Eluveitie - Slanias Song

Eluveitie - Slanias Song Eluveitie use traditional instruments amidst guitars and loud vocals. The lyrics are often in the extinct language Gaulish. The name of the band comes from a graffito on a vessel from Mantua (ca. 300 BC). The inscription in Etruscan letters reads eluveitie, which has been interpreted as the Etruscan form of the Celtic (h)elvetios (“the Helvetian”), presumably referring to a man of Helvetian descent living in Mantua.

The Helvetii were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation,occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Julius Caesar, the Helvetians were divided into four subgroups or pagi. Of these Caesar only names the Verbigeni and the Tigurini, while Poseidonios mentions the Tigurini and the Toygenoi (Τωυγενοί). They feature prominently in the Commentaries on the Gallic War, with their failed migration attempt to southwestern Gaul (58 BC) serving as a catalyst for Caesar’s conquest of Gaul.