Battle of Mount Olympus The Battle of Mount Olympus was fought in 189 BC between the Galatian Gauls of Asia Minor and an alliance consisting of Rome and Pergamum . The battle ended in a crushing allied victory . Livy is the main source for this battle , and his description can be found in book 38 , chapters 17 - 23 . Prelude . In 191 BC , Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire invaded Greece . This caused him to come into conflict with the Romans who defeated him in Greece and followed him into Asia Minor . In Asia Minor , the Romans with their allies , Pergamum defeated Antiochus at the Battle of Magnesia . This forced the Seleucids to sue for peace and to abandon Asia Minor . In 189 , Scipio Asiaticus was replaced as consul by Gnaeus Manlius Vulso . One of his tasks was to conclude the treaty that Scipio had been arranging with Antiochus . When he arrived he addressed the troops and commended them on their victory over the Seleucids and proposed a new war , a war against the Galatian Gauls of Asia Minor . The pretext he used for the invasion was that the Galatian had supplied soldiers to the Seleucid army at the Battle of Magnesia . The principal reason for the invasion was Manlius ' desire to seize the wealth of the Galatians who had become rich from plundering their neighbours and to gain glory for himself . Vulso was joined in Ephesus by Attalus , the brother of King Eumenes II of Pergamum . Attalus brought with him some infantry and cavalry and with these reinforcements , Vulso began his march inland . During the march inland through Asia Minor , Vulso extracted tribute from the cities along the way as well as intervening in conflicts . When the army reached the border with Galatia , the consul addressed his troops about the upcoming war and then sent envoys to Eposognatus , chieftain of the Tectosagi which was one of the three Galatian tribes . The envoys returned and replied that the chieftain of the Tectosagi begged the Romans not to invade his territory . He also claimed that he would attempt to force the submission of the other chieftains . Battle . The battle began as did many battles in the Roman Republic , with the launching of missiles and skirmishing of light troops . Livy claims that the Gauls fared badly right from the start , unable to protect themselves against the number of missiles being launched at them . They tried to retaliate with stones , but were not only unskilled in throwing them , but the stones themselves were too small to be of any help . Livy goes on to describe the panic and hopelessness of the Gallic situation , seemingly trapped in a war of missiles : a type of warfare to which they were unsuited . When the Gauls rushed the light infantry , the Roman " velites " , in a rarely described instance of hand - to - hand combat , slew the enraged and hysterical Gauls with their swords . The standards of the legions began to advance on the Gauls which caused them to fall back in panic , retreating to their camp . The Romans occupied the surrounding hills and trapped their enemy , at which point the consul ordered his soldiers to rest temporarily . During this time , the light infantry gathered what missiles they could that were lying around the battlefield and prepared for a second attack . The Gauls prepared for the assault by stationing themselves in front of the walls of their camp , as the camp itself was insufficiently built to serve as a fortification . The consul once again ordered the light infantry to commence the battle , and describes the onslaught that the Gauls faced : They were then deluged by missiles of every kind ; and since the more numerous and close - packed the defenders were , the less did any weapons fall harmlessly between them , they were at once forced within the rampart , leaving strong guards only at the very approaches to the gates . A huge number of missiles was hurled at the crowd herded into the camp , and the shouting , mingled with the lamentations of the women and children , denoted that many were wounded . At this point , the heavy infantry advanced , throwing their javelins , and causing even more panic . The Gauls fled from the camp in all directions , whom the consul ordered to pursue . Finally , the cavalry having not played any role in the battle , eventually joined the pursuit , capturing and killing many Gauls . Aftermath . As Livy points out , calculating the number of slain was made difficult by how scattered their bodies were ( from having fled the camp ) . The victory brought much booty for the Roman Republic , and for all the soldiers involved . Vulso would meet the Gauls in battle again , not long afterwards at the Battle of Ancyra . References . On - line sources . < div class = " references - small " >