Redones

The Redones or Rhedones (Greek: Ῥήδονες, Ῥηΐδονες) are an ancient tribe of Gaul, in the Celtogalatia Lugdunensis of Ptolemy (ii. 8. § 12), placed by him west of the Senones and along the Liger (modern Loire River). Their capital was Condate (modern Rennes). But other authors contend that the Redones were not on the Loire. Pliny (iv. 18) enumerates the Redones among the peoples of Gallia Lugdunensis: Diablindi, Rhedones, Turones. After the bloody fight on the Sambre (57 BCE) Julius Caesar sent Publius Licinius Crassus with a single legion into the country of the Veneti, Redones, and other Celtic tribes between the Seine River and the Loire, all of whom submitted. (B. G. ii. 34.) Caesar here enumerates the Redones among the maritime states whose territory extends to the Atlantic Ocean. In 52 BCE the Redones with their neighbors sent a contingent to attack Caesar during the siege of Alesia. In this passage also (B. G. vii. 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-de-Bretagne. Their chief town, Rennes, is the capital of the départment of Ille-et-Vilaine.