Bodiocasses


The Bodiocasses were an ancient Gallic tribe of the Roman period. They were a tribal division of the civitas of the Lexovii, in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis.

Name

They are mentioned as Bodiocasses by Pliny, as Ou̓adikássioi by Ptolemy, as Baiocassi by Ausonius, and as Baiocas in the Notitia Dignitatum.
The name Bodio-casses stems from Gaulish bodios, ultimately from Proto-Celtic *bodyo-. The meaning of the second element -casses is less certain, possibly 'hair, hairstyle', perhaps a particular warrior coiffure, or 'tin, bronze '. Thurneysen has compared the name with the Old Irish buide-chass.
The city of Bayeux, attested as civitas Baiocassium ca. 400 CE is named after the Gallic tribe. The region of Le Bessin, attested as pagus Baiocassinus in 840 CE also stems from the tribal name.

Geography

The Baiocasses dwelled in a region located around modern-day Bayeux.

History

does not mention the Baiocasses in his commentaries on the Gallic Wars, but they are listed in the Notitia dignitatum and are probably the same people Pliny calls Bodiocasses.
The Baiocasses minted base gold, silver and billon coins in the denomination of one stater and in the case of gold coins sometimes quarter staters. Most of the coins show a Celtic-style male head with elaborated hair on the obverse, and on the reverse a horse with a chariot rider above or behind, and below usually either a lyre or small boar. A number of these are in existence.
The 4th-century Bordelaise poet Ausonius teases a friend as a Baiocassis who claimed to be of druidic heritage and descended from priests of Belenus.