Rigosages
gaulish mercenary people known from Polybius
The Rigosages (Ancient Greek: Ῥιγοσάγες; also Rhigosages) were a Gallic people known from a single mention by Polybius. They served as mercenaries in the army of the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 221 BC, and are not otherwise attested.
Name
They are mentioned as Rigosages (Ῥιγοσάγες) only by Polybius (2nd century BC), who records them as mercenaries in the Seleucid army.
The name is formed with the Gaulish suffix sagi- ('seeking'), as in the Galatian tribes Tectosages and Aigosages. The meaning of the first element is uncertain. Xavier Delamarre has proposed to see the Gaulish rix ('king'), and tentatively translates the name as 'those who seek a king'.
History
Like the Aigosages, whom Attalus I brought across the Hellespont, the Rigosages formed a band of mercenaries rather than one of the Galatian peoples settled permanently in Galatia in the early 3rd century BC.
They fought as mercenaries in the army of the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 221 BC. Nothing further is recorded of them.
References
Primary sources
Polybius (1923). The Histories, Volume III: Books 5–8. Loeb Classical Library.
The public source identifies “Rigosages” as gaulish mercenary people known from Polybius. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Rigosages, gaulish and mercenary.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rigosages” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.