Cisalpine Gaul (Latin:Gallia Cisalpina, also calledGallia Citerior orGallia Togata[2]) was the name given, especially during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, to a region of land inhabited byCelts (Gauls), corresponding to what is now most of northern Italy.
After its conquest by theRoman Republic in the 200s BC, it was considered geographically part ofRoman Italy but remained administratively separated until 42 BC.[3] It was aRoman province from c. 81 BC until 42 BC, when it wasde jure merged intoRoman Italy as already planned byJulius Caesar.[4][5]
Cisalpine means "on this side of theAlps" (from the perspective of the Romans), as opposed toTransalpine Gaul ("on the far side of the Alps").[6]
Gallia Cisalpina was further subdivided intoGallia Cispadana andGallia Transpadana, i.e., its portions south and north of thePo River, respectively.
The Roman province of the 1st century BC was bounded on the north and west by the Alps, in the south as far asPlacentia by the riverPo, and then by theApennines and the riverRubicon, and in the east by theAdriatic Sea.[7]
In 49 BC, all inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul receivedRoman citizenship,[8] and eventually the province was divided among four of the elevenregions of Italy:Regio VIII Gallia Cispadana,Regio IX Liguria,Regio X Venetia et Histria, andRegio XI Gallia Transpadana.[9]
TheCanegrate culture (13th century BC) may represent the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic[10] population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through theAlpine passes, penetrated and settled in the westernPo valley betweenLake Maggiore andLake Como (Scamozzina culture). They brought a newfunerary practice—cremation—which supplantedinhumation. It has also been proposed that a more ancient proto-Celtic presence can be traced back to the beginning of the MiddleBronze Age (16th–15th century BC), when, regarding the production of bronze artefacts, including ornaments, North Western Italy appears to have been closely linked to the western groups of theTumulus culture (Central Europe, 1600 BC – 1200 BC). The bearers of the Canegrate culture maintained its homogeneity for only a century, after which it melded with theLigurian aboriginal populations and with this union gave rise to a new phase called theGolasecca culture,[11][12] which is nowadays identified with the Celtic Lepontii.[13][14] According toLivy (v. 34), theBituriges,Arverni,Senones,Aedui,Ambarri,Carnutes, andAulerci led byBellovesus, arrived in northern Italy during the reign ofTarquinius Priscus (7th–6th century BC) and occupied the area betweenMilan andCremona. Milan (Mediolanum) itself was presumably founded by Gauls in the early 6th century BC; its name has a Celtic etymology: "[city] in the middle of the [Padanic] plain".Polybius, in the 2nd century BC, wrote that theCelts in northernItaly co-existed with Etruscan nations during a period before theSack of Rome in 390 BC.
Ligures lived on the Northern Mediterranean Coast straddling southeast French and North-west Italian coasts, including parts ofTuscany,Elba island andCorsica. Ligurian tribes were also present in Latium (seeRutuli)[15] and in Samnium.[16] According toPlutarch they called themselvesAmbrones, which suggests a possible relationship between them and theAmbrones of northern Europe.[17] Little is known of the Ligurian language. Only place names and personal names remain. It appears to be anIndo-European language with bothItalic and particularly strongCeltic affinities. Because of the strong Celtic influences on their language and culture, they were known in antiquity asCelto-Ligurians (in GreekΚελτολίγυες, Keltolígues).[18] Modern linguists, likeXavier Delamarre, argue thatLigurian was a Celtic language with some similarity to Gaulish.[19] The Ligurian-Celtic question is also discussed by Barruol (1999). Ancient Ligurian is listed either as Celtic (epigraphic)[20] or Para-Celtic (onomastic).[21]
TheVeneti were anIndo-European people who inhabited north-easternItaly, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of theVeneto,Friuli, andTrentino.[22] By the 4th century BC theVeneti had been so Celticized thatPolybius wrote that the Veneti of the 2nd century BC were identical to the Gauls except for their language.[23] The Greek historianStrabo (64 BC–AD 24), on the other hand, conjectured that the Adriatic Veneti were descended from Celts, who in turn were related to a laterCeltic tribe of the same name whose members lived on theArmorican coast and fought againstJulius Caesar. He further suggested that the identification of the Adriatic Veneti with thePaphlagonian Enetoi led by Antenor — which he attributes toSophocles (496–406 BC) — had been a mistake caused by the similarity of the names.[24]
In 391 BC, Celts "who had their homes beyond the Alps, streamed through the passes in great strength and seized the territory that lay between theApennine mountains and the Alps" according toDiodorus Siculus. TheRoman army was routed in thebattle of Allia, and Rome was sacked in 390 BC by theSenones.[25]
The defeat of the combinedSamnite, Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in theThird Samnite War ending in 290 BC sounded the beginning of the end of the Celtic domination in mainland Europe. At theBattle of Telamon in 225 BC, a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces and crushed.[26]
In theSecond Punic War, theBoii andInsubres allied themselves with the Carthaginians, laying siege toMutina (Modena). In response, Rome sent an expedition led byL. Manlius Vulso. Vulso's army was ambushed twice, and the Senate sentScipio with an additional force to provide support. These were the Roman forces encountered byHannibal after he crossed the Alps. The Romans were defeated in theBattle of the Ticinus, leading all the Gauls except for theCenomani to join the insurgency.[27] Rome then sent the army ofTiberius Sempronius Longus who engaged Hannibal in theBattle of the Trebia, also resulting in a Roman defeat, forcing Rome to temporarily abandon Gallia Cisalpina altogether, returning only after thedefeat of Carthage in 202 BC.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica completed the conquest of the Boii in 191 BC,[28] although theLigurians were only finally subdued when the Apuani were defeated byMarcus Claudius Marcellus in 155 BC.[29]
Sometimes referred to asGallia Citerior ("Hither Gaul"),Provincia Ariminum, orGallia Togata ("Toga-wearing Gaul", indicating the region's early Romanization).Gallia Transpadana denoted that part of Cisalpine Gaul between the Padus (now thePo River) and the Alps, whileGallia Cispadana was the part to the south of the river.
Probably officially established around 81 BC, the province was governed from Mutina (modern-dayModena), where, in 73 BC, forces underSpartacus defeated the legion ofGaius Cassius Longinus, the provincial governor.
In 49 BC, with theLex Roscia,Julius Caesar granted to the populations of the province full Roman citizenship.
TheRubicon River marked its southern boundary withItalia proper. By crossing this river in 49 BC with his loyalXIII Legion,[30] returning from the conquest ofGaul, Julius Caesar precipitated the civil war within the Roman Republic which led, eventually, to the establishment of theRoman Empire. To this day the term "crossing the Rubicon" means, figuratively, "reaching the point of no return".
The province was merged into Italia about 42 BC, as part ofOctavian's "Italicization" program during theSecond Triumvirate. The dissolution of theprovincia required a new governing law orlex, although its contemporary title is unknown. The parts of it inscribed on a bronze tablet preserved in the museum atParma are entirely concerned with arranging the judiciary: the law appoints twoviri and fourviri juri dicundo and also mentions aPrefect of Mutina.
Virgil,Catullus andLivy,[31] three famous sons of theprovince, were born inGallia Cisalpina.[32]
TheCanegrate culture reflects a late Bronze Age to early Iron Age culture in thePianura Padana. These areas are now known as westernLombardy, easternPiedmont andCanton Ticino.
The Canegrate culture testifies to the arrival of Urnfield[33] migratory wave of populations from the northwest part of the Alps that, crossing the alpine passes, had infiltrated and settled in the westernPo area betweenLake Maggiore and theLake of Como (seeScamozzina culture). They were bearers of a newfunerary practice, which supplanted the old culture ofinhumation and instead introducedcremation.
The population of Canegrate maintained its own homogeneity for a limited period, approximately a century, after which it blended with theLigurian aboriginal populations to create the newGolasecca culture.
TheCulture of Golasecca (9th to 4th centuries BC) spread between the end of theBronze Age and the beginning of theIron Age in the areas of northwesternLombardy andPiedmont, and theCanton Ticino. At the end of theprehistoric period, this was an area where travellers frequently stopped and had contact with theHallstatt culture to the west, theUrnfield culture to the north and with theVillanova culture to the south. The Golasecca culture was initially concentrated in the foothills area south of the Alps. It later spread throughout the lakes area, and established many settlements representing this original culture. The oldest remains found thus far can be dated from the 9th century BC.
There is some debate whether theLepontic language should be considered as a Gaulish dialect or an independent branch withinContinental Celtic. Apart from Lepontic, the "Cisalpine Gaulish language" proper would be the Gaulish language as spoken by the Gauls invading northern Italy in the 4th century BC. This is a dialect of the larger Gaulish language, with some known phonetic features distinguishing it from Transalpine dialects, such as-nn- replacing-nd- ands(s) replacing-χs-.
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