The Sefes, sometimes also known as Cempsi, were a people of ancient
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
said to have lived on the coast of modern day
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
and
Galicia.
In his poem ''
Ora Maritima
("The Sea Coast") is a poem written by Avienius. It has been claimed to contain borrowings from the ''Massaliote Periplus'' (perhaps dating to the 6th century BC).Donnchadh Ó Corráin Chapter 1 "Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland", in ''Th ...
'', the 4th century Roman author
Avienius
Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius (or Avienus) was a Latin literature, Latin writer of the 4th century AD. He was a native of Volsinii in Etruria, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi.
Avienius is not identical with the historian Fest ...
wrote that they were neighbours of the
Cynetes, placing them in an upland district of the
Ophiussa region (near the mouth of the
Tagus
The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon.
Name
T ...
) close to an island he named ''Poetanion'' and that, along with another tribe called the ''Cempsi'' they had taken that territory by force from the previous rulers.
[Avienus, Ora Maritima, 190-199]
Notes
{{Pre-Roman peoples in Portugal
Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
Ancient peoples of Portugal