Celtic Invasion of Rome: How Brennus and the Gauls Sacked Rome
Channel: Celtic History Decoded
Date: 2021-09-25

Celtic Invasion of Rome: How Brennus and the Gauls Sacked Rome

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When people think of Gaul and Rome, they usually think of Julius Caesar’s invasion and conquest of Gaul between 58 and 50 BC. 300 years prior to this however, roles were reversed, as the Celts of Gaul invaded and sacked the prized city of Rome. 

The story starts when the Gauls launched a siege against the inhabitants of the ancient Etruscan city of Clusium, just north of Rome. The Clusium residents appealed to Rome for help, who sent a delegation. Events quickly escalated when one of the Roman delegates of the powerful gens Fabia family killed a Gallic leader, enraging the Gauls. Gallic ambassadors then headed from Rome, hoping that the Romans would hand over those who had killed their fellow Celts. When the Roman Senate refused however, the entire Gallic army headed for Rome. 

The key battle in the Celtic invasion and occupation of Rome came on the 18th of July, either in 387 or 390 BC, depending on which historian you read, around 10 miles north of Rome. It is known to history as the Battle of Allia, as it was fought where the Allia and Tiber rivers meet in Italy. The Celtic army of the Gauls was led by Brennus, the chief of the Gallic tribes of the Senones, whose territory, in today’s geography, centered around the city of Sens in north-central France. 

The pace at which the Gauls marched towards Rome surprised the Romans, meaning that the Romans were not well prepared for the Battle of Allia. The Romans did manage to place a force of reserves on a hill to the right of the battlefield. Brennus spotted this however, and as he sensed that these Roman reserves were going to attack the Gauls from behind once the fighting began, Brennus decided to attack the hill first. This move panicked the Romans.

Many Roman soldiers simply threw down their weapons and fled. Some drowned in the Tiber River under the weight of this prized armour as they tried to escape the fierce, bare-chested Celtic warriors, who were throwing javelin spears from the river bank. The Gauls, led by their leader, Brennus, overwhelmed the Roman army, which was yet to solidify into the fighting unit we saw centuries later. 

From that day onwards, July the 18th was considered cursed by the Romans. A few days after victory, Brennus and his army entered Rome. The Porta Collina, or Colline Gate, at the north end of the Servian Wall, was open, and the Roman walls were unmanned, as most soldiers had fled to the city of Veii, just north of Rome. 

The Gauls embarked on a campaign of rape and plunder, setting Roman buildings ablaze in the process, but this may have been more an intimidation tactic than anything else. The only area of the city still under Roman control was the Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome between the forum and the Campus Martius, and the Gauls may have been trying to force their surrender. Brennus and his men killed most of the standing Roman senate. The Roman Republic was embarrassed and humiliated. 

Both parties were then struck by famine and disease, with malaria breaking out among the Gauls. Negotiations began, and it was agreed that Rome would pay the Gauls 1,000 pounds of gold. Brennus was said to have used dodgy scales when weighing out the ransom, scales which the Gauls had brought with them. When challenged about the accuracy of the scales, Brennus threw his sword on the scales and screamed “Vae victis,” which translates as “woe to the vanquished.” In essence, Brennus was pointing out that the Romans had been destroyed and had no leverage in this situation. 

There is an addition to this story, although the accuracy of this is disputed. Some argue that the ransom was never paid to the Gauls, as, at the last minute, Rome was saved by a Roman general called Camillus, who had gathered men from nearby cities to fight. He apparently refused to pay the ransom and attacked the Gauls, defeating them in battle the following day.

Rome remained in Roman hands for the next 800 years or so, until the Visogoths sacked the famous city in 410 AD.  

Sources:

History.com - 6 Infamous Sacks of Rome https://www.history.com/news/6-infamous-sacks-of-rome 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Brennus https://www.britannica.com/biography/Brennus-Gallic-leader-flourished-4th-century-BC 

Battle of the Allia, Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Allia 

Creative Commons Imagery:

Med https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brennus_mg_9724.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en 

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Brennus Sack of Rome