RE´DONES
Eth.
RE´DONES (
Ῥήδονες,
Ῥηΐδονες), in the Celtogalatia Lugdunensis of Ptolemy (
2.8.12), are placed by him west of the Senones and along the Liger. Their capital is Condate (
Rennes).
But the Redones were not on the
Loire. Pliny (
4.18) enumerates the Rhedones among the peoples of Gallia Lugdunensis: “Diablindi, Rhedones, Turones.” After the bloody fight on the
Sambre (B.C. 57) Caesar sent P. Crassus with a single legion into the country of the Veneti, Redones, and other Celtic tribes between the
Seine and the
Loire, all of whom submitted. (
B. G. 2.34.) Caesar here enumerates the Redones among the maritime states whose territory extends to the ocean. In B.C. 52 the Redones with their neighbours sent a contingent to attack Caesar during the siege of Alesia.
In this passage also (
B. G. 7.75), the Redones are enumerated among the states bordering on the ocean, which in the Celtic language were called the Armoric States. D'Anville supposes that their territory extended beyond the limits of the diocese of
Rennes into the dioceses of
St. Malo and
Dol. Their chief town,
Rennes, is the capital of the department of
Ille-et-Vilaine. [
G.L]
