Gallic tribe
The Bodiocasses or Baiocasses were an ancient Gallic tribe of the Roman period. They were a tribal division of the "civitas" of the Lexovii, in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis.
Name.
Attestations.
They are mentioned as "Bodiocasses" by Pliny (1st c. AD), as "Baiocassi" by Ausonius (4th c. AD), and as "Baiocas" in the "Notitia Dignitatum" (5th c. AD).
In Pliny's "Natural History", various manuscripts refer to this tribe as the "Vadiocasses", "Bodiocasses", or "Bodicasses", likely due to a copyist’s mistake.
The Vadicassii (Οὐαδικάσσιοι) cited by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD are probably a separate tribe, since he places them near the Meldi (Meaux), in the direction of Belgica.
Etymology.
The Gaulish ethnonym "Bodiocasses" derives from the Proto-Celtic stem *"bodyo-" ('yellow, blond'; cf. Old Irish "buide" 'yellow'). The meaning of the second element "-casses", attested in other Gaulish ethnonyms such as "Durocasses", "Sucasses", "Tricasses", "Veliocasses" or "Viducasses", has been debated, but it probably signifies '(curly) hair, hairstyle' (cf. Old Irish "chass" 'curl'), perhaps referring to a particular warrior coiffure. Rudolf Thurneysen has compared the name with the Old Irish "buide-chass" ('blond curls'), and suggested to translate "Bodiocasses" as 'those who have blond curls/braids'. Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel has proposed to interpret the name as 'those with shining helmets'.
The city of Bayeux, attested ca. 400 AD as "civitas Baiocassium" ('civitas of the Baiocasses'; "Baiocas" in 400–410, "Baieus" in 1155), and the region of Bessin, attested in 840 AD as "pagus Baiocassinus" ('pagus of the Baiocasses'; "Beissin" in 1050–66), all stem from the Gallic tribe.
Geography.
The Baiocasses dwelled in a region located around modern-day Bayeux in western Normandy.
History.
Julius Caesar does not mention the tribe in his commentaries on the Gallic Wars (58–50 BCE), but they are later mentioned by Ausonius (4th c. AD) and in the "Notitia Dignitatum" (5th c. AD). They are probably the same people Pliny calls "Bodiocasses".
The Baiocasses minted base gold, silver and billon (base silver) coins in the denomination of one stater and in the case of gold coins sometimes quarter staters. Most of the coins show a Celtic-style male head with elaborated hair on the obverse, and on the reverse a horse with a chariot rider above or behind, and below usually either a lyre or small boar. A number of these are in existence.
The 4th-century Bordelaise poet Ausonius teases a friend as a Baiocassis who claimed to be of druidic heritage and descended from priests of Belenus.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;
Bibliography.
 ;templatestyles src="Refbegin/styles.css" / ;