Editing Boii

{{Short description|Celtic tribe}}
{{For|extinct genus of microsaur|Boii (genus)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
[[File:Hallstatt LaTene.png|thumb|350px|Map showing the approximate location of the Boii in [[Bohemia]] and in [[Italy]]. The contemporary [[La Tène culture]] is indicated in green tones, the preceding [[Hallstatt culture]] in yellow.]]

The '''Boii''' ([[Latin language|Latin]] plural, singular ''Boius''; {{langx|grc|Βόιοι}}) were a [[Celts|Celtic]] tribe of the later [[Iron Age]], attested at various times in [[Cisalpine Gaul]] (present-day [[Northern Italy]]), [[Pannonia]] (present-day [[Austria]] and [[Hungary]]), present-day [[Bavaria]], in and around present-day [[Bohemia]] (after whom the region is named in most languages; comprising the bulk of today's [[Czech Republic]]), parts of present-day [[Slovakia]] and [[Poland]], and [[Gallia Narbonensis]] (located in modern [[Languedoc]] and [[Provence]]).

In addition, the archaeological evidence indicates that in the 2nd century BC Celts expanded from Bohemia through the [[Kłodzko Valley]] into [[Silesia]], now part of [[Poland]] and the Czech Republic.<ref>{{harvnb|Rankin|1996|p=16}}</ref>

They first appear in history in connection with the [[Campaign history of the Roman military#Celtic invasion of Italia (390–387 BC)|Gallic invasion of northern Italy]], 390 BC,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=William, LLD (Ed.) |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |date=1854 |location=Entry: "ETRU´RIA" |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:id=etruria-geo |access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref> when they made the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] city of Felsina their new capital, [[Bologna|Bononia (Bologna)]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Felsina {{!}} Italy, History, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Felsina |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=4 November 2023 |language=en |date=13 October 2023}}</ref>

After a series of wars, they were decisively beaten by the Romans in the [[Battle of Mutina (193 BC)|Battle of Mutina]] (193 BC) and their territory became part of the Roman province of [[Cisalpine Gaul]]. According to [[Strabo]], writing two centuries after the events, rather than being destroyed by the Romans like their Celtic neighbours,{{blockquote|The Boii were merely driven out of the regions they occupied; and after migrating to the regions round about the [[Danube|Ister]], lived with the [[Taurisci]], and carried on war against the [[Dacians|Daci]] until they perished, tribe and all—and thus they left their country, which was a part of [[Illyria]], to their neighbours as a pasture-ground for sheep.<ref>Strabo, 5.213.</ref>}}

Around 60 BC, a group of Boii joined the [[Helvetii]]s' ill-fated attempt to conquer land in western Gaul and were defeated by [[Julius Caesar]], along with their allies, in the [[Battle of Bibracte]].

Caesar settled the remnants of that group in [[Gorgobina]], from where they sent 2,000 warriors to [[Vercingetorix]]'s aid at the [[Battle of Alesia]] six years later. The eastern Boii on the Danube were incorporated into the [[Roman Empire]] in 8 AD.

==Etymology and name==
From all the different names of the same Celtic people in literature and inscriptions, it is possible to abstract a [[Continental Celtic languages|Continental Celtic]] segment, {{lang|cel|boio-}}.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-Names|editor-first=Alexander|editor-last=Falileyev|publisher=Aberystwyth University|year=2007|title=Boii|url=http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/2160/282/5/ContCelticPNDictionary.pdf|access-date=2 May 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731025816/http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/2160/282/5/ContCelticPNDictionary.pdf|archive-date=31 July 2009}}</ref>

There are two major derivations of this segment, both presupposing that it belongs to the family of [[Indo-European languages]]: from 'cow' and from 'warrior.' The Boii would thus be either 'the herding people' or 'the warrior people'.

The 'cow' derivation depends most immediately on the [[Old Irish]] legal term for 'outsider': ''ambue'', from [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] {{lang|cel|*ambouios}} (<''*an-bouios''), 'not a cattle owner'.<ref>{{cite book|page=225|title=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia|first=John T. |last=Koch|edition= illustrated|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2006|isbn=978-1-85109-440-0|location=Santa Barbara, California}}</ref>

In a reference to the first known historical Boii, [[Polybius]] relates<ref name=PB.2.17/> that their wealth consisted of cattle and gold, that they depended on agriculture and war, and that a man's status depended on the number of associates and assistants he had. The latter were presumably the ''{{lang|xcg|*ambouii}}'', as opposed to the man of status, who was ''{{lang|xcg|*bouios}}'', a cattle owner, and the ''{{lang|xcg|*bouii}}'' were originally a class, 'the cattle owners'.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=J.H.C. |title=Beyond the Rubicon: Romans and Gauls in Republican Italy |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780191541575 |pages=90–91}}</ref>
[[File:HallstattIlllyrianFootmanwithJavelins.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of a soldier wearing a plumed pot helmet, [[Hallstatt culture]] bronze belt plaque from [[Vače]], [[Slovenia]], c. 400 BC]]
The 'warrior' derivation was adopted by the linguist [[Julius Pokorny]], who presented it as being from Indo-European {{Transliteration|ine|*bhei(ə)-}}, {{Transliteration|ine|''*bhī-''}}, 'hit'; however, not finding any Celtic names close to it (except for the Boii), he adduces examples somewhat more widely from originals further back in time: ''phohiio-s-'', a [[Venetic language|Venetic]] personal name; ''Boioi'', an [[Illyria]]n tribe; ''Boiōtoi'', a Greek tribal name (the [[Boeotia]]ns); and a few others.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|language=de|pages=117–118|encyclopedia=Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch|first=Julius|last=Pokorny|author-link=Julius Pokorny|title=bhei(ə)-, bhī-|url=http://www.indoeuropean.nl/|publisher=University of Leiden|date=1998–2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207135952/http://www.indoeuropean.nl/|archive-date=7 February 2006}}</ref>

The same wider connections can be hypothesized for the 'cow' derivation: the Boeotians have been known for well over a century as a people of kine, which might have been parallel to the meaning of [[Italy#Etymology|Italy]] as 'land of calves'. Indo-European reconstructions can be made using {{lang|ine-x-proto|*gʷou-}} 'cow' as a basis, such as {{lang|ine-x-proto|gʷowjeh³s}};{{sfn|Birkhan|1999|page=99}} the root may itself be an imitation of the sound a cow makes.<ref>{{OEtymD|*gwou-}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2020}}

Other ancient names which appear to be derived from the name of the Boii include ''[[Boiorix]]'' ('king of the Boii', one of the chieftains of the [[Cimbri]]) and ''Boiodurum'' ('gate/fort of the Boii', modern [[Passau]]) in Germany. Their memory also survives in the modern regional names of [[Bohemia]] (''Boiohaemum''), a mixed-language form from {{lang|cel|boio-}} and [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] {{lang|gem|*haimaz}}, 'home': 'home of the Boii'. [[Bavaria]], {{lang|de|Bayern}}, is derived from the name of the ''Baiovarii'' tribe. The first component is most plausibly explained as a Germanic version of ''Boii'', while the second part is a common formational morpheme of Germanic tribal names, meaning 'dwellers', as in [[Old English]] ''-ware''.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

==History==
[[Image:Boians.png|upright=1.5|right|thumbnail|Roman accounts of movements of the Boii]]

===Settlement in north Italy===
According to the ancient authors, the Boii arrived in northern Italy by crossing the [[Alps]]. While of the other tribes who had come to Italy along with the Boii, the [[Senones]], [[Lingones]] and [[Cenomani (Cisalpine Gaul)|Cenomani]] are also attested in Gaul at the time of the Roman conquest. It remains therefore unclear where exactly the [[Central Europe]] origins of the Boii lay, if somewhere in Gaul, [[Southern Germany]] or in Bohemia.

[[Polybius]] relates that the [[Celts]] were close neighbors of the [[Etruscan civilization]] and "cast covetous eyes on their beautiful country".<ref name=PB.2.17>Polybius, ''[[The Histories (Polybius)|Histories]]'', II.17.</ref>

Invading the [[Po Valley]] with a large army, they drove out the Etruscans and resettled it, the Boii taking the right bank in the center of the valley. [[Strabo]] confirms that the Boii emigrated from their lands across the [[Alps]]<ref>Strabo, ''[[Grographica|Geography]]'', IV.4.1.</ref> and were one of the largest tribes of the Celts.<ref>Strabo, ''[[Grographica|Geography]]'', V.1.6.</ref> The Boii occupied the old Etruscan settlement of Felsina, which they named ''Bononia'' (modern [[Bologna]]). Polybius describes the Celtic way of life in [[Cisalpine Gaul]] as follows:
{{blockquote|They lived in unwalled villages, without any superfluous furniture; for as they slept on beds of leaves and fed on meat and were exclusively occupied with war and agriculture, their lives were very simple, and they had no knowledge whatever of any art or science.

Their possessions consisted of cattle and gold, because these were the only things they could carry about with them everywhere according to circumstances and shift where they chose. They treated comradeship as of the greatest importance, those among them being the most feared and most powerful who were thought to have the largest number of attendants and associates.<ref name=PB.2.17/>}}

The archaeological evidence from Bologna and its vicinity contradicts the testimony of Polybius and Livy on some points, who say the Boii expelled the Etruscans and perhaps some were forced to leave.

It indicates the Boii neither destroyed nor depopulated Felsinum, but simply moved in and became part of the population by intermarriage.<ref>{{cite book|pages=201–202|title=Beyond the Rubicon: Romans and Gauls in Republican Italy|first=J. H. C.|last= Williams|edition=illustrated|publisher= Oxford University Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-19-815300-9}}</ref> {{Dubious|date=September 2022}}

The cemeteries of the period in Bologna contain [[La Tène culture|La Tène]] weapons and other artifacts, as well as Etruscan items such as bronze mirrors. At [[Pianoro|Monte Bibele]] not far away one grave contained La Tène weapons and a pot with an Etruscan female name scratched on it.<ref name=":0" />

===War against Rome===
In the second half of the 3rd century BC, the Boii allied with the other Cisalpine Gauls and the Etruscans against Rome. They also fought alongside [[Hannibal]], killing the Roman general [[Lucius Postumius Albinus (consul 234 BC)|Lucius Postumius Albinus]] in 216 BC, whose skull was then turned into a sacrificial bowl.<ref>Livy, ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri|History of Rome]]'', XXIII, 24.</ref>

A short time earlier, they had been defeated at the [[Battle of Telamon]] in 225 BC, and were again at [[Battle of Placentia (194 BC)|Placentia in 194 BC]] (modern [[Piacenza]]) and [[Battle of Mutina (193 BC)|Mutina in 193 BC]] (modern [[Modena]]). [[Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica (consul 191 BC)|Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica]] completed the Roman conquest of the Boii in 191 BC, celebrating a [[Roman triumph|triumph]] for it.<ref>Livy, [[s:From the Founding of the City/Book 36#38|36.38-40]]</ref> After their losses, according to Strabo, a large portion of the Boii left Italy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reid |first=J. S. |date=1915 |title=Problems of the Second Punic War: III. Rome and Her Italian Allies |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/296292 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=5 |pages=87–124 |doi=10.2307/296292 |jstor=296292 |issn=0075-4358|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Boii on the Danube===
Contrary to the interpretation of the classical writers, the Pannonian Boii attested in later sources are not simply the remnants of those who had fled from Italy, but rather another division of the tribe, which had settled there much earlier.

The burial rites of the Italian Boii show many similarities with contemporary Bohemia, such as [[inhumation]], which was uncommon with the other Cisalpine Gauls, or the absence of the typically western Celtic [[torc]]s.<ref>Cunliffe, Barry (1999). ''The Ancient Celts'', Penguin Books, pp. 72f.</ref>

This makes it much more likely that the Cisalpine Boii had actually originated from Bohemia rather than the other way round.<ref>{{harvnb|Birkhan|1999|p=124}}</ref>

Having migrated to Italy from north of the Alps, some of the defeated Celts simply moved back to their kinsfolk.<ref group="note">Other tribes of whom divisions are attested both in the 'Celtic homeland' and at the periphery include the Senones (Umbria and the Marne region), Lingones (Aemilia and the Langres plateau), Cenomani (Venetia and Maine), Tectosages (Galatia and Provence).</ref>

The Pannonian Boii are mentioned again in the late 2nd century BC when they repelled the [[Cimbri]] and [[Teutones]] (Strabo VII, 2, 2). Later on, they attacked the city of [[Noreia]] (in modern Austria) shortly before a group of Boii (32,000 according to [[Julius Caesar]]) joined the [[Helvetii]] in their attempt to settle in western Gaul.<ref>Howorth, Henry H., "The Germans of Caesar", ''The English Historical Review'', vol. 27, no. 91, pp. 417-433, July 1908.</ref>

After the Helvetian defeat at [[Bibracte]], the influential [[Aedui]] tribe allowed the Boii survivors to settle on their territory, where they occupied the ''oppidum'' of [[Gorgobina]]. Although attacked by [[Vercingetorix]] during one phase of the war, they supported him with two thousand troops at the battle of [[Alesia (city)|Alesia]] (Caesar, ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', VII, 75).

Again, other parts of the Boii had remained closer to their traditional home, and settled in the Slovak and [[Hungary|Hungarian lowlands]] by the [[Danube]] and the [[Mur River|Mura]], with a centre at [[Bratislava]].

===Dacian Conquest===

In the middle of the 1st century BC, the Boii tried to expand eastwards into modern-day Hungary, but clashed with the rising power of the [[Dacians]] under their king [[Burebista]] and were defeated. This war is often dated to the 60s or 50s BC or even precisely to 60/59 BC, but cannot be dated with that certainty. The numismatic material suggests that the clash may in fact have only happened by 41/40 BC.{{sfn|Dobesch|1995|p=16}} The Dacians under Burebista likely used a combination of military force and political strategies to conquer the Boii and compel some of them to migrate.

Once the Boii were defeated or weakened, the Dacians would have annexed their territory, incorporating it into their expanding kingdom. If the early dating of the clash with Burebista is accepted, the migration of the Boii to Gaul and other parts of [[Europe]] may have been a consequence of their defeat and the Dacian occupation of their lands, as they sought new territories and opportunities elsewhere. However, specific details of this conquest and migration are often scarce in historical records, leaving much open to interpretation.
[[File:Burebista_campaign_against_Boii_and_Taurisci_remake.png|thumb|alt=Burebista conquest of Boii and Taurisci|The map that shows a hypothetical reconstruction of the Dacian confrontation with the Boii and Taurisci]]

When the Romans finally conquered [[Pannonia]] in 8 AD, the Boii seem not to have opposed them. Their former territory was now called ''deserta Boiorum'' (deserta meaning 'empty or sparsely populated lands').{{sfn|Birkhan|1999|p=251}}

However, the Boii had not been exterminated: There was a ''civitas Boiorum et Azaliorum'' (the Azalii being a neighbouring tribe) which was under the jurisdiction of a prefect of the Danube shore (''praefectus ripae Danuvii'').<ref>[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]] IX 5363</ref> This {{lang|la|civitas}}, a common Roman administrative term designating both a city and the tribal district around it, was later adjoined to the city of [[Carnuntum]].{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

==The Boii in ancient sources==

===Plautus===
[[Plautus]] refers to the Boii in ''[[Captivi]]'':
{{blockquote|
''At nunc Siculus non est, Boius est, Boiam terit''

(Translation:) But now he is not a [[Sicily|Sicilian]] – he is a Boius, he has got a Boia woman.}}

There is a play on words: ''Boia'' means 'woman of the Boii', also 'convicted criminal's restraint collar'.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Titus Maccius |last1=Plautus |title=Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi |first2=Paul, Translator |last2=Nixon |publisher=Gutenberg Project | year=2005 |orig-year=1916 |id=EBook No. 16564 |page=890 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16564}}</ref>

===Livy===
In volume 21 of his ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|History of Rome]]'', [[Livy]] (59 BC – 17 AD) claims that it was a Boio man that offered to show Hannibal the way across the [[Alps]].
{{blockquote|When, after the action had thus occurred, his own men returned to each general, [[Publius Cornelius Scipio (consul 218 BC)|Scipio]] could adopt no fixed plan of proceeding, except that he should form his measures from the plans and undertakings of the enemy: and Hannibal, uncertain whether he should pursue the march he had commenced into [[Italy]], or fight with the Roman army which had first presented itself, the arrival of ambassadors from the Boii, and of a petty prince called [[Magalus]], diverted from an immediate engagement; who, declaring that they would be the guides of his journey and the companions of his dangers, gave it as their opinion, that Italy ought to be attacked with the entire force of the war, his strength having been nowhere previously impaired.<ref>{{cite book|author=Livy|author-link=Livy|title=The History of Rome|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLM5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA727|year=1868|publisher=Bell}}</ref>}}

===Inscriptions===
In the first century BC, the Boii living in an [[oppidum]] of [[Bratislava]] minted [[Biatec]]s, high-quality coins with inscriptions (probably the names of kings) in Latin letters. At the oppidum of [[Oppidum of Manching|Manching]] there was a ceramic found bearing the labeling "Boius" or "Baius" which is being displayed at the local Celts and Romans museum.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==Sources==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Birkhan|first=Helmut|title=Die Kelten|language=de|location=Vienna|year=1999|publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften}}
* {{cite book|author1-first=Caius Julius|author1-last=Caesar|editor-first=Ernest|editor-last=Rhys|translator-first=W.A.|translator-last=MacDevitt|author2-first=Thomas|author2-last=deQuincey|author2-mask=deQuincey, Thomas (contributor)|series=Everyman's Library (No. 702)|title=De Bello Gallico and Other Commentaries|publisher=Project Gutenberg|year=2004|orig-year=1915|id=EBook #10657|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10657}}
* {{Cite book|last=Dobesch|first=Gerhard|year=1995|chapter=Die Boier und Burebista|trans-chapter=The Boii and Burebista|editor-last1=Tejral|editor-first1=Jaroslav|editor-last2=Pieta|editor-first2=Karol|editor-last3=Rajtár|editor-first3=Ján|title=Kelten, Germanen, Römer im Mitteldonaugebiet vom Ausklang der Latène-Zivilisation bis zum 2. Jahrhundert|series=Spisy Archeologického Ústavu AV ČR Brno|volume=3|location=Brno/Nitra|isbn=80-901679-5-0|pages=15–19}}
* {{cite book|first1=Titus|last1=Livius|translator1-first=D|translator1-last=Spillan|translator2-first=Cyrus|translator2-last=Edmonds|title=The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty-Six|publisher=Project Gutenberg|year=2004|orig-year=1868|id=eBook #10907|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10907}}
* {{cite book|title=The Celts: a history|first=Dáithí|last=Ó hÓgáin|edition=illustrated|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-85115-923-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/celtshistory0000ohog}}
* {{cite book|author-first=Titus Maccius|author-last=Plautus|translator-first=Henry Thomas|translator-last=Riley|translator-link=Henry Thomas Riley|title=The Captiva and the Mostellaria|publisher=Project Gutenberg|year=2005|orig-year=?|id=EBook #7282|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7282}}
* {{cite book|first=James Cowles|last=Prichard|title=Researches into the Physical History of Mankind|edition=3rd|volume=III: Researches into the Ethnography of Europe|location=London|publisher=Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper|year=1841}}
* {{cite book|title=Celts and the classical world|first=David|last=Rankin|edition=2nd|publisher=Routledge|location=London and New York|year=1996|isbn=978-0-415-15090-3}}

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