Segontium
Segontium is a Roman auxiliary fort, located on the outskirts of
Caernarfon in
north Wales.
It probably takes its name from the nearby
River Seiont, and may be related to the
Segontiaci, a British tribe mentioned by
Julius Caesar. The fort was founded by
Agricola in 77 or 78 AD after he had conquered the
Ordovices. It was the main Roman fort in North Wales and was designed to hold about a thousand
auxiliary infantry. It was connected by a
Roman road to the legionary base at
Chester. Unlike the more recent
Caernarfon castle alongside the Seiont estuary, Segontium is located on higher ground giving a good view of the
Menai Straits.
The original timber defences were rebuilt in stone in the first half of the second century. An inscription on an
aqueduct from the time of the Emperor
Septimius Severus indicates that at that time it was garrisoned by Cohors I Sunicorum, which would have originally been levied among the Sunici of
Gallia Belgica. The site is now cut through by the A4085 road to Beddgelert, but the remains of most of the buildings are preserved. There is a visitor centre and a small museum exhibiting finds made in and around the fort. Outside the fort, the remains of a civilian settlement have been found, together with a temple of
Mithras and a cemetery.
The town of Caernarfon (="Fort in Arfon") takes its name from Segontium.
In "The dream of Macsen Wledig", one of the Four Independent Tales in the
Mabinogion, Macsen (who can be identified with
Magnus Maximus, who made a bid for Roman emperor in
383) dreams of a beautiful woman who turns out to be at "the fort at the mouth of the Seiont".
*
Frances Lynch (1995)
A guide to ancient and historic Wales: Gwynedd (HMSO)
*
R.E. Mortimer Wheeler (1924)
Segontium and the Roman occupation of Wales (Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion)
*
Segontium on Roman-Britain.org
