Ordovices
The Ordovices were powerful Celtic people Brittonique of the island of Brittany (current Great Britain), before the Roman occupation. They are in particular known to us by the texts of Tacite ( life of Agricola ) and Ptolémée, ( Géographie ). Their territory was located in the current area of the Wales between that of the Silures and the Demetae at the south, of the Cornoviii to the east and that of the Deceangli and the Gangani in north. The island of Mona (Anglesey) lodged then an important sanctuary Druidique (see also Nemeton).
The etymology of the éthnonyme comes from “Ordo-vic”, which means “those which fight with a mass” ( ord in Irish, gordd in Welsh, horz in Breton).
It was warlike people which lived in small fortresses and Hillforts, whose economy rested on agriculture and the breeding. They belong to the people brittonic which offered the most resistance to the Roman invaders, in particular under the control of Caratacos. This one had found refuge at Ordovices after the battle of Medway in 43 and had rejoined the Silures for a common resistance. After the massacre of Caer Caradoc (50) with the loss of part of the warriors and the capture of Caratacos in 51, Ordovices ceased temporarily the combat.
An ultimate rebellion took place towards 70, during which a Roman cavalry was destroyed. Tacit reports to us that the reaction of Agricola was relentless and that the whole of the population would have been exterminated, at the time of the military countryside of 77.
The Ordovicien (488,3 to 435 million years), fifth geological system of the Paleozoic , takes again the name of these people, the denomination was adopted by the British geologist Charles Lapworth, in 1879.
Related articles
- Celtic ~ Brittons ~ brittonic Language ~ Britto-Romans ~ Roman Province of Brittany
- List of the Celtic people of island of Brittany
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