Editing Helvetii (section)

== Tribal organisation ==
Of the four Helvetian ''pagi'' or sub-tribes, Caesar names only the Verbigeni (''Bell.&nbsp;Gall.'' 1.27) and the [[Tigurini]] (1.12), Posidonius the Tigurini and the Tougeni ({{lang|grc|Τωυγενοί}}). 
There has been substantial debate in [[Swiss historiography]] (beginning with [[Felix Stähelin]] 1927) on whether the Tougeni may or may not be identified with the [[Teutones]] mentioned by [[Titus Livius]].<ref>Stähelin, ''Die Schweiz in römischer Zeit'' (1927) suggested a corruption of the tribal name in the manuscript tradition of [[Strabo]].  <!--the claim that Stähelin "ignored Pytheas" found in de-wiki is based on a 2005 forum post http://www.interfaze.ch/Kelten-Schweiz.html  http://forum.hassiaceltica.de/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=29  and should not be reproduced without better references-->
A stone marker bearing the inscription ''INTER TOVTONOS CAH(F?)'' found in [[Miltenberg]] on the [[Main (river)|Main]] (which had been the nordern border of the older Helvetian territory according to [[Tacitus]], ''Germania'', 28) is sometimes taken to support this theory. See Stähelin, 1948, p.&nbsp;59; Strabo 4.1.8, 7.2.2.  Ancient writers usually classify the Teutons as "Germanic" and the Helvetii as "Gallic", but the ethnic attributions are debatable; the fluidity of these terms is well illustrated by [[Ludwig Rübekeil]], ''{{lang|de|Diachrone Studien zur Kontaktzone zwischen Kelten und Germanen}}'', Vienna 2002.</ref>

According to Caesar, the territory abandoned by the Helvetii had comprised 400 villages and 12 ''[[Oppidum|oppida]]'' (fortified settlements).<ref>{{harvnb|Caesar|58 BC|loc=Book I Section 5}}</ref> His tally of the total population taken from captured Helvetian records written in Greek is 263,000 people, including fighting men, old men, women and children.<ref>{{harvnb|Caesar|58 BC|loc=Book I Section 29}}</ref> However, the figures are generally dismissed as too high by modern scholars (see [[#Caesar's report of the numbers|hereafter]]).

Like many other tribes, the Helvetii did not have kings at the time of their clash with Rome but instead seem to have been governed by a class of noblemen (Lat. ''[[equites]]'').<ref>Other tribal aristocracies were the [[Aedui]] (Bell.&nbsp;Gall. 1.3), the [[Arverni]] (Bell.&nbsp;Gall.&nbsp;7.4), or the [[Remi]] (Bell.&nbsp;Gall.&nbsp;2.3).</ref> When [[Orgetorix]], one of their most prominent and ambitious noblemen, was making plans to establish himself as their king, he faced execution at the stake if found guilty. Caesar does not explicitly name the tribal authorities prosecuting the case and gathering men to apprehend Orgetorix, but he refers to them by the [[Latin]] terms ''civitas'' ("state" or "tribe") and ''magistratus'' ("officials").<ref>Bell.&nbsp;Gall.&nbsp;1.4.</ref>