The Ilvates were a Ligurian

Ligures

The Ligures were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria, a region of north-western Italy.-Classical sources:...

 tribe, whose name is found only in the writings of Livy

Livy

Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

. He mentions them first as taking up arms in 200 BCE, in concert with the Gaulish tribes of the Insubres

Insubres

The Insubres were a Gaulish population settled in Insubria, in what is now Lombardy . They were the founders of Milan . Though ethnically Celtic at the time of Roman conquest , they were most likely the result of the fusion of pre-existing Ligurian, Celtic and "Italic" population strata with Gaulish...

 and Cenomani

Cenomani (Cisalpine Gaul)

The Cenomani , was an ancient tribe of the Cisalpine Gauls, who occupied the tract north of the Padus , between the Insubres on the west and the Veneti on the east. Their territory appears to have extended from the river Addua to the Athesis...

, to destroy the Roman colonies of Placentia (modern Piacenza

Piacenza

Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza...

) and Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...

. They are again noticed three years later as being still in arms, after the submission of their Transpadane allies; but in the course of that year's campaign (197 BCE) they were reduced by the consul Quintus Minucius, and their name does not again appear in history. (Liv. xxx. 10, xxxi. 29, 30.) From the circumstances here related, it is clear that they dwelt on the north slopes of the Apennines, towards the plains of the Padus (modern Po River

Po River

The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...

), and apparently not very far from Clastidium (modern Casteggio

Casteggio

Casteggio is a comune in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 61 km south of Milan and about 25 km south of Pavia...

); but we cannot determine with certainty either the position or extent of their territory. Their name, like those of most of the Ligurian tribes mentioned by Livy, had disappeared in the Augustan

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

 age, and is not found in any of the geographers. Walekenaer, however, supposes the Eleates over whom the consul Marcus Fulvius Nobilior

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (consul 159 BC)

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior was a Roman politician. He is not to be confused with his father who was also called Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and who also served as consul....

 celebrated a triumph in 159 BCE (Fast. Capit. ap. Gruter, p. 297), and who are in all probability the same people with the Veleiates of Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

, to be identical also with the Ilvates of Livy; but this cannot be assumed without further proof. (Walckenaer, Géogr. des Gaules, vol. i. p. 154.)