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:''For other uses see Noricum (disambiguation)''. Noricum is the Latin name for a Celtic kingdom, or federation of twelve tribes, including most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, ''Raetia'' and ''Vindelicia'' to the west, Pannonia to the east and southeast, and ''Italia'' (''Venetia et Histria'') to the south. The kingdom was founded ca. 400 BC, and had its capital at the royal residence at Virunum on the Magdalensberg.〔http://books.google.dk/books?id=_Jntu21N9K0C&pg=PA407&dq=noricum+400+bc&hl=da&sa=X&ei=rgPwUuX-JaaY4wSfq4C4DA&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=noricum%20400%20bc&f=false〕〔Barry Cunliffe, 1997, ''The Ancient Celts'', p. 218.〕 ==Area and population== Its area corresponded to the greater part of modern Styria and Carinthia, Upper/Lower Austria west of Vienna, Salzburg, a part of Bavaria, and a part of Slovenia. The original population appears to have consisted of Illyrians, who, after the great migration of the Gauls, became subordinate to various Celto-Ligurians tribes, chief amongst them being the Taurisci, who were probably identical with the Norici of Roman sources, so called after their capital Noreia, whose location is, as yet, unknown. The country is mountainous and the soil relatively poor except in the southeastern parts, but it proved rich in iron and supplied material for the manufacturing of arms in Pannonia, Moesia and northern Italy. The famous Noric steel was largely used in the making of Roman weapons (e.g. Horace, ''Odes'', i.16.9-10: ''Noricus ensis'', "a Noric sword"). Gold and salt were found in considerable quantities. From a statement of Polybius we learn that in his own time in consequence of the great output of gold from a mine in Noricum gold went down one-third in value.〔(William Ridgeway, ''The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards'' ), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1892, p., 139〕 The plant called saliunca (the wild or Celtic nard, a relative of the lavender) grew in abundance and was used as a perfume according to Pliny the Elder.〔''Naturalis Historia'' xxi. 20.43)〕 The inhabitants were a warlike people, who paid more attention to cattle-breeding than to agriculture, although it is probable that when the area became a Roman province the Romans increased the fertility of the soil by draining the marshes and cutting down timber. Noric steel was famous for its quality and hardness. When the Celts had superseded the Illyrians, Noricum was the southern outpost of the northern Celtic peoples and, during the later period of the Iron Age, the starting point of their attacks upon Italy. It is in Noricum that we first learn of almost all those Celtic invaders. Archaeological research, particularly in the cemeteries of Hallstatt, has shown that there was a vigorous civilization in the area centuries before recorded history, but the Hallstatt civilization was a cultural manifestation prior to the Celtic invasions and close to the earlier Illyrians. The Hallstatt graves contained weapons and ornaments from the Bronze age, through the period of transition, up to the "Hallstatt culture", i.e., the fully developed older period of the Iron age. William Ridgeway made a strong case for the theory that the cradle of the Homeric Achaeans was in Noricum and neighbouring areas.〔(William Ridgeway, ''The Early Age of Greece'', vol. I, chapter 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1901 )〕〔(Stephen Lincoln Goodale, James Ramsey Speer: ''Chronology of iron and steel'', Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh iron & steel foundries company, 1920, p.21 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Noricum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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