 The Roman Province of Gallia Aquitania around 58 BC.
In Roman times, Abellio (also Abelio and Abelionni) was a god worshipped in the Garonne Valley in Gallia Aquitania (now southwest France). He may have been a god of apple trees. To a lesser degree, Abellio appears to have been known as a solar deity in Crete and the Pyrenees. The Cretan Abellio may however not be the same god, but rather a different manifestation or else dialectal form of the Greek god Apollo or his name. Apollo was indeed widely worshipped in the south Aegean. Fourteen Celtic tribes and twenty Aquitanian tribes occupied the northern parts of the Pyrenees and, from the country of the Cemmenus to the ocean, bounded by two rivers: the Garumna (Garonne) and the Liger (Loire). The major tribes are listed at the end of this section. The Aquitanian and Celtic races differed physically as well as in speech; the Aquitani resembled Iberians in these aspects. There were more than twenty tribes of Aquitani, but they were small and lacking in repute; the majority of the tribes lived along the ocean, while the others reached up into the interior and to the summits of the Cemmenus Mountains, as far as the Tectosages. The name Gallia Comata was often used to designate the three provinces of Farther Gaul, viz. Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Belgica, and Aquitania, literally meaning ‘long-haired', as opposed to Gallia Bracata ‘trousered', a term derived from bracae (‘breeches', the native costume of the northern ‘barbarians') for Gallia Narbonensis; but a late author confuses the two names and calls Farther Gaul ‘Gallia Bracata'. Most of the Atlantic coast of the Aquitani was sandy and thin-soiled; it grew millet, but was unproductive with respect to other products. Along this coast was also the gulf held by the Tarbelli; in their land gold mines were abundant. Large quantities of gold could be mined with a minimum of refinement. The interior and mountainous country in this region had better soil. The Petrocorii and the Bituriges Cubi had fine iron-works; the Cadurci had linen factories; the Ruteni and the Gabales had silver mines. According to Strabo, the Aquitani were a wealthy people. Luerius, the King of the Arverni and the father of Bituitus who warred against Maximus Aemilianus and Dometius, is said to have been so exceptionally rich and extravagant that he once rode on a carriage through a plain, scattering gold and silver coins here and there. The Romans called the tribal groups pagi. These were organized into larger super-tribal groups that the Romans called civitates. These administrative groupings were later taken over by the Romans in their system of local control. Aquitania was inhabited by the following tribes: Agesinales, Ambilatri, Anagnutes, Arverni, Ausci, Autobroges, Basabocates, Belendi, Bercorates, Bergerri, Bipedimui, Caduni, Cadurci, Cambolectri, Camponi, Cocossati, Consoranni, Cubi, Elui|, Elusates, Gabales, Latusates, Lemovices, Mandubii, Monesi, Mountainers, Nitiobriges, Onobrisates, Osquidates, Osquidiales, Petrocorii, Petrogoti, Pictones, Ruteni, Ruthenes, Santoni, Sassumini, Sediboniates, Sennates, Sibyllates, Sottiates, Succasses, Tarbelli, Tolosanes, Uliarus, Vassei, Vellates, Vellavii, Venami, Veneti (Veneticæ), Vibisci, Vornates. References - Ellis, Peter Berresford, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology(Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): ISBN 0-19-508961-8
- Wood, Juliette, The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers (2002): ISBN 0-00-764059-5
- ^ Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879). "Aquitania". A Latin Dictionary. Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University.
- ^ a b c John Frederick Drinkwater (1998). "Gaul (Transalpine)". The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford University Press. Oxford Reference Online.
- ^ a b c Strabo: The Geography, The Aquitani.
- ^ The Fourth Book of the History of Nature, C. Pliny.
- ^ Historia Augusta, The Life of Probus.
- ^ Matthew Bunson (1994). Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. Facts on File, New York. p. 169.
- ^ The Histories of Appian, The Civil Wars.
- ^ Livius.org, Provinces (Roman).
- ^ P. Heather. (1996). The Goths, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.
- ^ H. Sivan. (1987). "On Foederati, Hospitalitas, and the Settlement of the Goths in A.D. 418", American Journal of Philology 108 (4), 759-772.
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