bga_398323 - SORDES or SARDONES (Roussillon and Ruscino) Obole à l’hippocampe de Ruscino et du Rousillon

SORDES or SARDONES (Roussillon and Ruscino)

(4th - 1st centuries BC)

The Sardones, Sordes or Sordons were a people of antiquity who became Iberian then Gallic, and located east of the Pyrenees. Located on the Mediterranean, the territory of Sardones was bordering Hispania, and had for main cities Ruscino (today Château-Roussillon) and Illiberis (today Elne). They had for neighbors the Indigetes in the south, the Kerètes in the west and undoubtedly the Élisyques in the north in the region of Narbonne. According to Avienus in the 4th century BC. AD, they occupied both the Roussillon coast and the regions of Albères, Conflent and Vallespir. According to Pomponius Mela in the 1st century, the sources of Salses (Fons salsulae) constitute the northern limit of the territory of the Sardones. This follows the coast towards the south to Cerbère (Cervaria). This last point is cited as the limit of Gaul. Their country formed Roussillon and nowadays corresponds to the eastern half of the department of Pyrénées-Orientales. Source Wikipedia..