European Kingdoms

Celto-Alpine Tribes (Gauls)
Incorporating the Belouni, Galiantes, Gennanates, Memini, Montunates, Nearchi, Sentii, Tricores, & Tricorii

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Prior to domination by Rome, the Alpine region contained various populations which had a complex, obscure, and ethnically-multilayered history. Two major ethnic groups were recorded (aside from intrusions by the Etruscans and Veneti), these being the Euganei on the north Italian plain and the Alpine foothills, and the Raeti in the Trentino and Alto Adige valleys.

There were a great many more minor groups, all of which seem to have formed part of the initial phase of the Golasecca culture. Generally they belonged to one or the other of these though, or to the coastal Ligurians who had gradually penetrated the Alps from the south, but who also extended a considerable way westwards along the Mediterranean coast.

The first century BC writer, Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus), wrote about an initial Celtic breakthrough into Italy through the western Alps, with the story dated to about 600 BC. Continuous waves of Celts followed that path over the next two or three hundred years to create a substantial Celtic population across the north Italian plain during the Roman republic period.

This not only pushed out the previously-dominant Etruscans (through at-least-partially documented warfare), but certainly would also have compressed the main Ligurian population southwards towards the coast. Several large Celtic tribes intruded, and their presence over time created hybrid Celto-Ligurian tribes out of the initial Ligurian population.

It also resulted in a number of very minor Celtic tribes or clans in the region, the smallest of which are catalogued here. This multiplicity was probably the result of the broken landscape of the western Alpine region, with its many valleys and passes which would have forced fairly independent-minded groups to develop. This region edged the Taurisci to the north-east. That powerful tribal confederation itself commanded a spate of minor tribes, some of which are included here.

Taken in alphabetical order, these tribes included the Belouni (Lake Garda), the Galianates (near Como), the Gennanates (in the middle Vale Trompia), the Memini (in what became the Comtat Venaissin), the Montunates to the north of Milan, the Nearchi (of the southern slopes of the Alpilles), the Sentii (Hautes-Alpe département in Provence), the Tricores (probably around L'Estaque and Vitrolles, but perhaps part of a minor tribe known as the Tricolti), and the Tricorii (in the Drac valley).

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(Information by Trish Wilson, with additional information by Peter Kessler, & Edward Dawson, from The History of Rome, Volume 1, Titus Livius (translated by Rev Canon Roberts), from The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Les peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: Étude de géographie historique, Guy Barruol (De Boccard, 1999), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), from Die Kelten in Österreich nach den ältesten Berichten der Antike, Gerhard Dobesch (in German), from Urbanizzazione delle campagne nell'Italia antica, Lorenzo Quilici & Stefania Quilici Gigli (in Italian), from La frontiera padana, Mauro Poletti (in Italian), and from External Links: Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples, and Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith (1854, Perseus Digital Library), and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively), and Le Alpi (Università di Trento), and Pleiades (Ancient World Mapping Center and Institute for the Study of the Ancient World).)

c.600 BC

The first century BC writer, Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus), writes of an invasion into Italy of Celts during the reign of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome. This event will reshape the Alpine populations into a pattern which is familiar to Romans of the first century BC.

Early Rome would have looked more like a large, walled village than the collection of grand stone edifices which are more familiar from the imperial period

As archaeology seems to point to a start date of around 500 BC for the beginning of a serious wave of Celtic incursions into Italy, this event has either been misremembered by later Romans or is an early precursor to the main wave of incursions, probably as a result of the same apparent overpopulation which doubtless forces the start of migration into Iberia around a century earlier than this.

That overpopulation is very evident in Gaul, as this is the direction from which the Celts travel. Their advance into the Po Valley means confrontation with Etruscans who dwell between the Apennines and the Alps.

It also forces the Ligurians southwards, and the ancestors of the Lepontii northwards, while the Raeti also have to relocate, concentrating themselves in the Alps (according to Pliny the Elder).

It is possible that the Ligurian relocation serves to fracture once-large tribes into the many smaller units which are later recorded in the western Alps (and beyond in the case of a potential component of the Cantabri tribe).

An idealised illustration of Gauls on an expedition, from A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times Volume I by Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

Few, if any tribal oppida are known, although best guesses are provided. Celticisation follows relocation to create Celto-Ligurian tribes. Many larger purely Gaulish tribes also settle in the general region, on the southern and western borders of the Noricum and in northern Italy.

These include the Allobroges, Ambidravi, Ambisontes, Anamares, Belaci, Boii, Brigantii, Carni, Catubrini, Caturiges, Cavari, Cenomani, Elveti, Graioceli, Helvetii, Insubres, Laianci, Libici, Lingones, Medulli, Nantuates, Quariates, Saevates, Salassi, Savincates, Sebagini, Seduni, Segovellauni, Segovii, Segusini, Senones, Serapili, Sereti, Sevarces, Suelteri, Tarvisii, Tricastii, Tricolti (?), Uperaci, Veragri, Venisami, Vertamocores, Verucini, Vocontii, and Votodroni while smaller tribes listed below.

The origins of the Euganei, Ligurians, Raeti, Veneti, and Vindelici are confused and unclear, but in the last half of the first millennium BC they were gradually being Celticised or were combining multiple influences to create hybrid tribes (click or tap on map to view full sized)

The Belouni are little-known other than they are originally Gauls. They dwell on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, to the north of the Arusnates and opposite the Becanenses, and are mentioned by Ptolemy. More specifically they would seem to be settled near the commune of Nago-Torbole at the north-eastern end of Lake Garda.

The Galianates are generally classed as being a Celtic tribe, occupying territory in and around the commune of Inverigo, Como, to the south of the lake, near the Insubres. It is through here in the Roman period that the Via Regina passes, while a major Celto-Ligurian tribe is nearby: the Orobii.

The Gennanates in the Roman period inhabits the middle Val Trompia, approximately between Villa Carcina and Inzino. These facts are also reported on Roman tombstones which remain in place at the entrance to Palazzo Avogadro in Zanano.

This vast map covers just about all possible tribes which were documented in the first centuries BC and AD, mostly by the Romans and Greeks, and with an especial focus on 52 BC (click or tap on map to view at an intermediate size)

The Memini live in what becomes the medieval Comtat Venaissin, part of the Papal enclave of Avignon. They are mentioned by Pliny under the term Carpentorate Meminorum. Ptolemy refers to them under the Greek version of their name. Μήμινοι. A funerary inscription which has been discovered in Orange cites COL(ONIAE) IVL(IAE) MEM(INORVM).

According to Pliny, their principal civitas is Carpentorate, today the commune of Carpentras on the Rhône, below Mont Ventoux, about twenty-three kilometres to the north-east of Avignon which is famous for its black truffles. Nothing is known of their history, although it is understood that they are part of the Cavari confederation.

The Montunates supposedly occupy territory around Albizzate (Varese) and may be part of the Insubres. The Pleiades map places them a little farther to the north, near the commune of Sumirago, about thirty-eight kilometres to the north-west of Milan.

The Rhodanus (the modern River Rhône) formed the western border of the territory which belonged to the Salyes confederation by the time the Romans were able to note their existence

The Nearchi are members of the Salyes confederation. They are settled to the north of the Crau plain and on the southern slope of the Alpilles. Their capital at Bergine can potentially be identified with Ernaginum (today within the territory of the commune of Tarascon, near Saint-Étienne-du-Grès).

They are mentioned by Ptolemy as being one of the Roman mansio, a road station at the intersection of three major Roman roads: Via Domitia, Via Aurelia, and Via Agrippa. This population is primarily agricultural in nature, with sheep-rearing also important.

Ptolemy notes that the Sentii or Sentioi occupy territory around today's Senez in south-eastern France. Their chief settlement is Sanitium (Senez), in the Hautes-Alpes of Provence about sixty kilometres due east of Oraison on the Rhône. The settlement is not mentioned in ancient sources until the Notitia Galliarum of the fourth-to-sixth century AD.

The Tricores dwell near the Mediterranean, between the Rhône and Massalia (Marseille). They are mentioned only by Pliny within 'Tricorium' in the first century AD (making it likely that they are Tricolti locals). The Gaulish name probably derives from the prefix 'tri-', meaning 'three', plus 'corio-', meaning 'army'. According to Guy Barruol they are part of the Salyes confederation.

The Celtic tribes of the Western Alps were relatively small and fairly fragmented, but they made up for that with a level of belligerence and fighting ability which often stunned their major opponents, including the Romans

Pliny describes their territory as lying between the Mediterranean and the Tritolli to their north, with the Rhône to their west and Massalia to their east. Territory around L'Estaque and Vitrolles is the most likely location.

The Tricorii are located in the Drac valley, near the Vocontii, around the confluence of the River Drac with the River Isere at Grenoble. Strabo mentions them, while Livy calls them 'Trigorios', and Ammianus Marcellinus used 'Tricorios'.

According to both Livy and Ammianus Marcellus, Hannibal marches through their territory in 218 BC. They may also later fight as allies of Caesar, when he has to face the Tigurini.

52 BC

The Celts have rallied around Vercingetorix of the Arverni. After some success against Julius Caesar and his Roman legions, the Gaulish cavalry is routed in battle. Vercingetorix withdraws in good order to Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii which Caesar subsequently besieges until the Gauls surrender.

The mountainous Alpine country of the Raeti into which some Ligurians also penetrated would have supplied a relatively tough tribal life, with little thriving or expansion, and relatively easy absorption into Celtic and Latin cultures

Donnus commands the Ligurians around the Cottian Alps, although the tribes he controls are not specified. He initially opposes Caesar, but later comes to an agreement with him which means peace in his particular Alpine region for him and his Cotti Regnum.

27 BC

By the time at which Caesar Augustus (Octavian) becomes dictator of Rome in fact but not in name, many of the non-Indo-European elements in the Alpine region and the western Alps largely seem to have lost their native language, with it having been replaced by Celtic speech, and they now face the certainty of being Latinised.

25 - 15 BC

The Alpine Wars sees the commanders of the recent Cantabrian Wars of Iberia (where they had fought against the Astures and Cantabri confederations) now in the Alps. These commanders are Tiberius, his brother Drusus, and Publius Silius Nerva (Noricum) who, despite his cack-handed efforts in Iberia, has since become governor of Illyricum.

During his long 'reign' as Rome's first citizen, Augustus brought peace to the city and oversaw its transition from failing republic to vigorous and expanding empire

This is part of a series of three wars which follow one another, ending in Germania Magna. The Alpine Wars (or Bellum Alpinum) prepare the ground for the Roman onslaught against the Germanic tribes. They cover four stages, the major being the third, a two-pronged attack which is spearheaded by Tiberius and Drusus, one moving in from Gaul and the other from northern Italy.

Stage one of the attack sees the Salassi as the first to fall. Stage two occurs in the Noricum and Pannonia, although this has nothing to do with the Trumpilini, Camuni, Venostes, and Vennonetes who are the first to fall under the imperial heel during stage three. This campaign must be quite something, given what is achieved during the summer of 15 BC.

The wars are necessary from the Roman standpoint in order to secure full control, in turn, both of Iberia and the Alps. Doing so in the latter will fill in a gap between Roman Italy and occupied Gaul.

The Tropaeum Alpium ('Trophy of the Alps') stands majestically in the commune of La Turbie on the French Riviera, overlooking the principality of Monaco, and marking the final victory over the Alpine tribes by Augustus

The Brigantii and their immediate neighbours are defeated by 15 BC, including the Vindelici, the Raeti, and the Ambisontes. All of them are drawn into the newly-forming imperial structure for the duration of its existence.

Cottius - for whom the Cottian Alps are named - initially maintains the independence of his people (who may or may not include the Segusini but certainly does include the Adenates). Later he agrees to an alliance with Rome which in effect makes him a client king of the Cotti Regnum. He and his family continue to govern as prefects of Rome (this lasts until AD 63).

The fact that the Roman empire now unquestionably controls the entire Alpine region probably hastens the final decline and disappearance of any non-Indo-European traits, customs, and languages here. The population is thoroughly Latinised as part of the empire, and it share's the empire's eventual fate.

The impressive, immaculately-restored triumphal Arch of Augustus sits just outside the centre of the modern town of Susa, a town which has its origins in the Segusini tribal oppidum of Segusio