Epidii
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The Epidii (Greek Επίδιοι) were a Celtic tribe that inhabited the modern-day regions of Argyll and Kintyre, as well as the islands of Islay and Jura. They were mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria:
- Next to the Damnoni, but more toward the east near the Epidium Promontorium are the Epidi and next to these the Cerones; ...
Recent studies would make them Goidelic-speaking rather than Brythonic-speaking as the reported name suggests.
The area they are presumed to have controlled later became the heartland of the kingdom of Dál Riata.
[edit] Etymology
The name includes the Brittonic and Gaulish root epos, meaning horse (Delamarre pp.163-164). (Compare with Goidelic primitive Irish ech). It may, perhaps, be related to the Horse-goddess Epona.
[edit] Civitas
Ptolemy does not list a Πολεις for the Epidii, but the Ravenna Cosmography (RC 108.4) lists Rauatonium, assumed to be Southend, Kintyre.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Ewan Campbell, "Were the Scots Irish ?", cf. Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp.9–10 & Armit, Celtic Scotland, pp. 21–24.
[edit] References
- Armit, Ian, Celtic Scotland, (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 0-7134-8949-9
- Campbell, Ewan, "Were the Scots Irish ?" in Antiquity, 75 (2001), pp. 285–292.
- Delamarre, X., Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance, 2003. ISBN 2-87772-237-6
- Foster, Sally M., Picts, Gaels, and Scots (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 0-7134-8874-3
- Ptolemy, Geographia, II.ii
- The British Section of the Ravenna Cosmography in Archaeologia 93 (1949), 108.4
[edit] External links
- The circumnavigation of Scotland compares Ptolemy and the Ravenna Cosmography for the south west coast of Scotland
