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TheSegusiavi (Gaulish: *Segusiauī/Segusiawī) were aGallic tribe dwelling around the modern city ofFeurs,Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, during theIron Age and theRoman period. Other important sites within their territory were present-dayRoanne, a flourishing center of trade and commercial production even before Roman rule, andLyon, which was developed as an urban center by the Romans.
The name is given in Latin asSegusiavi byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC)[2] andPliny (1st c. AD),[3] and in Greek asSegosianoi (gen. Σεγοσιανῶν) byStrabo (early 1st c. AD)[4] andSegousiantoi (gen. Σεγουσιάντων) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD).[5][6]
The etymology of theGaulishethnonym *Segusiauī/Segusiawī is unclear. It probably stems from the Gaulish rootsego- ('victory, force'),[7] but the second element is problematic.[6] Irish folkloristDáithí Ó hÓgáin tentatively translates the name as the 'Victorious Ones'.[8] Since the Segusiavi possessed a wide area just north of theGreek colony ofMassalia (Marseille) at the time ofAristotle, he has proposed to see their name as an alternative name of theSegobriges, a tribe involved in thefoundation myth of Massalia.[8]
The activities of the Segusiavi were concentrated in the plain ofForez, and their territory comprised much of the present-dayFrench departments ofLoire andRhône.[10] They were clients of theAedui, located to their north and northwest, and were bordered by theAllobroges to their southeast and theArverni to their west.Caesar wrote that the Segusiasvi were the first people encountered when traveling from the already incorporated province of Gaul in the south through the corridor of the Rhône to the center.[11]
Their capitalFeurs is attested in the Roman era byPtolemy asPhóros Segousiántōn (Φόρος Σεγουσιάντων), 'forum of the Segusiavi'. Feurs was built up on a pre-Roman settlement which had been occupied from the 2nd century BC onwards. Under the emperorDiocletian, in AD 297–298, Forum Segusiaviorum was incorporated into the province ofLugdunensis Prima and lost its local preeminence during the 4th century. It was still calledForum in AD 950, becomingFuer by 1227.[12][6][13]
Rodumna (Roanne) was an unenclosed settlement, in contrast to theoppidum hillforts often seen as characteristic of pre-conquest Gaul. Roanne developed as an open population center where farmers and artisans flourished and Mediterranean imports were traded. Its location made it a well-frequented stopping point for travel from Lugdunum to the capitals of theArverni or theAedui, the major Gallic tribes in the center of Gaul in the Late Iron Age and early Roman period. Under Roman rule, Roanne began to specialize in pottery production.[14]
The pre-Roman siteLugdunum (modernLyon), near the confluence of theRhône andSaône rivers, does not appear to have been a major Segusiavian center of commerce or politics, but is generally thought to have had a significant sanctuary. Lugdunum was refounded in 43 BC under Roman rule as a major colonial capital with theSanctuary of the Three Gauls.[15]
