The Sequani were a Gallic tribe that lived in the area near the upper part of the Arar river (Saône), the valley of the Doubs, and the Jura Mountains during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name

They are named in Latin as "Sequani" by Caesar (mid-1st century BC), Livy (late 1st century BC), Pliny (1st century AD), and Ammianus Marcellinus (4th century AD), and in Greek as "Sēkoanoi" (acc. Σηκοανούς) by Strabo (early 1st century AD).

The Gaulish group name "Sequani" (singular: "Sequanos") comes from the Celtic name of the Seine river, "Sequana." This may suggest that their original home was near the Seine river.

Geography

The country of the Sequani was located in Franche-Comté and part of Burgundy. The Jura Mountains separated the Sequani from the Helvetii to the east, but the mountains were controlled by the Sequani, as the narrow pass between the Rhone River and Lake Geneva was Sequanian territory. The Sequani did not live at the place where the Saône River flows into the Rhone, because the Helvetii attacked the lands of the Aedui there. If a line is drawn westward from the Jura Mountains, it suggests the southern border of the Sequani territory was near Mâcon, but Mâcon belonged to the Aedui. Strabo wrote that the Arar River separated the Sequani from the Aedui and the Lingones, meaning the Sequani lived on the eastern side of the Saône River. In the northeast, the Sequani territory reached the Rhine River.

History

Before Julius Caesar arrived in Gaul, the Sequani supported the Arverni in their conflict with the Aedui. They hired the Suebi, led by Ariovistus, to cross the Rhine and help them in 71 BC. Although this aid helped the Sequani defeat the Aedui, it also worsened their situation. Ariovistus took a third of their land, threatened to take more, and forced them into a form of slavery.

Because of this, the Sequani asked Julius Caesar for help. In 58 BC, Caesar drove the Germanic tribes away but required the Sequani to give up the land they had gained from the Aedui. This made the Sequani very angry, and they joined Vercingetorix’s rebellion in 52 BC. They fought at Alesia and shared in its defeat.

Under Augustus, the area known as Sequania became part of Belgica. After Vitellius died in 69 AD, the people of Sequania refused to join a Gallic revolt led by Gaius Julius Civilis and Julius Sabinus. They drove Sabinus out of their territory after he invaded. A triumphal arch in Vesontio (Besançon), which was later made a Roman colony, may have been built to honor this action.

Diocletian later added Helvetia and part of Germania Superior to Sequania, which was then called Provincia Maxima Sequanorum. Vesontio became the capital of the region, known as Metropolis civitas Vesontiensium. The southern part of this area was called Sapaudia, which later became the name of the region of Savoy. Fifty years later, Gaul was invaded by barbarians, and Vesontio was destroyed in 355 AD. Under Julian, the city regained some importance as a fortified town and resisted attacks by the Vandals. Later, when Rome could no longer protect Gaul, the Sequani were absorbed into the newly formed Kingdom of Burgundy.

Major settlements

• Vesontio (Besançon)
• Luxovium (Luxeuil-les-Bains)
• Loposagium (Luxiol)
• Portus Abucini (Port-sur-Saône)
• Segobudium (Seveux)
• Epamanduodurum (Mandeure)
• Ariolica (Pontarlier)
• Magetobria / Admagetobria (Broye-lès-Pesmes)
• Pons Dubis (Pontoux)
• Castro Vesulio (Vesoul)