Segovellauni

The Segovellauni (Gaulish: Segouellauni, 'chiefs-of-victory') were a small Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Drôme department, near the present-day city of Valence, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Little is known about the early history of the Segovellauni. After 121 BC, their territory was annexed to the province of Gallia Transalpina by the Roman Republic. In 62 BC, their oppidum Ventia was destroyed by the Roman legate Manlius Lentinus during the revolt of the Allobroges. By the 1st century AD, the Segovellauni were part of the Cavarian confederation.

Name

They are mentioned as Sengalaunoì (Σεγγαλαυνοὶ; var. σεταλλανοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[1] A regio... Segovellaunorum is also attested by Pliny (1st c. AD).[2][3]

The Gaulish ethnonym Segouellauni (sing. Segouellaunos) literally means 'chiefs-of-victory'. It stems from the root sego- ('victory, strength') attached to the word uellaunos ('chief, commandant').[4]

Geography

Territory

The Segovellauni dwelled south of the Isère river and west of the Vercors Massif in the Rhône Valley, around the present-day city of Valence.[5][6] This land, corresponding to the modern Valentinois region, was called the 'Island' by Polybius and Livy in their description of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps in 218 BC, for it was situated between the Rhône and the Isère, near the confluence of the two rivers.[5] Their territory stretched in the south to the Drôme river, or perhaps further south into the plain of Montélimar. It likely covered the Vivarais region west of the Rhône, between the Eyrieux and Doux rivers.[5][6]

... [Hannibal] reached a place called the 'Island', a populous district producing abundance of corn and deriving its name from its situation; for the Rhone and Isère running along each side of it meet at its point. It is similar in size and shape to the Egyptian Delta; only in that case the sea forms the base line uniting the two branches of the Nile, while here the base line is formed by a range of mountains difficult to climb or penetrate, and, one may say, almost inaccessible.

— Polybius 2010. Historíai, 3:49.

On the fourth day’s march, he reached the Island. There, in the middle of the plains, is the confluence of the Isère and Rhone rivers, which run down from different Alpine ranges, enclosing a considerable amount of land; and the name given to it is “the Island.” The Allobroges live close by, a tribe that in those days was already second to none of the Gallic tribes in wealth or reputation.

— Livy 2019. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 21:31.

They lived south of the Allobroges, north of the Helvii, Tricastini and Vocontii, east of the Vellavi, and west of the Vertamocorii and Tricorii.[7] The Segovellauni were in control of a section of the Isère river mouth, from which they were able to hold the Allobroges at bay.[8] Like the Tricastini, they nonetheless lived as clients of the neighbouring Cavares as part of their confederation.[8][9]

Settlements

The location of the pre-Roman chief town of the Segovellauni has been debated, but it is traditionally ascribed to the oppidum of Malpas (Soyons), on the west bank of the Rhône.[10][6] During the revolt of 62 BC, the Roman legate Manlius Lentinus stationed his troops in the territory of the Segovellauni, near an oppidum named Ventia. Although its location remains obscure, some scholars have proposed to identify Ventia with Malpas, which would explain why the Roman legates Lucius Marius and Servius Galba "crossed the Rhone" towards the territory of the Allobroges, itself located between the Rhone and the Alps, in Cassius Dio's account of the events.[11]

In the second part of the 1st century BC, the Segovellauni were absorbed into the civitas Valentinorum (or colonia Valentia), founded under Caesar or Augustus.[5][12] According to Stephen L. Dyson, a border land around their capital, Valentia (modern Valence), seems to have been detached from the territory of the Cavares and given to the smaller Segovellauni by the Romans, since Pliny (1st c. AD) described the settlement as in agro Cavarum, whereas Ptolemy (2nd c. AD) had it belonging to the Segovellauni.[13]

History

Origin

Little is known about the early history of the Segovellauni. Since the 'Island' mentioned by ancient authors corresponds to their territory, some scholars have proposed that Brancus (or Braneus), the Gallic chieftain who allied with Hannibal and provided him with supplies and diplomatic protection in 218 BC, was actually Segovellaunian.[14][15] In this view, Braneus may have found an agreement with the Allobroges of the plain to let the Carthaginians move across their territory. Acting as a rearguard, Segovellaunian troops then escorted them until the Alps, where the Carthaginians were eventually left alone with the hostile Allobroges of the mountains, who were not part of the agreement.[15] In his account, however, Livy specifically states that the two chieftains were Allobroges.[16]

Early Roman period

When the Allobroges were defeated by Rome in 121 BC, their territory was annexed to the Roman Republic, and the Segovellauni certainly knew the same fate. In 62 BC, they were associated with an unsuccessful revolt against Rome led by the Allobroges, for the troops of Manlius Lentinus were stationed in their territory, near a small oppidum named Ventia.[17] According to Cassius Dio, the Roman army "so terrified the inhabitants that the majority ran away and the rest sent ambassadors regarding peace. Just then the country population coming to their aid suddenly fell upon him; and he was repulsed from the wall, but ravaged the land with impunity" until Catugnatus, the leader of the Allobroges, came to their aid with some troops dwelling along the Isère.[18] Lentinus was nearly captured by Catugnatus but a violent storm prevented the Gauls from pursuing the attack. The Roman legate then overran the Segovellauni territory again and eventually destroyed Ventia.[17]

References
  1. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:10:7.
  2. Pliny 1938. Naturalis Historia, 3:34.
  3. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Segovellauni.
  4. Delamarre 2003, p. 311.
  5. Will 1999, pp. 92–94.
  6. Silvino et al. 2011, p. 110.
  7. Talbert 2000, Map 17: Lugdunum.
  8. Dyson 1985, p. 139.
  9. Rivet 1988, p. 300.
  10. Will 1999, p. 101.
  11. Will 1999, pp. 101–102.
  12. Spickermann 2006.
  13. Dyson 1985, p. 155.
  14. Will 1999, pp. 92–93.
  15. Bocquet 2009, pp. 102–104.
  16. Rivet 1988, p. 31.
  17. Will 1999, pp. 92–95.
  18. Cassius Dio 1914. Rhōmaïkḕ Historía, 37:47–48.

Primary sources
  • Cassius Dio (1914). Roman History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Cary, Earnest; Foster, Herbert B. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-99041-8.
  • Livy (2019). History of Rome. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Yardley, J. C. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674992566.
  • Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674993648.
  • Polybius (2010). The Histories. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Paton, W. R.; Walbank, F. W.; Habicht, Christian. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-99637-3.

Bibliography
  • Bocquet, Aimé (2009). Hannibal chez les Allobroges: 218 avant Jésus-Christ : la grande traversée des Alpes. La Fontaine de Siloë. ISBN 978-2-84206-419-8.
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
  • Dyson, Stephen L. (1985). The Creation of the Roman Frontier (2014 ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-5489-9.
  • Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
  • Rivet, A. L. F. (1988). Gallia Narbonensis: With a Chapter on Alpes Maritimae : Southern France in Roman Times. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-5860-2.
  • Spickermann, Wolfgang (2006). "Segovellauni". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1106860.
  • Silvino, Tony; Maza, Guillaume; Faure, Patrice; Tran, Nicolas; Argant, Thierry (2011). "Les origines de la colonie romaine de valence (Drôme)". Gallia. 68 (2): 109–154. ISSN 0016-4119. JSTOR 43616895.
  • Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
  • Will, Ernest (1999). "Les origines de la colonie romaine de Valence". Bulletin de la Société nationale des Antiquaires de France. 1996 (1): 92–102. doi:10.3406/bsnaf.1999.10071.
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