European Kingdoms

Intemelii (Ligurians)

Alpine Tribes (Intro) Alpine Tribes Alpine Groups (Pre-Roman) Aquitani Tribes Celtic Tribes Rome

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 Ligurians were a people who, before and during the Roman republic period, could be found in north-western Italy. They largely occupied territory which today forms the region of Liguria, extending west into Piedmont to the south of the River Po and even as far as the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Prior to Roman pressure they may have extended as far as northern Tuscany and across the Pyrenees into Catalonia.

The first century BC writer, Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus), wrote about the 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.

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 (primarily) towards the coast, which is where the later Intemelii and Ingauni could be found.

Other Ligurian groups - certainly those in the western Alps - became Celto-Ligurians over time as the powerful newcomers increased dominance over them. More potential Ligurians in the north were compressed into the foothills of the Alps (the Lepontii), perhaps also taking on board a Raeti influx (or vice versa - their story is complicated), while the Vindelici could be found on the opposite side of the Alps.

(Information by Trish Wilson, with additional information 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), from Geography, Strabo (HC Hamilton Esq & W Falconer MA Edition, Eds, George Bell & Sons, 1903), 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).)

205 BC

The Intemelii name is first mentioned in 205 BC, on the occasion of the landing of Mago, brother of Hannibal of Carthage, in Ligurian territory. The Ingauni, near coastal neighbours of the Intemelli, are currently engaged in hostilities against the Epanterii, a neighbouring tribe of theirs which appears to dwell further inland.

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)

Mago concludes an alliance with the Ingauni, and supports them against the Alpine tribes of the interior. He subsequently returns to their capital following his defeat by the Romans in Cisalpine Gaul during the Second Punic War, and it is from here that he departs for Africa in 203 BC.

185 - 180 BC

The Ingauni are at war with the Romans in 185 BC. Their territory is invaded by Consul Appius Claudius, who defeats them in several battles and takes six of their towns. Four years later, in 181/180 BC, they are still in arms, and are attacked for the second time, by Proconsul Aemilius Paullus, having come close to overwhelming him in his camp.

Roman accounts state that fifteen thousand of the enemy are killed and two and-a-half thousand are taken prisoner (seemingly an imbalance as prisoners more normally outnumber fatalities). This victory procures the submission of the whole of the Ligurian people to Roman authority.

Pictured here are both sides of a Roman silver dinarius from the official mint, dated to around 146 BC - the mounted attacker on the reverse accompanied by his dog is fairly typical as Roman troops would often bring their mastiffs along with them so that, while the soldier was fighting the enemy above with spear and long knife, their dogs would be biting the enemy's legs from below

The maritime Intemelli and Ingauni and their piratical habits are mentioned at this point in history - 180 BC - when a Roman squadron has to pay them a visit to repress their activities even though they have only just been pacified.

AD 23

The final edition of Strabo's Geography is published and the complete work survives today. He talks a good deal about Roman battles as part of the Alpine Wars to clear the Alpine passes to Gaul, passes which are occupied by the Ligurians amongst others (including the Ligurian Cotti Regnum).

The 'Trophy of the Alps' is a Roman monument which is erected in 5 BC at the village of La Turbie both to commemorate the conquest of the Alps and the submission of forty-four Ligurian tribes during Augustus' campaigns in 25 BC, 16 BC, and 15 BC and also to mark the boundary between Italy and 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 Ligurians remain identifiable in the form of the Ingauni and Intemelii, two main groups which are sometimes referred to by modern writers as tribes. The main settlement for the former is Albingaunum (modern Albenga), and for the latter Albium Intemelium (now Vintimiglia).

They retain their piratical habits but, in effect, live on reservations (prescribed territory which is fixed in sized by the Romans). In time all Ligurians and Celto-Ligurians are subsumed by Roman (Latin) culture and language.