The Petrocorii were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the present-day Périgord region, between the Dordogne and Vézère rivers, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Etymology
They are named as Petrocorii by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 7:75:3. Petrokórioi (Πετροκόριοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD) and Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:2:2; Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:7:9. Petrocori by Pliny (mid-1st c. AD),Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:109. and as Petrogorii by Sidonius Apollinaris (5th c. AD).Sidonius Apollinaris. Epistles, 7:6:7., s.v. Petrocori and Vesunna.
The Gaulish ethnonym Petrocorii means 'four armies', or 'four troops'. It derives from the Gaulish stem petru- ('four') attached to corios ('army'), after a Gallic custom of including numbers in tribal names (e.g. Vo-contii, Vo-corii, Tri-corii, Suess-iones). Their name may indicate a relatively recent formation emerging from the union of fragmented small ethnic groups.
The city of Périgueux, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Petrocoriorum ('civitas of the Petrocorii'; Petrecors in the 8th c., Periguhès in 1466), and the Périgord region, attested in the 7th c. AD as pagum Petrocorecum ('pagus of the Petrocorii'; Petragoricus in 781, Peiregore in the 12th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.
Geography
The Petrocorii lived in the present-day Périgord region, between the Dordogne and Vézère rivers. Their territory was located south of the Lemovices and Santones, east of the Bituriges Vivisci, west of the Arverni, and north of the Nitiobroges and Cadurci., Map 14: Caesarodunum-Burdigala.
During the Roman period, their chief town was Vesunna, corresponding to the modern town of Périgueux.
History In 52 BC, they supplied around 5,000 warriors to Vercingetorix, to aid him to fight the Roman legions of Julius Caesar. Strabo mentions their excellence working with iron.
See also Périgord & County of Périgord History of Périgueux
References Notes
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