Setantii

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The Setantii (also Segantii or Sistuntii) were a pre-Roman British tribe who apparently lived in the western and southern littoral of Lancashire in England. It is likely the tribe were a sept or sub-tribe of the Brigantes, who, at the time of the Roman invasion, dominated much of what is now northern England.^[1]

Their name is known from a single source only, the 2nd century Geographia of Claudius Ptolemaeus. Recorded there is the placename Portus Setantiorum or 'Port of the Setantii'.^[2] It has probably long since been inundated by the sea, but, because of the pattern of Roman roads in the area, is widely believed to have been located near the modern port of Fleetwood off Rossall Point at the mouth of the River Wyre.^[1] The tribe may also be remembered in the hydronym of Seteia, also recorded by Ptolemy and assumed by its position in his text to refer to the River Mersey.

The name of the tribe has been interpreted as meaning 'dwellers in the water country' and may be associated with the Irish hero Cúchulainn, whose birthname, Sétanta, bears clear similarities to it.^[1] Perhaps they originated from the area around his chief residence at Tara and the Ulster coast. Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, celticist and the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University, Sir John Rhys, also suggested an association between these two and Seithenyn, a Welsh character known from the Black Book of Carmarthen.^[3]

The extent of the Setantii territory is unknown, but it has been suggested that the southernmost boundary was the Mersey itself, with the northern reaches perhaps stretching as far as Borrow Beck, just south of Tebay, in Westmorland (now southern Cumbria).^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Rivet, A;Smith, Colin (1979). Place Names of Roman Britain, Batsford Ltd, ISBN 0713420774

[edit] External links