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The Epidii (Greek Επίδιοι) were a Celtic tribe that inhabited the modern-day regions of Argyll and Kintyre, as well as the islands of Islay and Jura. They were mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria:
- Next to the Damnoni, but more toward the east near the Epidium Promontorium are the Epidi and next to these the Cerones; ...
Recent studies would make them Goidelic-speaking rather than Brythonic-speaking as the reported name suggests. The area they are presumed to have controlled later became the heartland of the kingdom of Dál Riata.
Etymology
The name includes the Brittonic and Gaulish root epos, meaning horse (Delamarre pp.163-164). (Compare with Goidelic primitive Irish ech). It may, perhaps, be related to the Horse-goddess Epona.
Civitas
Ptolemy does not list a Πολεις for the Epidii, but the Ravenna Cosmography (RC 108.4) lists Rauatonium, assumed to be Southend, Kintyre.
Notes
- ^ Ewan Campbell, "Were the Scots Irish ?", cf. Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp.9–10 & Armit, Celtic Scotland, pp. 21–24.
References
- Armit, Ian, Celtic Scotland, (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 0-7134-8949-9
- Campbell, Ewan, "Were the Scots Irish ?" in Antiquity, 75 (2001), pp. 285–292.
- Delamarre, X., Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance, 2003. ISBN 2-87772-237-6
- Foster, Sally M., Picts, Gaels, and Scots (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 0-7134-8874-3
- Ptolemy, Geographia, II.ii
- The British Section of the Ravenna Cosmography in Archaeologia 93 (1949), 108.4
External links
- The circumnavigation of Scotland compares Ptolemy and the Ravenna Cosmography for the south west coast of Scotland
