Alpes Poeninae, also known as Alpes Graiae, was a small Alpine province

Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...

 of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, one of three such provinces in the western Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

 between Italy and Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

. It comprised the Val d'Aosta region (Italy) and the Canton Valais (Switzerland). Its strongest indigenous tribe were the Salassi

Salassi

The Salassi were an Alpine tribe whose lands lay on the Italian side of the Little St Bernard Pass across the Graian Alps to Lyons, and the Great St Bernard Pass over the Pennine Alps...

. Their territory was annexed by emperor Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

 in 15 BC. Its chief city was Augusta Praetoria Salassorum (Aosta

Aosta

Aosta is the principal city of the bilingual Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard routes...

).

The province was named for poeninus mons, the Roman name of the Great St Bernard Pass. Near the pass was a sanctuary dedicated to Jupiter

Jupiter (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....

 Poeninus.

Because the name Poeninus is similar to Poenus (Latin for "Carthaginian"), some Roman authors inferred that the Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed this part of the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

 in his famous march on Italy in 218 BC, using either the Great St Bernard or Little St Bernard

Little St Bernard Pass

The Little St Bernard Pass is a mountain pass in the Alps on the France–Italy border. Its saddle is at 2188 metres above sea level. It is located between Savoie, France and Aosta Valley, Italy to the south of the Mont Blanc Massif, precisely on the main alpine watershed. There is also a Great St...

 passes. But the Roman historian Livy

Livy

Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

explains that Poeninus was actually a corruption of Penninus, the name of a deity worshipped by a local tribe. Livy adds that it was implausible that Hannibal took such a northerly route, as these high mountain passes would have been inaccessible at the time.