseille ), among theVolcae , which may indicate a route that the Cenomani took to Cisalpine Gaul inItaly .The Cenomani of Cisalpine Gaul arrived after the expedition of
Bellovesus , led byHelitovius and are credited with the foundation of Brixia, orBrescia .References
*1911
*SmithDGRG
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