Oxybii

The Oxybii (Ὀξύβιοι) were a Ligurian tribe living on the Mediterranean coast of France near Massalia. The border with the Ligurian Deciates (Δεκιῆται) being to the west of Antipolis and east of Forum Julii (Smith, entry on Oxybii).

The Oxybii attacked Massalia in 155 BCE (Polybius, Histories, 33.7) and in consequence their allies the Romans sent a commission, consisting of Flaminius, Popilius Laenas, and Lucius Pupius. When these were attacked at the Oxybian coastal city of Aegitna (Polybius, Histories, 33.10), the Romans dispatched an army under the consul Quintus Opimius, who defeated the Oxybii and the Deciates at the battle of Aegitna, three kilometres north of Antipolis (Cosson, p.21; Polybius, Histories, 33.11).

References

• Cosson, Pierre (1995) Civitas Antipolitana: Histoire du Municipe Romain d'Antipolis.Nice, Serre Editeur. ISBN 2-86410-219-6
• Pliny the Elder, Chorographia, II.69
• Polybius, Histories 33.7, 33.10, 33.11
• Smith, William (1854) Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.