Eravisci

The Eravisci (Ancient Greek: Ἀραβίσκοι^[1]) were a Celtic or Pannonian people who inhabited Transdanubia, including Gellért Hill, Dunaújváros, and Aquincum.

The Roman ruins of their city Aquincum stand today and are the Aquincum Museum.^[2]

Very little is known about them. However, we do know that they were highly cultured. They moved in from the north probably in about the second or first centuries BC.^[3] The Eravisci worked with iron, created jewelry and pottery, and even minted their own coins out of silver.^[4] Most Celtic societies at this time did not use coins, so this makes the Eravisci stand out among other tribes. Despite being this sophistication, they were quite powerless and minor in the ancient world. They founded Aquincum; this became a major Roman military base and civilian city.

The Romans conquered and annexed the Eravisci around 12 BC. There, they turned the existing settlement into Aquincum and made it a military and civilian hub. The territory of the Eravisci became the Roman province of Pannonia Inferior with Aquincum as its capital. The Eraviscian culture continued to thrive throughout the early Roman occupation. Evidence of this is found on tombstone reliefs, which pictures Celtic dress and jewelry. Aquincum eventually stationed one legion of 6,000 men and 500 cavalry by 89 AD as part of the Roman border protection system. The town prospered in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. In 106 AD, Aquincum was given full Roman privileges. This gave them indoor heating, public baths, mosaics (which are on display in the museum), and two Amphitheaters (which are also on display). The amphitheaters staged military and civil displays. At the end of the 2nd century AD, Aquincum had 30,000 residents or more.

The Roman author Tacitus described them as having a Pannonian language, and the same language and culture as a tribe to the north, the Osi:

Whether however the Aravisci migrated into Pannonia from the Osi, a German race, or whether the Osi came from the Aravisci into Germany, as both nations still retain the same language, institutions, and customs, is a doubtful matter; for as they were once equally poor and equally free, either bank had the same attractions, the same drawbacks.^[5]

Elsewhere, he defined the Osi however only as being geographically Germanic (Germania defined here as being north of the Danube) although he believed that the Germanic=speaking neighbours, the Marcomanni and Quadi, were themselves newcomers in that area:

The Gotini and Osi are proved by their respective Gallic and Pannonian tongues, as well as by the fact of their enduring tribute, not to be Germans.^[6]

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