Cadurci

The Cadurci were a Gallic people dwelling in the later region of Quercy (in present-day South-Western France) during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were renowned in the mediterranean world for their linen.^[1] During the Gallic Wars, after Vercingetorix surrendered at Alesia (city), the Cadurci leader Lucterius fought with the last Gallic armies against Caesar's legions. He was besieged at Uxellodunum, and ultimately also defeated, thus putting an end to the Gallic Wars.^[2] The civitas cadurcorum was subsequently integrated to the Roman province of Gallia Celtica.

Map of Gaul with tribes, 1st century BC; the Cadurci are circled.

Name

They are named in Latin as Cadurci by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),^[3] and Pliny (1st c. AD),^[4][5] and in Greek as Kadou͂rkoi (Καδοῦρκοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD) and Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).^[6]

The etymology of the ethnonym Cadurci remains uncertain. Pierre-Yves Lambert has proposed to interpret it as a haplology (loss of syllabe) for the Gaulish compound Catu-turci ('battle-boars'), formed with the root catu- ('combat, battle') attached to the plural of turcos ('wild boar').^[7][8][9] This hypothesis is supported by the discovery of several boar figures in Cahors,^[10][11] the capital city of the Cadurci. Boar representations have also been identified on medals found in Cadurci territory.^[12] This leads to believe the boar was a symbol of this people.^[13]

Boar figure discovered in Cahors, believed to be a symbol of the Cadurci

The city of Cahors, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Cadurcorum ('civitas of the Cadurci', Cauricio in 1200, Caurs 1279), and the region of Quercy, attested in 565 AD as Cadurcinus (pagus Catorcinus in 628, Caercino in 1095, with Latin suffix -inus), are named after the Gallic tribe.^[14]

Geography

The Cadurci dwelled in the region of Quercy. Their chief town during Roman times was Divona (present-day Cahors).^[15] Their original capital before the conquest may have been the oppidum of Murcens (Cras, Lot).^[11]