Catuslugi


The Catuslougi were a small Belgic coastal tribe, dwelling around modern-day Incheville during the Roman period.

Name

Attestations

The Catuslugi are not mentioned by Caesar, and the name 'Catuslugi' is rendered from an allusion of Pliny the Elder, and two Gallo-Roman inscriptions referring to the region as 'Catuslou' and 'Catus'.

Etymology

The name Catuslogi is most likely an Hellenized form of Gaulish *Catu-slōg-, stemming from catu- attached to slougo-. The latter term derives from Proto-Celtic *slowgos. Its original meaning may have been 'those serving the chief' by the comparison with Balto-Slavic words that probably emerged from early linguistic contacts with Celtic speakers: Lithuanian slaugà, or OCS sluga.
The region of pagus Catuslou, attested by two Gallo-Roman inscriptions found in Briga, is most likely named after the tribe.

Geography

Territory

The Catuslugi dwelled in the modern region of Normandy, near the coast of the Channel, around present-day Incheville and Eu. Their territory was located between that of the Ambiani and Caletes.

Settlements

The name of a town, Briga, appears on an inscription from the early 3rd century AD. Briga has been erected in the late 1st c. BC on a plateau overlooking the Channel coast, in an upright position between the valley of the Bresle river in the north, and the valley of Saint-Pierre-en-Val in the south.
The site appears to have been abandoned between at the end of the 3rd century AD, perhaps around 280-290. The departure of the city appears to have been planned by its inhabitants, who left in a short lapse of time after what archaeologist Étienne Mantel has interpreted as a ritual of deconsecration followed by the closure of the public moments.
The settlement of Augum, founded in the nearby valley, became to new chief town.
Au contraire, l’abandon paraît avoir été planifié, avec des rituels organisés pour rendre au monde profane les espaces consacrés, et un départ de la population de manière simultanée ou sur le laps de temps très court d’une ou de deux décennies
Incheville was also a central oppidum of the Catuslugi.

Religion

The earliest evidence of a sanctuary in Briga is an area dedicated to the votive dumping of weapons, jewels and coins, dated the second part of the first century BC. The practice, certainly linked to a late native cult of the waters, has persisted during the Julio-Claudian era. Two small fanum temples of Gallic tradition were erected in the late first century AD, suggesting a first step in the "monumentalization" of the sacred area.
A dedication from the early 3rd century AD, carved by a member of the local elite, attests the Roman influence on Catuslugi beliefs at that time, and the presence of an imperial cult in Briga. The main temple of the city may have been reserved to the Roman god Jupiter, or directly to the cult of Rome and Augustus. The god 'Mercury Brigensis', also mentioned in the dedication, is probably a native Gallic deity assimilated into the Roman pantheon.