Helvii

HE´LVII a people of the Provincia or Gallia Narbonensis, who bordered on the Arverni, but were within the limits of the Provincia. The Cevenna formed the boundary between the Helvii and the Arverni. (Caes. B. G. 7.7, 8.) The Helvii were east of the Cévennes, and occupied the old French division of the Vivarais. When, however, Caesar speaks of the Helvii as bordering on the Arverni, he means the Arverni and their dependencies; for the Gabali, and Vellauni or Vellavi, were between the Helvii and the Arverni [GABALI], and they were dependent on the Arverni. ( B. G. 7.75.) The name is written Ἐλουοίin the texts of Strabo, who makes their territory commence on the east, at the bank of the Rhone, which is no doubtcorrect. He places them in Aquitania, which is generally supposed to be a mistake; but Augustus, who enlarged the Provincia of Aquitania, may have attached the Helvii to it. In Pliny (Plin. Nat. 3.4) they appear in Narbonensis, and their chief town is Alba. [ALBA HELVORUM] It is generally supposed that Ptolemy's Elycoci (Ἐλύκωκοι, 2.10.18), whose chief town was Alba Augusta, are the Helvii. But Ptolemy's Elycoci are east of the Rhone, and Alba Augusta is a different name from Alba Helvorum. Pliny (Plin. Nat. 14.3) mentions a vine that was discovered, seven years before he was writing, at Alba Helvia in the Narbonensis, which vine flowered and lost its flower in a single day, and for that reason was the safest to plant. It was named Narbonica, and when he wrote was planted all over the Provincia.
[G.L]