Gallic tribe
The Diablintes or Aulerci Diablites (also "Diablintres" or "Diablindes") were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the north of the modern Mayenne department during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were part of the Aulerci.
Name.
They are mentioned as "Diablintes" ( "Diablintres", "Diablindes") by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), "Diablinti" by Pliny (1st c. AD), "Aúlírkioi hoi" "Diablítai" or "Diaultai" (Αύλίρκιοι οἱ Διαβλίται/Διαυλται) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD), and as "Diablentas" by Orosius (early 5th c. AD).
The meaning of the name is unclear. Pierre-Yves Lambert has proposed a connection with the Proto-Celtic root "*dwēblo-" ('double'; cf. Old Irish "díabul"), attached to an "-e-nt-" participial suffix, or perhaps to "*anto-"/"*ento-" ('face'; cf. Old Irish "étan"; also Bret. "Daou-dal" 'two-faced').
The city of Jublains, attested ca. 400 as "civitas Diablintum" ('civitas of the Diablintes', "Jublent" ca. 1100) is named after the Gallic tribe.
Geography.
Julius Caesar ("B. G." iii. 9) mentions the Diablintes among the allies of the Veneti and other Armoric states whom Caesar attacked. The Diablintes are mentioned between the Morini and Menapii. The territory of the Diablintes seems to have been small, and it may have been included in that of the Cenomanni, or the former diocese of Mans. (D'Anville, "Notice, &amp;c."; Walekenaer, "Géog., &amp;c." vol. i. p. 387.)
Their position can be calculated from Pliny's enumeration, Cariosvelites, Diablindi, Rhedones. The capital of the Diablintes, according to Ptolemy, was Noeodunum, probably the Nudium of the Table. The Notitia of the Gallic provinces, which belongs to the beginning of the fifth century, mentions "Civitas Diablintum" among the cities of Lugdunensis Tertia. A document of the seventh century speaks of "condita Diablintica" as situated in "Pago Cenomannico" (about modern Le Mans), and thus one location of the Diablintes is clear. This document also helps explain why Ptolemy used the name "Aulerci" for both the Diablintes and Cenomanni. Another document of the seventh century speaks of "oppidum Diablintes juxta ripam Araenae fiuvioli"; where the Arena ("araenae") is recognised as the Aron, a tributary of the Mayenne. The small town of Jublains (or Jubleins), where Roman remains have been found, not far from the town of Mayenne to the southeast, is probably the site of the "Civitas Diablintum" and "Noeodunum" (also rendered "Noiódounon;" Νοιόδουνον).
A wooden tablet found in London records the sale of one Fortunata, a Diablintian slave girl.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;
Bibliography.
 ;templatestyles src="Refbegin/styles.css" / ;
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 