The Segusiavi (

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

: *''Segusiauī/Segusiawī'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling around the modern city of

Feurs Feurs (; ) is a commune in the department of Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. History Antiquity The city was founded by the Romans. The name ''Feurs'' is a contraction of ''Forum Segusiavorum'', in reference to the forum of the Gallo-Ro ...

(

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

) during the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

and the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Name

They are named in Latin as ''Segusiavi'' by

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

(mid-1st c. BC) and Pliny (1st c. AD), and in Greek as ''Segosianoi'' ( gen. Σεγοσιανῶν) by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

(early 1st c. AD) and as ''Segousiantoi'' (gen. Σεγουσιάντων) by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

(2nd c. AD).

. ''Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis'', 2:8:11., s.v. ''Segusiavi'' and ''Forum Segusiavorum''. The etymology of the

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

*''Segusiauī/Segusiawī'' is unclear. It probably stems from the Gaulish root ''sego-'' ('victory, force'), but the second element is problematic. Irish folklorist Dáithí Ó hÓgáin tentatively translates their name as the 'Victorious Ones'. Since the ''Segusiavi'' possessed a wide area just north of the Greek colony of

Massalia Massalia (; ) was an ancient Greek colonisation, Greek colony (''apoikia'') on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, east of the Rhône. Settled by the Ionians from Phocaea in 600 BC, this ''apoikia'' grew up rapidly, and its population se ...

(Marseille) at the time of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

, he has proposed to see their name as an alternative

of the '' Segobriges'', the tribe involved in the foundation myth of Massalia. The city of

, attested by

as ''Phóros Segousiántōn'' (Φόρος Σεγουσιάντων, ' forum, market of the Segusiavi'; ''Forum'' in 950, ''Fuer'' in 1227), is indirectly named after the tribe.

Geography

The chief town of the Segusiavi was known as Forum Segusiavorum (modern

), erected on a pre-Roman settlement which had been occupied from the 2nd century BC onwards. The city lost its local preeminence in the 3rd–4th centuries AD. Under

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

, in 297–298, Forum Segusiavorum was incorporated into the province of Lugdunensis Prima. The Segusiavi also held a fortress at

Lugdunum Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Colonia (Roman), Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon, France, Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but cont ...

(modern

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

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Name

Geography

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See also