Bellovesus

Bellovesus is a figure from the Gallic legend. It is said to have been around 600 or 400 BC. BC with his people invaded northern Italy .

The Bellovesus legend is passed down by the Roman historian Titus Livius in his work Ab urbe condita . According to him, Bellovesus is said to have been the son of the sister of King Ambicatus . His family belonged to the tribe of the Biturigen , who were the most powerful Gaulish tribe at the time and therefore each provided the king of all of Gaul. During this time, the population of Gaul had grown so much that it became necessary to develop new settlement areas. Bellovesus and his brother Segovesus were entrusted with this task. While Segovesus received a sign from the gods to look for new areas in the Hercynian Forest , Bellovesus was directed to northern Italy, to the later province of Gallia cisalpina .

Bellovesus supposedly took the excess population of six tribes with him on the train across the Alps : Biturigen, Arverner , Senonen , Haeduer , Ambarrer , Karnuten and Aulerker . The Alps initially presented an insurmountable hurdle for the train. Only after Bellovesus had helped some Greeks who had landed in the Salluvian area to found Massilia ( Marseilles ) and thus followed a divine suggestion, did they succeed in crossing the Alps through a pass in the Taurine region . Once in Italy, the Gauls defeated the Etruscans near the Ticino River and settled in an area called Insubria . Here Bellovesus founded the city of Mediolanum, now Milan .

literature

Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
Hans Georg Gundel : Bellovesus. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 859.
Miranda Jane Green: The Celtic World . Routledge, London 1995, ISBN 0415057647 , p. 517 f.
Henri Hubert: The Rise of the Celts . Constable, London 1987, ISBN 0-09-467790-5 , p. 140.
Susanne Sievers , Otto Helmut Urban , Peter C. Ramsl: Lexicon for Celtic Archeology. A-K and L-Z . Announcements of the prehistoric commission published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-7001-6765-5 , p. 152.

Remarks

↑ Livius, from urbe condita 5, 34 : De transitu in Italiam Gallorum haec accepimus: Prisco Tarquinio Romae regnante, Celtarum quae pars Galliae tertia est penes Bituriges summa imperii fuit; ii regem Celtico dabant. Ambicatus is fuit, uirtute fortunaque cum sua, tum publica praepollens, quod in imperio eius Gallia adeo frugum hominumque fertilis fuit ut abundans multitudo uix regi uideretur posse. Hic magno natu ipse iam exonerare praegrauante turba regnum cupiens, Bellouesum ac Segouesum sororis filios impigros iuuenes missurum se esse in quas di dedissent auguriis sedes ostendit; quantum ipsi uellent numerum hominum excirent ne qua gens arcere aduenientes posset. Tum Segoueso sortibus dati Hercynei saltus; Beloueso haud paulo laetiorem in Italiam uiam di dabant. Is quod eius ex populis abundabat, Bituriges, Aruernos, Senones, Haeduos, Ambarros, Carnutes, Aulercos exciuit. Profectus ingentibus peditum equitumque copiis in Tricastinos uenit.
("When Tarquinius Priscus ruled Rome, the Biturigen had the highest power among the Celts, who make up the third part of Gaul. They placed the king within the Celtic part of the population (the Celticum) . That was Ambicatus at that time, a very powerful man his ability and because happiness was dear to him and especially to his people, for under his rule Gaul was so rich in fruits and people that it seemed as if the great multitude could hardly be ruled because he had the kingdom from the oppressive Wishing to relieve overpopulation, but was himself already in years, he declared that he would send Bellovesus and Segovesus, his sister's sons, energetic young men, to the residences which the gods would give them by their signs.They should have a number Raising people, as many as they wanted themselves, so that no nation could fend off the arriving, and Segovesus received the Hercynians through the lots Forests; the gods gave Bellovesus the far more enjoyable route to Italy. He raised what his peoples had in excess, Biturigen, Arverner, Senonen, Haeduer, Ambarrer, Karnuten and Aulerker, set out with enormous troops of foot soldiers and riders and came into the area of the Tricastines. ")
↑ This list was often considered unhistorical, for example Hermann Reichert : Haedui. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 13, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016315-2 , pp. 274–277, here p. 275: “Livy probably took the names of the tribes involved […] from the 1st Century current names freely put together, they have no historical source ”. Henri Hubert: The Greatness and Decline of the Celts is different . Constable, London 1987, p. 19: "Over-critical scholars have attacked this list, but unjustly".

personal data
SURNAME	Bellovesus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Gallic hero of legends
DATE OF BIRTH	between 7th century BC BC and 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	between 7th century BC BC and 4th century BC Chr.

[1] Livius, from urbe condita 5, 34 : De transitu in Italiam Gallorum haec accepimus: Prisco Tarquinio Romae regnante, Celtarum quae pars Galliae tertia est penes Bituriges summa imperii fuit; ii regem Celtico dabant. Ambicatus is fuit, uirtute fortunaque cum sua, tum publica praepollens, quod in imperio eius Gallia adeo frugum hominumque fertilis fuit ut abundans multitudo uix regi uideretur posse. Hic magno natu ipse iam exonerare praegrauante turba regnum cupiens, Bellouesum ac Segouesum sororis filios impigros iuuenes missurum se esse in quas di dedissent auguriis sedes ostendit; quantum ipsi uellent numerum hominum excirent ne qua gens arcere aduenientes posset. Tum Segoueso sortibus dati Hercynei saltus; Beloueso haud paulo laetiorem in Italiam uiam di dabant. Is quod eius ex populis abundabat, Bituriges, Aruernos, Senones, Haeduos, Ambarros, Carnutes, Aulercos exciuit. Profectus ingentibus peditum equitumque copiis in Tricastinos uenit.
("When Tarquinius Priscus ruled Rome, the Biturigen had the highest power among the Celts, who make up the third part of Gaul. They placed the king within the Celtic part of the population (the Celticum) . That was Ambicatus at that time, a very powerful man his ability and because happiness was dear to him and especially to his people, for under his rule Gaul was so rich in fruits and people that it seemed as if the great multitude could hardly be ruled because he had the kingdom from the oppressive Wishing to relieve overpopulation, but was himself already in years, he declared that he would send Bellovesus and Segovesus, his sister's sons, energetic young men, to the residences which the gods would give them by their signs.They should have a number Raising people, as many as they wanted themselves, so that no nation could fend off the arriving, and Segovesus received the Hercynians through the lots Forests; the gods gave Bellovesus the far more enjoyable route to Italy. He raised what his peoples had in excess, Biturigen, Arverner, Senonen, Haeduer, Ambarrer, Karnuten and Aulerker, set out with enormous troops of foot soldiers and riders and came into the area of the Tricastines. ")

[2] This list was often considered unhistorical, for example Hermann Reichert : Haedui. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 13, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016315-2 , pp. 274–277, here p. 275: “Livy probably took the names of the tribes involved […] from the 1st Century current names freely put together, they have no historical source ”. Henri Hubert: The Greatness and Decline of the Celts is different . Constable, London 1987, p. 19: "Over-critical scholars have attacked this list, but unjustly".