   the battle of the allia was a battle of the first gallic invasion of rome. the battle was fought near the allia river: the defeat of the roman army opened the route for the gauls to sack rome. it was fought in 390/387 bce. ==background== prior to the battle, the senones, a single tribe of gaul, traversed the apennines searching for new land to settle. they eventually camped outside the town of clusium (in the etruscan province of siena) and began negotiations for land rights. the clusians felt threatened by the senones, and they called for help from rome, which had recently exerted military influence over etruria. rome, weakened by recent wars, sent a delegation of three ambassadors, the fabii brothers, to negotiate the situation.ellis, "the celts: a history." pp. 61-64. running press, london, 2004. when negotiations broke down, the clusians sent an army to force the senones off the land. at this point, the roman historian livy stated that the roman ambassadors "broke the law of nations" (that is, broke their oath of neutrality as ambassadors) "and took up arms" against the senones. in the resulting action, quintus fabius, an ambassador and a member of a powerful patrician family, killed one of the gallic leaders (a chieftain). when the senones realized that the sacred trust of the ambassador was broken, they withdrew from battle to discuss the issue.ellis, "the celts: a history." pp. 61-64. running press, london, 2004. the senones sent their own ambassadors to rome, demanding the fabians be handed over to them for justice. many romans (especially priests) were sympathetic, and agreed that it was a breach of the law of nations. however, the roman masses mocked the priests, and as livy writes, "those who ought to have been punished were instead appointed for the coming year military tribunes with consular powers (the highest that could be granted).... the celtic (gallic) envoys were naturally - and rightly - indignant!"livy, history of rome, book 5, chapter 37. the enraged senones promised war against the romans to avenge the insult that they had been dealt. the senones marched 130&nbsp;km from clusium to rome to take r
390_BC 4th-century_BC_conflicts Battles_involving_the_Gauls Battles_involving_the_Roman_Republic