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The Ligures (singular Ligus or Ligur; English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
: Ligurians, Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ) were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria
Liguria

Liguria is a coastal Regions of Italy of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food....
, which once stretched from Northern Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 into southern Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
. According to Plutarch they called themselves Ambrones which means ¨people of the water¨. The Ligures inhabited what now corresponds to Liguria
Liguria

Liguria is a coastal Regions of Italy of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food....
, northern Tuscany
Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy....
, Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 (Noricum
Noricum

Noricum, in ancient history geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and Slovenia. It became a Roman province of the Roman Empire....
), Piedmont
Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km? and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local dialect is Piedmontese....
, part of Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna is an administrative Regions of Italy of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of 20,124 km? and about 4.3 million inhabitants....
, part of Lombardy
Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region....
, and parts of southeastern France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
.

Classical references and toponomastics suggest that the Ligurian sphere once extended further into central Italy (Taurisci): according to Hesiod
Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
's Catalogues (early 6th century BC) they were one of the three main "barbarian" peoples ruling over the Western border of the known world (the others being Aethiopian
Ethiopian

Ethiopian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to the country of Ethiopia* A person from Ethiopia, or of Ethiopian descent. For information about the Ethiopian people, see Demographics of Ethiopia and Culture of Ethiopia....
s and Scythians).






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The Ligures (singular Ligus or Ligur; English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
: Ligurians, Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ) were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria
Liguria

Liguria is a coastal Regions of Italy of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food....
, which once stretched from Northern Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 into southern Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
. According to Plutarch they called themselves Ambrones which means ¨people of the water¨. The Ligures inhabited what now corresponds to Liguria
Liguria

Liguria is a coastal Regions of Italy of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food....
, northern Tuscany
Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy....
, Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 (Noricum
Noricum

Noricum, in ancient history geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and Slovenia. It became a Roman province of the Roman Empire....
), Piedmont
Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km? and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local dialect is Piedmontese....
, part of Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna is an administrative Regions of Italy of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of 20,124 km? and about 4.3 million inhabitants....
, part of Lombardy
Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region....
, and parts of southeastern France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
.

Classical references and toponomastics suggest that the Ligurian sphere once extended further into central Italy (Taurisci): according to Hesiod
Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
's Catalogues (early 6th century BC) they were one of the three main "barbarian" peoples ruling over the Western border of the known world (the others being Aethiopian
Ethiopian

Ethiopian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to the country of Ethiopia* A person from Ethiopia, or of Ethiopian descent. For information about the Ethiopian people, see Demographics of Ethiopia and Culture of Ethiopia....
s and Scythians). Avienus
Avienus

Avienus was a Latin writer of the 4th century. His full name Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius is mentioned on an inscription from Bulla Regia, but "Avienus" has become the usual form of reference....
, in a translation of a voyage account probably from Marseille
Marseille

"Marseille" is the second-largest city of France and forms the third-largest aire urbaine, after those of Paris and Lyon, with a population recorded to be 1,516,340 at the 1999 census and estimated to be 1,605,000 in 2007....
 (4th century BC) speaks of the Ligurian hegemony extending up to the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
, before they were pushed back by the Celt
Celt

Celts , is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic languages. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the Modern Celts of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture....
s. Ligurian toponyms have been found in Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
, the Rhône
Rhône River

The Rhone, or the Rh?ne is one of the major rivers of Europe, originating in Switzerland and running from there through the south-eastern corner of France....
 valley, Corsica
Corsica

Corsica is the Mediterranean islands#By area in the Mediterranean Sea . It is located west of Italy, southeast of the France mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
 and Sardinia
Sardinia

Sardinia is the Mediterranean islands#By area island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The island is surrounded by the France island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Balearic Islands....
.

It is not known for certain whether they were a pre-Indo-European
Pre-Indo-European

Old Europe is a term coined by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas to describe what she perceives as a relatively homogeneous and widespread pre-Indo-European Neolithic Europe culture in Europe, particularly in Megalithic Temples of Malta and the Prehistoric Balkans....
 people akin to Iberians
Iberian language

The Iberian language was the language of a people identified by Ancient Greece and ancient Rome sources who lived in the eastern and southeastern regions of the Iberian peninsula....
; a separate Indo-European
Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are a Language family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau , Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ....
 branch with Italic
Italic languages

The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European languages language family's Centum branch. It includes the Romance languages derived from Latin , and a number of extinct languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Umbrian language, Oscan language, and the aforementioned Latin....
 and Celtic
Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic", a branch of the greater Indo-European languages language family. The term "Celtic" was used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, having much earlier been used by Greek and Roman writers to describe tribes in central Gaul....
 affinities; or even a branch of the Celts or Italics. Kinship between the Ligures and Lepontii
Lepontii

The Lepontii were an ancient people occupying portions of Rhaetia in the Alps during the time of the Ancient Rome conquest of that territory. The Lepontii have been variously described as a Celtic, Ligurian language, Raetian, and Germanic tribes tribe....
 has also been proposed. Another theory traces their origin to Betica (modern Andalusia
Andalusia

Andalusia is a country in the Spanish State. It is the most populous and the second largest, in terms of land area, of the seventeen autonomous communities of the Spain....
).

The Ligures were assimilated by the Romans
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, and before that by the Gauls
Gauls

The Gauls were a Continental Celtic Celts people of Classical Antiquity, the inhabitants of Gaul , and speakers of the Gaulish language.Archaeologically, they were the bearers of the La T?ne culture ....
, producing a Celto-Ligurian culture.

Tribes

Numerous tribes of Ligures are mentioned by ancient historians, among them:
  • Apuani
    Apuani

    The Apuani were one of the most formidable and powerful of the Ligures tribes who lived in ancient north-western Italy, mentioned repeatedly by Livy....
  • Bagienni
    Bagienni

    The Bagienni were an ancient Ligures people of north-western Italy mentioned in Pliny the Elder?s Naturalis Historia. They were based in various areas of what is today south-western Piedmont, but particularly in the upper part of the Tanaro valley....
  • Briniates
    Briniates

    The Briniates were an ancient Ligures tribe mentioned by Livy as being subjugated by ancient Rome in 175 BCE. ...
  • Cerdiciates
  • Commoni
  • Deciates
    Deciates

    The Deciates were a Ligures tribe in the first few centuries BC. They lived in the Antibes area of what is now France, west of the river Var River ....
  • Euburiates
  • Friniates
    Friniates

    The Friniates were an ancient Ligures tribe on the north of the Apennines, near the sources of the Scultenna , which had been reduced to subjection by Gaius Flaminius in 187 BCE. ...
  • Garuli
    Garuli

    The Garuli were an ancient Ligures tribe mentioned by Livy as being subjugated by ancient Rome in 175 BCE. ...
  • Hercates
    Hercates

    The Hercates were an ancient Ligures tribe mentioned by Livy as being subjugated by ancient Rome in 175 BCE. ...
  • Ilvates
    Ilvates

    The Ilvates were a Ligures tribe, whose name is found only in Livy. He mentions them first as taking up arms in 200 BCE, in concert with the Gaulish tribes of the Insubres and Cenomani , to destroy the Roman colonies of Placentia and Cremona....
  • Ingauni
  • Intemellii
  • Lapicini
    Lapicini

    The Lapicini were an ancient Ligures tribe mentioned by Livy as being subjugated by ancient Rome in 175 BCE. ...
  • Laevi
    Laevi

    The Laevi, or Levi were a Ligures people in Gallia Transpadana, on the river Ticinus, who, in conjunction with the Marici , built the town of Ticinum ....
  • Marici
    Marici (Ligures)

    The Marici were a Ligures people. In the Third Book of his Natural History Pliny the Elder identifies them as the co-founders, along with the Laevi, of Ticinum, the modern Pavia....
  • Oxybii
    Oxybii

    The Oxybii were a Ligures tribe living on the Mediterranean coast of France near Marseilles. The border with the Ligurian Deciates being to the west of Antibes and east of Frejus ....
  • Statielli
    Statielli

    The Statielli, Statiellates, or Statiellenses were a small Ligures tribe which inhabited an area south of the river Padus . Their chief town was Aquae Statiellae , on the road from Vada Sabatia, near Savona to Tortona and Piacenza....
  • Sueltri (or Suelteri)
  • Taurini
    Taurini

    The Taurini were an ancient Celt-Ligures people, who occupied the upper valley of the river Po River, in the centre of modern Piedmont. In 218 BC, they were attacked by Hannibal since his allies were the Insubres....
     (or Taurisci)
  • Tiguli
  • Vagienni (an alternative name for the Bagienni
    Bagienni

    The Bagienni were an ancient Ligures people of north-western Italy mentioned in Pliny the Elder?s Naturalis Historia. They were based in various areas of what is today south-western Piedmont, but particularly in the upper part of the Tanaro valley....


See also

  • Liguria
    Liguria

    Liguria is a coastal Regions of Italy of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food....
  • Ligurian language
    Ligurian language

    The Ligurian language was spoken in pre-Roman times and into the Roman era by an ancient people of north-western Italy and south-eastern France known as the Ligures....
  • Sigynnae
    Sigynnae

    The Sigynnae were an obscure people of antiquity. They are variously located by ancient authors.According to Herodotus , they dwelt beyond the Danube, and their frontiers extended almost as far as the Adriatic Veneti on the Adriatic....