Boii
Boii is the
Roman name of three ancient
Celtic tribes, living in Transalpine
Gaul (modern
France),
Cisalpine Gaul (northern
Italy), and
Bohemia,
Moravia and western
Slovakia. The
European region of Bohemia owes its name to the Boii.
Historians in the
19th and earlier
20th centuries also sometimes linked the Boii to the origins of the
Bavarians (Lat.
Baioari), although that particular link is seldom accepted today.
Despite the derivation of the name, the ancient Boii should neither be confused with the present-day inhabitants of what it now the state of
Bavaria in
Germany, nor with those of Bohemia in the
Czech Republic. An argument can be made for an early intermixing with
Etruscans from
Italy; however, the same argument can also be made for the
Celtic tribes in any area they inhabited.
Sometime between
205 and
184 BC, T. Maccius
Plautus refers to the Boii in his work,
Captivi::But now he is not a
Sicilian â€" he is a Boian; he has got a Boian woman.
Another reference to Boii is dated sometime between
100 and
44 BC, when
Julius Caesar refers to the Boii in his work,
De Bello Gallico. written c. 50 BC::They persuade the
Rauraci, and the
Tulingi, and the
Latobrigi, their neighbours, to adopt the same plan, and after burning down their towns and villages, to set out with them: and they admit to their party and unite to themselves as confederates the Boii, who had dwelt on the other side of the
Rhine, and had crossed over into the Norican territory, and assaulted
Noreia.It seems quite clear that Caesar here refers to the historic
Cimbrian War of c. 115 - 101 BC, during which the Cimbri and
Teutons attacked the Roman frontier. The
Cimbri were led by the king
Boiorix whose name means "King of the Boii". Thus it appears we are dealing with a confederation of the Cimbri and Boii led by the Boii King as over lord. That the Boii survived until the time of Caesar (50 years after the Cimbrian War) indicates that, perhaps, the Roman propaganda of their crushing defeat against the barbarians may be overstated. The inferred motive is clear: Roman propaganda would not allow the barbarians to inflict two crushing defeats on their forces without returning the favor.
Sometime between
59 BC and AD
17, in volume 21 of his work
Ab Urbe Condita,
Livy says that it was a Boii that offered to show
Hannibal the way across the
Alps.:When, after the action had thus occurred, his own men returned to each general,
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 no where previously impaired.
The desendents of the Boii are now known as, Boyer (French), Bayer (German), Bowyer (English), there are other spellings as well.
*T. Maccius Plautus, The
Captiva and the
Mostellaria, as published by Project Gutenberg, as published
1 January 2005 (EBook #7282) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7282 Accessed
29 January 2005.
*Caius Julius Caesar,
De Bello Gallico and Other Commentaries, as published by Project Gutenberg,
9 January 2004 (EBook #10657) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10657 Accessed
29 January 2005.
*Titus Livius,
The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty-Six, as published by Project Gutenberg,
1 February 2004 (eBook #10907) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10907 Accessed
31 January 2005.
*http://www.ualberta.ca/~kmacfarl/CLASS_355/9.LivyI.html.
Says Livy wrote his famous work over 45 years from c. 29 BC - 17 AD.
