Editing Segestes

{{short description|1st century AD nobleman of the Germanic tribe of the Cherusci}}
{{about|a nobleman of a Germanic tribe|the genus of [[Mecopodinae|bush crickets]]|Segestes (katydid)}}
[[File:Benjamin West (1738-1820) - The Wife of Arminius brought captive to Germanicus - RCIN 405683 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|''[[The Wife of Arminius Brought Captive to Germanicus]]'' by [[Benjamin West]], 1773. Segestes is dressed in yellow.]]
'''Segestes''' was a [[nobleman]] of the Germanic tribe of the [[Cherusci]] involved in the events surrounding the Roman attempts to conquer northern Germany during the reign of [[Augustus]] and then [[Tiberius]].

[[Arminius]], the Cheruscan noble and military leader, had married [[Thusnelda]], Segestes' daughter, against her father's will. As a result, Segestes, who favoured Roman overlordship, bore an ongoing grudge against Arminius.  In AD 9 he warned the Roman governor [[Publius Quinctilius Varus]] of the impending uprising of his countrymen, but he was not believed.<ref>Tacitus, The Annals [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 1#55|1.55]]</ref>  Varus and his three legions subsequently perished in the three-day [[Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]], where several allied German tribes under the command of Arminius ambushed them.

Segestes openly turned against Arminius when [[Germanicus]] invaded northern Germany in AD 15 in a renewed attempt to establish Roman rule in the area. Besieged in his stronghold by his own countrymen, Segestes appealed for help to Germanicus whose forces  relieved the siege, and Segestes then handed over his pregnant daughter Thusnelda, Arminius' wife, to Germanicus as a prisoner.<ref>Tacitus, The Annals [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 1#57|1.57]]</ref> Thusnelda was taken to [[Rome]] and, together with her brother [[Segimundus]], displayed in Germanicus' victory parade in AD 17, with her father as an honoured spectator. Thusnelda never returned to her homeland. Arminius' only son, [[Thumelicus]], whom she bore while in captivity, was trained as a [[gladiator]] in [[Ravenna]] and is considered to have died in a gladiator fight before reaching the age of 20.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}

In AD 21, Segestes and other members of his family killed Arminius. Segestes was eventually given a residence by Germanicus in a Roman province west of the [[Rhine]].

==Etymology==

Segestes' name is believed to derive from [[Proto-Germanic language|Germanic]] roots meaning "master of victory;" Germanic *''segaz'' ("victory") and [[Old Frankish]] ''gastes'' ("master").<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bNwHDAAAQBAJ&dq=Segestes+germanic+name&pg=PT66|title=Four Days in September: The Battle of Teutoburg|first=Jason R.|last=Abdale|date=May 31, 2016|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=9781473860872 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==References==
The most important historical source about Segestes is [[Tacitus]], ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'', 1, 55-59. The Roman historians [[Velleius Paterculus]], [[Florus]], and [[Cassius Dio]] also mention him.

==Notes==
<references/>

==Websites==
* [http://www.clades-variana.com Varusschlacht - Clades Variana - Aliso], in German
*[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/miscellanea/teutoburg/thusnelda.html ''Thusnelda''], part of the ''Encyclopædia Romana'' by James Grout.

{{Germanic peoples}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1st-century BC births]]
[[Category:1st-century deaths]]
[[Category:Cherusci warriors]]