Adanates

The Adanates or Edenates were a small Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Seyne, in the Alpes Cottiae, during the Iron Age.

Name

They are mentioned as Edenates (var. edemn-) by Pliny (1st c. AD),^[1] and as Adanatium on the Arc of Susa.^[2][3]

The etymology of the name Adanates is unclear. Guy Barruol has proposed to compare it with Adenatius (or Adenatis) and Adana, and postulated an original *Senedenates, with loss of the initial s- retained in Sedena.^[4] According to Alexander Falileyev, "if the original form was indeed *Sed-, the name could be Celtic, from sedo- 'seat, location'; but in view of the form recorded in inscriptions, it is unlikely. If Eden- is the original form, the name does not appear Celtic."^[3] Xavier Delamarre has proposed to interpret the name as Ed-en-ati ('those from the land/country'), from a Gaulish stem edo-(n)- ('space, land').^[5]

Geography

The Adanates dwelled around the settlement of Sedena (modern Seyne).^[6] Their territory was located south of the Avantici, west of the Savincates, east of the Sebaginni, and north of the Gallitae and Eguiturii.^[7]

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.^[1] They also appear on the Arch of Susa, erected by Cottius in 9–8 BC.^[8]