Everything about Raetia totally explained
Raetia (so always in inscriptions; classical manuscripts usually use the form
Rhaetia) was a
province of the
Roman Empire, bounded on the west by the country of the
Helvetii, on the east by
Noricum, on the north by
Vindelicia, and on the south by
Cisalpine Gaul. It thus comprised the districts occupied in modern times by eastern and central
Switzerland (containing the
Upper Rhine and
Lake Constance), southern
Bavaria and the
Upper Swabia,
Vorarlberg, the greater part of
Tirol, and part of
Lombardy. The northern border of Raetia was part of the
Limes Germanicus, stretching for 166 km along the Danube. Raetia was linked to Italy across the Alpine
Resia Pass by the
Via Claudia Augusta.
History
Little is known of the origin or history of the Raetians, who appear in the records as one of the most powerful and warlike of the
Alpine tribes.
Livy states distinctly that they were of
Etruscan origin (a belief that's favored by
Niebuhr and
Mommsen). A tradition reported by
Justin and
Pliny the Elder affirmed that they were a portion of that people who had settled in the plains of the
Po and were driven into the mountains by the invading
Gauls, when they assumed the name of "Raetians" from their leader
Raetus; a more probable derivation, however, is from Celtic
rait (mountain land). Even if their Etruscan origin be accepted, at the time when the land became known to the Romans,
Celtic tribes were already in possession of it and had amalgamated so completely with the original inhabitants that, generally speaking, the Raetians of later times may be regarded as a Celtic people, although non-Celtic tribes (
Lepontii,
Euganei) were settled among them.
The modern people of western Austria (a Rhaetian region) have been found to have a relatively high incidence of
Y-chromosome Haplogroup G, which has a relatively high incidence in the people of all regions of historical Etruscan occupation.
The Raetians are first mentioned (but only incidentally) by
Polybius, and little is heard of them till after the end of the
Republic. There is little doubt, however, that they retained their independence until their subjugation in
15 by
Tiberius and
Drusus.
At first Raetia formed a distinct province, but towards the end of the 1st century AD Vindelicia was added to it; hence
Tacitus (
Germania, 41) could speak of
Augusta Vindelicorum (
Augsburg) as "a
colony of the province of Raetia". The whole province (including Vindelicia) was at first under a military
prefect, then under a
procurator; it had no standing army quartered in it but relied on its own native troops and
militia for protection until the 2nd century AD.
During the reign of
Marcus Aurelius, Raetia was governed by the commander of the
Legio III Italica, which was based in Castra Regina (
Regensburg) by 179 AD .
Under
Diocletian, Raetia formed part of the
diocese of the
vicarius Italiae, and was subdivided into
Raetia prima and
Raetia secunda (each under a
praeses), the former corresponding to the old Raetia, the latter to Vindelicia. The boundary between them isn't clearly defined, but may be stated generally as a line drawn eastwards from the
lacus Brigantinus (
Lake Constance) to the
Oenus (
River Inn).
During the last years of the
Western Empire, the land was in a desolate condition, but its occupation by the
Ostrogoths in the time of
Theodoric the Great, who placed it under a
dux, to some extent revived its prosperity.
Economy
The land was very mountainous, and the inhabitants, when not engaged in predatory expeditions, chiefly supported themselves by cattle-breeding and cutting timber, little attention being paid to agriculture. Some of the valleys, however, were rich and fertile, and produced wine, which was considered equal to any in
Italia.
Augustus Caesar preferred Raetian wine to any other.
Considerable trade in pitch,
honey,
wax, and
cheese occurred.
Human geography
The chief towns of Raetia (excluding Vindelicia) were
Tridentum (
Trento) and
Curia (Coire or
Chur). It was traversed by two great lines of Roman roads — one leading from
Verona and Tridentum across the
Brenner Pass (in which the name of the
Brennii has survived) to
Innsbruck and thence to
Augusta Vindelicorum (
Augsburg), the other from
Brigantium (
Bregenz) on Lake Constance by Chur and
Chiavenna to
Como and
Milan.
The
Rätikon mountain range derives its name from Raetia.
Important cities
Further Information
Get more info on 'Raetia'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://raetia.totallyexplained.com">Raetia Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
