SCORDISCI  , in

ancient geography, a Celtic tribe inhabiting the southern part of lower Pannonia between the Savus, Dravus and Danuvius . Some Roman authorities consider them a Thracian stock, because of their admixture with an older Thraco-Illyrian population . As early as 175 B.C. they came into collision with the Romans by assisting Perseus, king of Macedonia; and after Macedonia became a Roman province they were for many years engaged in hostilities with them . In 135 they were defeated by M . Cosconius in Thrace (Livy, epic . 56); in 118, according to a memorial stone discovered near Thessalonica (W . Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum, i . No . 247, 1883 edition), Sextus Pompeius, probably the grandfather of the triumvir, was slain fighting against them near Stobi . In 114 they surprised and destroyed the army of Gaius Porcius Cato in the Servian mountains, but were defeated by Q . Minucius Rufus in 107 . Nevertheless, they still from time to time gave trouble to the Roman governors of Macedonia, whose territory they invaded in combination with the Maedi and Dardani .

They even advanced as far as

Delphi and plundered the temple; but Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus finally overcame them in 88 and drove them across the Danube . In Strabo's time they had been expelled from the valley of the Danube by the Dacians (Strabo vii. pp . 293,313) . See Mommsen, Hist. of Rome (Eng. trans.), bk. iv. ch . 5, who puts the final conquest of the Scordisci by the Romans not later than 91 . Also H . Pomtow, " Die drei Brande des Tempels zu Delphi " in Rheinisches Museum, l i. p . 369 (1896) ; A . Holder, Altceltischer Sprachschatz, ii . (1904) .