page_title: Celtic settlement of Southeast Europe
section_title: Great expedition of 279 BC
hierarchical_section_title: Celtic settlement of Southeast Europe / Invasions of Greece / Great expedition of 279 BC
caption_attribution_description: The Dying Gaul is one of the best-known and most important works in the Capitoline Museums. It is a replica of one of the sculptures in the ex-voto group dedicated to Pergamon by Attalus I to commemorate the victories over the Galatians in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The identity of the author of the original is unknown, but it has been suggested that Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, may have been its creator.
context_page_description: From their new bases in northern Illyria and Pannonia, the Gallic invasions climaxed in the early 3rd century BC, with the invasion of Greece. The 279 BC invasion of Greece proper was preceded by a series of other military campaigns waged in the southern Balkans and against the kingdom of Macedonia, favoured by the state of confusion ensuing from the disputed succession after Alexander the Great's death. A part of the invasion crossed over to Anatolia and eventually settled in the area that came to be named after them, Galatia.
context_section_description: The Celtic military pressure toward Greece in the southern Balkans reached its turning point in 281 BC. The collapse of Lysimachus' successor kingdom in Thrace opened the way for the migration. The cause for this is explained by Pausanias as greed for loot, by Justin as a result of overpopulation, and by Memnon as the result of famine. According to Pausanias, an initial probing raid led by Cambaules withdrew when they realized they were too few in numbers. In 280 BC, a great army comprising about 85,000 warriors left Pannonia, split into three divisions, and marched south in a great expedition to Macedon and central Greece. Under the leadership of Cerethrius, 20,000 men moved against the Thracians and Triballi. Another division, led by Brennus and Acichorius moved against the Paionians, while the third division, headed by Bolgios, aimed for the Macedonians and Illyrians.
  Bolgios inflicted heavy losses on the Macedonians, whose young king, Ptolemy Keraunos, was captured and decapitated. However, Bolgios' contingent was repulsed by the Macedonian nobleman Sosthenes, and satisfied with the loot they had won, Bolgios' contingents turned back. Sosthenes, in turn, was attacked and defeated by Brennus and his division, who were then free to ravage the country.
  After these expeditions returned home, Brennus urged and persuaded them to mount a third united expedition against central Greece, led by himself and Acichorius. The reported strength of the army of 152,000 infantry and 24,400 cavalry is impossibly large. The actual number of horsemen has to be intended half as big: Pausanias describes how they used a tactic called trimarcisia, where each cavalryman was supported by two mounted servants, who could supply him with a spare horse should he have to be dismounted, or take his place in the battle, should he be killed or wounded.
caption: The Dying Gaul, a Roman copy of a Greek statue commemorating the victory over the Galatians
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