Map of Gaul with tribes, 1st century BC; the Leuci are circled.
The Leucī (Gaulish: Leucoi, 'the bright, lightning ones') were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the southern part of the modern Lorraine region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
They are mentioned as Leucos (acc.)byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1]Leūkoi (Λευ̃κοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[2]LeucibyPliny (1st c. AD),[3] and as Leukoì (Λευκοὶ) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[4][5]
The ethnonymLeucī is a latinized form of Gaulish Leucoi (sing. Leucos), which literally means 'the bright ones, the lightning ones'. It stems from Proto-Celtic*lowkos ('light, bright'; cf. Mid. Irishluach 'glowing white', Middle Welshllug 'eyesight, perception'), itself from Proto-Indo-European*leukós ('bright, shining'; cf. Lat.lūx 'light', Grkleukós 'white', Toch.lyūke 'light').[6][7]
The territory of the Leuci extended in the east and the southeast up to the Vosges mountains, between the Marne and Moselle rivers.[8] They were located north-west of the Sequani, and southwest of the Mediomatrici.[8]
During the Roman era, their capital was Tullum (modern Toul).[9][8]Ptolemy (2nd c. AD), who normally gives one capital for each civitas, also lists Nasium (present-day Naix-aux-Forges) as a capital of the Leuci.[10]
Hillforts held by the Leuci included a large oppidumatBoviolles (Ornain valley), west of their territory, and some smaller ones located in the Vosges. The Roman-era successor of Boviolles was more imposing than the central city Tullum, since the Ornain river served as an important trade route between Champagne and the plateau of Langres, on the territory of the Lingones. Another possible oppidum was located at Geneviève (Essey).[9]
During the Roman era, the Leuci worshipped Apollo (atGraux and Malaincourt) or Apollo Grannus (at Tullum, Nasium, and Grand) around a spring and healing cult.[8]
Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN9782877723695.
Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN978-0955718236.
Burnand, Yves (2008). "Une nouvelle inscription de "Nasium" (Naix-aux-Forges, Meuse) et le droit latin des Leuques". Latomus. 67 (4): 940–948. ISSN0023-8856. JSTOR41547639.
Hornung, Sabine (2016). "Die Leuker – Verbündete Roms?". Siedlung und Bevölkerung in Ostgallien zwischen Gallischem Krieg und der Festigung der Römischen Herrschaft. Eine Studie auf Basis landschaftsarchäologischer Forschungen im Umfeld des Oppidums „Hunnenring“ von Otzenhausen (Lkr. St. Wendel) (in German). Philipp von Zabern. pp. 411–428.
