The Subinates were the inhabitants of a vicus in the area of modern Riva San Vitale (Canton Ticino), in present-day southern Switzerland, during the Roman era. Name The community is known from a fragmentary and heavily restored Latin inscription (Pais 1287), in which the villagers are named in the dative as [vic(anis?)] Primo subinatibus.Pais 1287 (= AE 2022, 408; G. Walser, Römische Inschriften der Schweiz III, no. 302).
Alexander Falileyev observes that its Celticity is uncertain. If Celtic, it may be formed with the prefix su- ('good')., s.v. Subinates.
The inscription, which is undated, records a bequest by a magistrate (quattuorvir iure dicundo) of Comum to the vicani, who in return were to maintain his memory each year with roses and garlands, subject to a penalty clause.
Geography The community was located around Riva San Vitale, at the southern end of Lake Lugano, in the Mendrisiotto of Canton Ticino.
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