Bellovesus
Encyclopedia
Bellovesus was a legendary Gallic
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

 king. He lived around 600 BCE and is remembered for invading northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 with his people during the legendary reign of the 5th king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus
Tarquinius Priscus
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, also called Tarquin the Elder or Tarquin I, was the legendary fifth King of Rome from 616 BC to 579 BC. His wife was Tanaquil.-Early life:According to Livy, Tarquinius Priscus came from the Etruria...

 (from 616 BCE to 579 BCE), although archeology would associate Gallic expansion into Italy to around 500 BCE.

The historical writer Livius marks that he was the son of the sister of the king Ambigatus. His family belonged to the tribe of Bituriges
Bituriges
The Bituriges was a tribe with its capital at Bourges .Early in the 1st century BCE, they had been one of the main tribes, especially in terms of Druids and their political influence. But they soon declined in power as the Druids were an important target for Julius Caesar in his conquest of Gaul...

, which were at this time the most powerful Gaulic tribe and in each case placed therefore the king of all Gaul. In this time the Gaulish people were suffering from overpopulation
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...

, so that it became necessary to open new settlement areas. Bellovesus and his brother Segovesus were entrusted with this task. While Segovesus was chosen by the gods — that is, by lot, got an indication to look in the Hercynian Forest
Hercynian Forest
The Hercynian Forest was an ancient and dense forest that stretched eastward from the Rhine River across southern Germany and formed the northern boundary of that part of Europe known to writers of antiquity. The ancient sources are equivocal about how far east it extended...

 for new areas to settle — Bellovesus was led to upper Italy.

Bellovesus led allegedly a group of six surplus tribes forward over the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

: Bituriges, Arverni
Arverni
The Arverni were a Gallic tribe living in what is now the Auvergne region of France during the last centuries BC. One of the most powerful tribes in ancient Gaul, they opposed the Romans on several occasions...

, Senones
Senones
The Senones were an ancient Gaulish tribe.In about 400 BC they crossed the Alps and, having driven out the Umbrians settled on the east coast of Italy from Forlì to Ancona, in the so-called ager Gallicus, and founded the town of Sena Gallica , which became their capital. In 391 BC they invaded...

, Aedui
Aedui
Aedui, Haedui or Hedui , were a Gallic people of Gallia Lugdunensis, who inhabited the country between the Arar and Liger , in today's France. Their territory thus included the greater part of the modern departments of Saône-et-Loire, Côte-d'Or and Nièvre.-Geography:The country of the Aedui is...

, Ambarri
Ambarri
The Ambarri were a Gallic people, whom Julius Caesar calls close allies and kinsmen of the Aedui. If the reading Aedui Ambarri in the passage referred to is correct, the Ambarri were Aedui. They are not mentioned among the clientes of the Aedui. The Ambarri were a Gallic people, whom Julius Caesar...

, Carnutes
Carnutes
The Carnutes, a powerful Celtic people in the heart of independent Gaul, dwelled in a particularly extensive territory between the Sequana and the Liger rivers. Their lands later corresponded to the dioceses of Chartres, Orléans and Blois, that is, the greater part of the modern departments of...

, and Aulerci
Aulerci
Aulerci is a generic name for some of the Celtic peoples of ancient Gaul, which included several Celtic tribes. Julius Caesar names the Aulerci with the Veneti and the other maritime states. In B. G. vii...

. The Alps represented an insurmountable hurdle for the course however first. Only after Bellovesus received support from the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

, who in the area of the Salyes
Salyes
The powerful military tribal confederation of the Salyes or Salluvii in ancient geography, occupied the plain of the Druentia in southern Gaul between the Rhône River and the Alps...

 had landed and established the port-city of Massilia (Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

) in c. 600 BCE, did Bellovesus follow a divine sign and succeed in the crossing of the Alps through a pass in the area of Taurini
Taurini
The Taurini were an ancient Celto-Ligurian Alpine people, who occupied the upper valley of the river Po, in the centre of modern Piedmont.In 218 BC, they were attacked by Hannibal since his allies were the Insubres. The Taurini and the Insubres had a long-standing feud. Their chief town was...

. Having arrived in Italy, the Gauls defeated the Etruscans at the Ticino River
Ticino River
The river Ticino is a left-bank tributary of the Po River. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows.-The course:...

 and settled in an area which was later called Insubria
Insubria
Insubria is a historical-geographical region which corresponds to the area inhabited in Classical antiquity by the Insubres. Secondarily the name can refer to the Duchy of Milan...

. Here Bellovesus founded the city of Mediolanum
Mediolanum
Mediolanum, the ancient Milan, was an important Celtic and then Roman centre of northern Italy. This article charts the history of the city from its settlement by the Insubres around 600 BC, through its conquest by the Romans and its development into a key centre of Western Christianity and capital...

, the modern Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

.

Secondary sources

  • Hans Georg Gundel: Bellovesus. In: Der Kleine Pauly. Lexikon der Antike in fünf Bänden. Volume 1, frame 859.

External links

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