FORUM SEGUSIANORUM
FORUM SEGUSIANORUM a town of the Segusiani (
Ptol. 2.8), who were on the west bank of the Rhone, in the latitude of Lugdunum.
The term Forum seems to indicate the chief town of the Segusiani, or a place where a Conventus was held; and the place has the usual mark of a capital or chief town in the Table.
A place called
Fears, or more properly
Feur, west of
Lyon, represents the Forum Segusianorum.
An inscription was found at
Feurs, as it seems to this effect:--“Fabri Tign. qui Foro Segus. consistent;” and La Mure, in his
Histoire du Forest (Lyon, 1671), mentions four milestones found at
Feurs, with the inscriptions I, II, III, IIII, each preceded by
[p. 1.911]L, which means leuga or league. Thus, it appears that a road was measured from this Forum.
It is also stated that the inscription C. IVL. F. SEG. LIBERA. occurs on these stones, or on some of them. From this the place appears to have been made a Colonia, with the title of Liberi, which Pliny (
4.18) gives to the Segusiani. “The historian of the
Forez (Forest) mentions a Roman copper weight, on which were marked in characters of silver DEAE SEG. F., a circumstance which shows that the Forum of the Segusiani was deified, and accordingly had an honour which we know to have been conferred on several other towns in Gaul.” (D'Anville.)
The Table mentions Forum Segustavarum, on a road from Segodum (
Rhodez) to Lugdunum (
Lyon), and it is the next place to Lugdunum. Part of the route is this:--Icidmago (
Issengeaux), Aquis Segeste, Foro Segustavarum, Lugdunum. Another route in the Table, between Augustonemetum (
Cler. mont) and Lugdunum, stands thus in the last part:--Rodamna (
Rouanne), Mediolanum (
Meylieu), Foro Segustavarum, Lugdunum. D'Anville (
Notice, art.
Mediolanum) supposes that Mediolanum is wrongly placed in the Table, and he inserts it between Forum Segusianorum and Lugdunum. Walckenaer contends that the Table and its distances are right, that Forum Segustavarum is a different place from Forum Segusianorum, and he places it in the neighbourhood of
Farnay. The measures, he says, are very exact, as we may convince ourselves by seeing how he has applied them to our modern maps.
But we give no confidence to these assertions. Segustavarum and Segusianorum are evidently the same word, and the difference in a few letters is easily explained by their close resemblance, and the liability of one being put for the other.
The district of
Forez or
Foreste is supposed to derive its name from Pagus Forensis, the canton of the Forum. Parts of the aqueduct which brought water to Forum Segusianorum still remain.
In one part the aqueduct is about 10 feet high to the spring of the arch, and about 3 feet wide.
The outer wall is formed of small red stones, and the inner part of fragments of the same stone embedded in cement.
A very remarkable mosaic was discovered at
Feurs a few years ago, under the entrance door of a house.
There are also in the courts of the same house some Corinthian columns, which support a staircase.
The church of
Feurs appears to have been built with the materials of Roman edifices.
There are also remains of ancient baths near a part of the town called the
Palais. Near this Palais were found, under the ground, the four milestones mentioned above. They are now placed in a part of the town, according to a recent authority, where they are much exposed to damage. (D'Anville,
Notice, &c.; Walckenaer,
Géog. &c. vol. i. p. 332; Ukert,
Gallien; Richard et Hocquart,
Guide, &c.)
[
G.L]
