The Celts from Moesia Inferior

Abstract

A new study on the population in Roman Dobrudja, or the province of Moesia Inferior, may seem redundant at first, taking into account the large number of articles and books devoted to this topic. Nevertheless, these works were mainly focused on identifying the civil and military population, on different demographic realities and only incidentally on the ethnical origin of the individuals and on the changes (in terms of toponymy, hydronymy and anthroponomy) that occurred after their settlement in the area. During the great Celtic migration through Europe, they also reached the area of the future Roman province of Moesia Inferior. The linguistic analysis on its toponymy revealed several settlements with uncertain ethnical origin of their names, as well as localities with a certain Celtic name. From an anthroponomical perspective, epigraphic sources mention several individuals who, although definitely Romanised, preserved in their names a cognomen that displays their ethnic origin, in certain cases Celtic. After the organisation of the Roman province of Moesia, auxiliary troops, recruited from the Celtic-German provinces, were deployed in Dobrudja. These have been identified either by their names, mentioned in the military diplomas found in the province, or by the soldiers attested in different epigraphic sources.