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( Belgae)
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul in the 1st century BC, and later also attested in Britain. They gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, and later, to the modern country of Belgium, where they are colloquially known as the "Old Belgians". Caesar's sources informed him "that the greater part of the Belgae were sprung from the Germanic peoples, and that, having crossed the Rhine at an early period, they had settled there, on account of the fertility of the country".[2] He also says that the Germanic people who lived to the west of the Rhine were allied to the Belgae,[3] and describes four of the tribes who made up the Belgic alliance, the Eburones, Condrusi, Caerosi and Paemani, as Germanic.[2] The later historian Tacitus records that the Nervii and Treveri were also eager to claim Germanic rather than Gaulish origin.[4] On the other hand, most of the Belgic tribal and personal names recorded are identifiably Gaulish, including that of Ambiorix, a leader of the Eburones, one of the tribes named as Germanic. Surviving inscriptions also indicate that Gaulish was spoken in Belgic territory. It seems that, despite their Germanic ancestry, the Belgic tribes had adopted a variety of the Gaulish language by Caesar's time. The medieval Gesta Treverorum compiled by monks of Trier claims that the Belgae were descendants of Trebata, a legendary founder of Trier, otherwise unattested. Caesar names the following as Belgic tribes
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