11.28.05
Cisalpina Gaul. History of Varese Italian Lakes
Cisalpina Gaul. History of Varese Italian Lakes
In 232 the Tribune Gaius Flaminius passed an agrarian law, giving land to Legionary veterans and citizens. This land, won from the Gauls at the battle of Lake Vadimanus, represented the territory known as Cisalpina Gaul. Over the next 50 years Roman colonists poured into previously occupied Celtic territory and established new colonies.
The extension of the Flaminian Way, along with increased colonization angered the resident Gauls. A majority of local tribes, mainly the Insubres and the Gaesatae from Gallia Transalpina, rose in arms against Rome. For nearly 10 years, military action in the Alps region was mostly minor scale. By 225 BC, however, the Gauls had gathered enough support to invade Roman territory and threaten the city of Rome.
As many as 70,000 tribal warriors pushed through Etruria ravaging the country as it went. The Romans though, having learned so much from its recent large scale wars, were prepared. Using there superior legionary and tactical strategies the Romans surrounded the Gallic invaders near Telamon in 222 BC. Under the command of Consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, two Roman armies defeated the invasion and put an end to the threat. Plutarch, in his writings, tells us that Marcellus himself won the day by becoming the third and final Roman commander in history to kill a foreign king in single combat, Britomartus of the Gaesatae. “The first was Romulus, after having slain Acron, king of the Caeninenses: the second, Cornelius Cossus, who slew Tolumnius the Etruscan: and then Marcellus, having killed Britomartus king of the Gauls.
After the defeat at Telamon, the Gauls were driven back towards the Valley of the Po and to the Alps. The war would end with Rome victorious having new territory secured and ready for occupation and settlement. Three military colonies were established to hold the Gauls at bay; Placentia and Cremona in Insubrian territory and Mutina in the Boii. The Via Flaminia road was extended from Spoletium to Ariminum a vital part of Roman expansion. By virtue of being bestowed with new land to settle and work, the Roman and Italian people who benefited from colonization became even more devoted to Rome and authority in Italy was further secured.
Hannibal and the Second Punic War would again place this authority in jeopardy, however. As Hannibal crossed the Alps on his way to Italy, his success stirred the Gauls once more and many joined him against Rome. Cisalpine Gaul wouldn’t be fully pacified until Hannibal’s defeat; and the rest of Gallia Transalpina until the arrival of Caesar in the mid 1st century BC.
Italian Lakes Tourist Information Guides – Tourism in Varese.
