Noricum - important region of the Celts

Two of my novels are (mostly) set in Noricum and my new series "Braider of Words" is also mainly set there.

Nowadays we know Noricum or Norikum mostly from the Noriker horses (at least the horse lovers know them). But it is nothing else than the name of our homeland (at least that of the Styrians and other surrounding inhabitants) - a very old name.

Strictly speaking, the Noriker (not the horses) were a Celtic tribe, which was sometimes also called Taurisker (Tauriskum doesn't sound as nice as Norikum, though).

A stone tablet was found at the Magdalensberg at the Carinthian Zollfeld, the inscription says that about 200 BC (so, of course, the tablet does not say "before Christ" but it can be dated to that time) 13 tribes united to form the Kingdom of Noricum. Or united under Noric leadership. Eight of these tribes we know by name from this tablet (Alauni, Ambidravi, Ambilini, Ambisonti, Laianci, Norici, Saevati and Uperaki), but the tablet is not from the time of this "kingdom foundation", but was written after Noricum was taken over by the Romans (15 BC). And where exactly these tribes were geographically located, we don't know for most of them either, or who the other five tribes were. Nor do we know whether this "Regnum Noricum", as the Romans called it, lasted long as a union of thirteen tribes, whether it became more or less, whether it was only a loose union or really "an empire" ...

This is a bit like finding a short excerpt from Kennedy's famous speech "Ich bin ein Berliner" and then drawing conclusions from it that a German was president of the USA, or that the Germans spoke a decidedly peculiar dialect at the time, or that Kennedy fled the USA and became a German citizen ...

What else we know about the Norics (not the horses) is that in the Roman Civil War (49 BC) the kingdom of Noricum or a Noric king supported Caesar with a cavalry of 300 men, that 9 years before that Voccio as (one of or the) king of the Norics (not the horses) married his sister to Ariovist and that in 15 BC the Regnum Noricum became part of the Roman Empire. And with that, the Regnum Noricum was actually only really officially considered a cohesive territory.

And what we also know is that these Noricans (not the horses) were skilled metal workers. "Noric iron", mostly swords, was in high demand by the Romans. (More on Noric iron in a later blog post).

And we also know that this Regnum Noricum was rich in mineral resources, even gold. Wonder if that was a reason for the Romans to go for it ...

In my novels Noricum refers mainly to Styria (local patriotism ...), although parts of Carinthia, Salzburg, Lower Austria and Upper Austria, Bavaria and Chiemgau were probably also part of it. Voccio, who is the only Noric king mentioned by name in historical sources (more about him in a separate blog post), also appears in my books - if there is a name already ... as an author of historical novels one tries to include historical "facts". Even if the fact consists only of a name, because whether the historical Voccio corresponds in any way to my novel Voccio is as uncertain as many other things concerning the Celts.

Oh one more thing: the Noriker (the horse) is a cold-blooded breed whose origins are often mistakenly traced to the Roman legionary horses, but which probably found its beginnings in the Regnum Noricum more than 2000 years ago. It is a good-natured, powerful animal, also known to some as the Pinzgauer (not the military vehicle ...).

But that's another story ...