Gallic

Gauls

The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....

 groups, originating from the various La Tène chiefdoms

La Tène culture

The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....

, began a south-eastern movement into the Balkan peninsula from the 4th century BC. Although Celtic settlements were concentrated in the western half of the Carpathian basin, there were notable incursions, and settlements, within the Balkan peninsula itself.

From their new bases in northern Illyria

Illyria

In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....

 and Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....

, the Gallic invasions climaxed in the early 3rd century BC, with the invasion of Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. The 279 BC

279 BC

Year 279 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Saverrius and Mus...

 invasion of Greece

Hellenistic Greece

In the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC...

 proper was preceded by a series of other military campaigns waged toward southern Balkans and against the kingdom of Macedonia, favoured by the state of confusion ensuing from the intricated succession to Alexander

Diadochi

The Diadochi were the rival generals, family and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for the control of Alexander's empire after his death in 323 BC...

. A part of the invasion crossed over to Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

 and eventually settled in the area that came to be named after them, Galatia

Galatia

Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...

.

Settlement of Southeastern Europe

From the 4th century BC, Celtic groups pushed into the Carpathian region and the Danube basin, coinciding with their movement into Italy. The Boii

Boii

The Boii were one of the most prominent ancient Celtic tribes of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul , Pannonia , in and around Bohemia, and Transalpine Gaul...

and Volcae were two large Celtic confederacies who generally cooperated in their campaigns. Splinter groups moved south via two major routes: one following the Danube river, another eastward from Italy. According to legend, 300,000 Celts moved into Italy and Illyria. By the 3rd century, the native inhabitants of Pannonia were almost completely Celticized. La Tene finds are found widely in Pannonia, but finds westward beyond the Tisza river and south beyond the Sava

Sava River

The Sava is a river in Southeast Europe, a right side tributary of the Danube river at Belgrade. Counting from Zelenci, the source of Sava Dolinka, it is long and drains of surface area. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia, along the northern border of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and through Serbia....

 are rather sparse. These finds are deemed to have been locally produced Norican-Pannonian variation of Celtic culture. Nevertheless, features are encountered which suggest ongoing contacts with distant provinces such as Iberia. The fertile lands around the Pannonian rivers enabled the Celts to establish themselves easily, developing their agriculture and pottery, and at the same time exploting the rich mines of modern Slovenia. Thus it appears that the Celts had created a new homeland for themselves in Southeastern Europe- centred in a region stretching from Vienna to the river Tizsa.

Early expeditions

It appears that the political situation in the northern Balkans was in a constant flux. At any one time, a particular tribe was dominant over its neighbors. Whilst its own territory was confined, it could control and organize other subject tribes, sometimes of different linguistic affinities, over a wide area. Military expeditions were conducted by a martial sector of the tribe, "an enterprising and mobile warrior class able from time to time to conquer large areas and to exploit their population"http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6L49AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA299&dq=pannonia+and+moesia#PPP1,M1. The political situation in the Balkans during 4th century BC played to the Celts' advantage. The Illyrians had been waging war against the Greeks, leaving their western flank weak. Whilst Alexander ruled Greece, the Celts dared not to push south near Greece. Therefore, early Celtic expeditions were concentrated against Illyrian tribes

We have little information about the affairs in the Illyrian hinterland, but we do know that the first Balkan tribe to be defeated by the Celts was the Illyric Autariatae

Illyrians

The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...

, who during the 4th century BC had enjoyed a hegemony over much of the central Balkans, centred on the Morava valley. An interesting account of cunning Celtic tactics is revealed in their attacks on the Ardiaei.

In 335 BC, the Celts sent representatives to pay homage to Alexander the Great, whilst Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

 was engaged in wars against the neighboring Greek tribe of Thracians

Thracians

The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...

 on its northern border. Some historians suggests that this 'diplomatic' act was actually an evaluation of Macedonians military might, as the main objective for the Celts was the riches of Greece. After the death of Alexander the Great, Celtic armies began to bear down on the southern regions, threatening the Greek kingdom of Macedonia and the rest of Greece. In 310 BC, Celtic general Molistomos attacked deep into Illyrian territory, subduing the Dardanians, Paeonians and Triballi

Triballi

The Triballi were an ancient tribe whose dominion was around the plains of southern modern Serbia and west Bulgaria, at the Angrus and Brongus and the Iskur River, roughly centered where Serbia and Bulgaria are joined....

. The new Greek Macedonian King, Cassander

Cassander

Cassander , King of Macedonia , was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty...

, felt compelled to take his old Illyrian enemies under his protection. In 298 BC, they attempted a deep penetration attack into Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 and Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

 where they suffered a heavy defeat near Haemus Mons

Haemus Mons

In earlier times the Balkan mountains were known as the Haemus Mons. It is believed that the name is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, 'mountain ridge', which is unattested but conjectured as the original Thracian form of Greek Haimos....

 at the hands of Cassander. However, another body of Celts led by the general Cambaules marched on Thrace, capturing large areas.

The great expedition of 279 BC

281 BCE marks the turning point of the Celtic military pressure southward in the Balkans, and towards Greece. The collapse of Lysimachus

Lysimachus

Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and diadochus of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BC, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.-Early Life & Career:...

' successor kingdom in Thrace opened the way for the migration. The cause for this is explained by Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 as greed for loot, by Justin as a result of overpopulation, and by Memnon

Memnon of Heraclea

Memnon of Heraclea was a Greek historical writer, probably a native of Heraclea Pontica. He described the history of that city in a large work, known only through the Excerpta of Photius , and describing especially the various tyrants who had at times ruled Heraclea.Memnon's history encompassed...

 as the result of famine. According to Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

, an initial probing raid was led by a Cambaules which withdrew when they realized they were too few in numbers.
In 280 BCE a great army, comprising about 85,000 warriors, coming from Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....

 and split into three divisions, marched South in a great expedition to Macedon and central Greece

Central Greece

Continental Greece or Central Greece , colloquially known as Roúmeli , is a geographical region of Greece. Its territory is divided into the administrative regions of Central Greece, Attica, and part of West Greece...

. 20,000 of those, headed by Cerethrius, moved against the Thracians and Triballi. Another division, led by Brennus

Brennus (3rd century BC)

Brennus was one of the leaders of the army of Gallic invasion of the Balkans, defeated the assembled Greeks at Thermopylae, and is popularly reputed to have sacked and looted Delphi, although the ancient sources do not support this.In 280 BC a great army, comprising about 85,000 warriors, coming...

 and Acichorius

Acichorius

Acichorius was one of the leaders of the Gauls, who invaded Thrace and Macedonia in 280 BC. He and Brennus commanded the division that marched into Paionia. In the following year, 279 BC, he accompanied Brennus in his invasion of Greece...

 moved against Paionia

Paionia

In ancient geography, Paeonia or Paionia was the land of the Paeonians . The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are very obscure, but it is believed that they lay in the region of Thrace...

ns while a third division, headed by Bolgios

Bolgios

Bolgios was a Gaulish leader who led an invasion of Macedon and Illyria in 279 BC, killing the Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos....

, aimed for Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

ians and Illyria

Illyria

In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....

ns.
Bolgios inflicted heavy losses on the Macedonians, whose young king, Ptolemy Keraunos

Ptolemy Keraunos

Ptolemy Keraunos was the King of Macedon from 281 BC to 279 BC. His epithet Keraunos is Greek for "Thunder" or "Thunderbolt".He was the eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter, ruler of Egypt, and his third wife Eurydice, daughter of the regent Antipater. His younger half-brother, also called Ptolemy,...

, was captured and decapitated. However, Bolgios' contingent was repulsed by the Macedonian nobleman Sosthenes

Sosthenes of Macedon

Sosthenes was a Macedonian and general and may have been a king of the Antipatrid dynasty. During the reign of Lysimachus he was his governor in Asia Minor. Sosthenes was elected King by the Macedonian army, but he may or not have reigned as king. Appointed as Strategos he may have declined the...

, 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

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 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.

The battle of Thermopylae (279 BC)

A Greek coalition made up of Aetolians, Boeotia

Boeotia

Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

ns, Athenians, Phocians, and other Greeks north of Corinth took up quarters at the narrow pass of Thermopylae

Thermopylae

Thermopylae is a location in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs. "Hot gates" is also "the place of hot springs and cavernous entrances to Hades"....

, on the east coast of central Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

. During the initial assault, Brennus' forces suffered heavy losses. Hence he decided to send a large force under Acichorius against Aetolia. The Aetolian detachment, as Brennus hoped, left Thermopylae to defend their homes. The Aetolians joined the defense en masse - the old and women joining the fight. Realizing that the Gallic sword was dangerous only at close quarters, the Aetolians resorted to skirmishing tactics

Skirmisher

Skirmishers are infantry or cavalry soldiers stationed ahead or alongside a larger body of friendly troops. They are usually placed in a skirmish line to harass the enemy.-Pre-modern:...

. According to Pausanias, only half the number that had set out for Aetolia returned.

Eventually Brennus found a way around the pass at Thermopylae but the Greeks escaped by sea.

The attack on Delphi

Brennus pushed on to Delphi

Delphi

Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god...

 where he was defeated and forced to retreat, after which he died of wounds sustained in the battle. His army fell back to the river Spercheios

Spercheios River

The Spercheios is a river in the Central Greece geographical region, of Greece. The river begins in Eurytania Prefecture in the Panaitoliko mountains and flows northeast from near Megalo Chorio and into Karpenisi and flows within GR-38 and through Agios Georgios Tymfistos south of the Tymfistos...

 where it was routed by the Thessalians

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

 and Malians

Malians (Greek tribe)

The Malians were a Greek tribe that resided at the mouth of the river Spercheios in Greece. The Malian Gulf is named after them. In the western valley of the Spercheios, their land was adjacent to the Aenianes. Their main town was Trachis. In the town of Anthele, the Malians had an important...

.

Both historians who relate the attack on Delphi, Pausanias and Junianus Justinus

Junianus Justinus

Justin was a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire. His name is mentioned only in the title of his own history, and there it is in the genitive, which would be M. Juniani Justini no matter which nomen he bore.Of his personal history nothing is known...

, say the Gauls were defeated and driven off. They were overtaken by a violent thunderstorm which made it impossible to manoeuvre or even hear their orders. The night that followed was frosty, and in the morning the Greeks attacked them from both sides. Brennus was wounded and the Gauls fell back, killing their own wounded who were unable to retreat. That night a panic fell on the camp, as the Gauls divided into factions and fought amongst themselves. They were joined by Acichorius and the rest of the army, but the Greeks forced them into a full-scale retreat. Brennus took his own life, by drinking neat wine according to Pausanias, by stabbing himself according to Justinus. Pressed by the Aetolians, the Gauls fell back to the Spercheios, where the waiting Thessalians

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

 and Malians

Malians (Greek tribe)

The Malians were a Greek tribe that resided at the mouth of the river Spercheios in Greece. The Malian Gulf is named after them. In the western valley of the Spercheios, their land was adjacent to the Aenianes. Their main town was Trachis. In the town of Anthele, the Malians had an important...

 destroyed them.

The Damned Gold of Delphi

In spite of the Greek accounts about the defeat of the Gauls, the Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 literary tradition liked best a far different version.
Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

 reports a story told in his time of a semi-legendary treasure - the aurum Tolosanum, fifteen thousand talents of gold and silver - supposed to have been the cursed gold looted during the sack of Delphi and brought back to Tolosa (modern Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

) by the Tectosages, who were said to have been part of the invading army.

More than a century and a half past the alleged sack, Romans will rule the Gallia Narbonensis

Gallia Narbonensis

Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Gallia Transalpina , which was originally a designation for that part of Gaul lying across the Alps from Italia and it contained a western region known as Septimania...

.
In 105 BC

105 BC

Year 105 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rufus and Maximus...

, while marching to Arausio, the Proconsul

Proconsul

A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...

 of Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul, in Latin: Gallia Cisalpina or Citerior, also called Gallia Togata, was a Roman province until 41 BC when it was merged into Roman Italy.It bore the name Gallia, because the great body of its inhabitants, after the expulsion of the Etruscans, consisted of Gauls or Celts...

 Quintus Servilius Caepio

Quintus Servilius Caepio

Quintus Servilius Caepio the Elder was a Roman statesman and general, consul in 106 BC, and proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul in 105 BC. He was the father of Quintus Servilius Caepio the Younger and the grandfather of Servilia Caepionis....

 plundered the sanctuaries of the town of Tolosa

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

, whose inhabitants had joined the Cimbri

Cimbri

The Cimbri were a tribe from Northern Europe, who, together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. The Cimbri were probably Germanic, though some believe them to be of Celtic origin...

, finding over 50,000 15 lb. bars of gold and 10,000 15 lb. bars of silver. The riches of Tolosa were shipped back to Rome, but only the silver made it: the gold was stolen by a band of marauders, who were believed to have been hired by Caepio himself and to have killed the legion guarding it. The Gold of Tolosa was never found, and was said to have been passed all the way down to the last heir of the Servilii Caepiones, Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus , often referred to as Brutus, was a politician of the late Roman Republic. After being adopted by his uncle he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, but eventually returned to using his original name...

.

In 105 BC, Caepio refused to co-operate with his superior officer, Gnaeus Mallius Maximus

Gnaeus Mallius Maximus

Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was a Roman politician and general.He was a novus homo when he was elected to the consulship of the Roman Republic in 105 BC. He drew Gallia Transalpina as his province for the year. He was defeated by Cimbri at the battle of Arausio . He lost his sons in the battle and he...

, because he thought of him as a novus homo

Novus homo

Homo novus was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul...

, deciding by himself to engage in battle against the Cimbri

Cimbri

The Cimbri were a tribe from Northern Europe, who, together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. The Cimbri were probably Germanic, though some believe them to be of Celtic origin...

, on the Rhone

Rhône

Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...

. There the Roman army suffered a crushing defeat and complete destruction, in the so called Battle of Arausio

Battle of Arausio

The Battle of Arausio took place on October 6, 105 BC, at a site between the town of Arausio and the Rhône River. Ranged against the migratory tribes of the Cimbri under Boiorix and the Teutoni were two Roman armies, commanded by the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and consul Gnaeus Mallius...

 (modern Orange

Orange, Vaucluse

Orange is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It has a primarily agricultural economy...

).

Upon his return to Rome, Caepio was tried for "the loss of his Army" and embezzlement

Embezzlement

Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....

. He was convicted and given the harshest sentence allowable; he was stripped of his Roman citizenship

Roman citizenship

Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....

, forbidden fire and water within eight hundred miles of Rome, fined 15,000 talents

Talent (weight)

The "talent" was one of several ancient units of mass, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal. It was approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora. A Greek, or Attic talent, was , a Roman talent was , an Egyptian talent was , and a...

 (about 825,000 lb) of gold, and forbidden from seeing or speaking to his friends or family until he had left for exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

.

He spent the rest of his life exiled in Smyrna

Smyrna

Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...

 in Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

. His defeat and the ensuing ruin were looked upon as a punishment for his sacrilege theft.

Strabo distances himself from this account, arguing that the defeated Gauls were in no position to carry off such spoils, and that, in any case, Delphi had already been despoiled of its treasure by the Phocians

Phocis

Phocis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth...

 during the Third Sacred War

Third Sacred War

The Third Sacred War was fought between the forces of the Delphic Amphictyonic League, principally represented by Thebes, and latterly by Philip II of Macedon, and the Phocians...

 in the previous century. However, Brennus' legendary pillage of Delphi is presented as fact by some popular modern historians.

After the Greek campaigns

Most scholars have deemed the Greek campaign a disaster for the Celts. However, others claim that permanent occupation was not their aim, rather they were intent on plundering the riches of the Greeks - which they did. Moreover, although they were expelled from Greece, their power in southeastern Europe was not at an end.

Some of the survivors of the Greek campaign, led by Comontoris (one of Brennus' generals) settled in Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

, founding a short-lived city-state named Tyle

Tylis

Tylis or Tyle was a capital of a short-lived Balkan state mentioned by Polybius that was founded by Celts led by Comontorios in the 3rd century BC, after their invasion of Thrace and Greece in 279 BC. It was located near the eastern edge of the Haemus Mountains in what is now eastern Bulgaria...

. Another group of Gauls, who split off from Brennus' army in 281

281 BC

Year 281 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Barbula and Philippus...

, were transported over to Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

 by Nicomedes I

Nicomedes I of Bithynia

Nicomedes I , second king of Bithynia, was the eldest son of Zipoetes I, whom he succeeded on the throne in 278 BC.-Overview:He commenced his reign by putting to death two of his brothers but the third, subsequently called Zipoetes II, raised an insurrection against him and succeeded in maintaining...

 to help him defeat his brother and secure the throne of Bithynia

Bithynia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

. They eventually settled in the region that came to be named after them as Galatia

Galatia

Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...

. They were defeated by Antiochus I, and as a result, they were confined to barren highlands in the center of Anatolia.

Celtic groups were still the preeminent political units in the northern Balkans from the fourth to the 1st century BC. The Boii

Boii

The Boii were one of the most prominent ancient Celtic tribes of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul , Pannonia , in and around Bohemia, and Transalpine Gaul...

controlled most of northern Pannonia during the 2nd century BC, and are also mentioned to have occupied the territory of modern Slovakia. We learn of other tribes inhabiting Pannonia, belonging to the Boian confederation. There were the Taurisci

Taurisci

The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's northern Slovenia before the coming of the Romans According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same people known as the Norici...

in the upper Sava valley, west of Sisak

Sisak

Sisak is a city in central Croatia. The city's population in 2011 was 33,049, with a total of 49,699 in the administrative region and it is also the administrative centre of the Sisak-Moslavina county...

, as well as the Anarti, Osi and Cotini in the Carpathian basin. In the lower Sava valley, the Scordisci

Scordisci

The Scordisci were an Iron Age tribe centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus , Dravus and Danube rivers. They were historically notable from the beginning of the third century BC until the turn of the common era...

wielded much power over their neighbours for over a century.
The later half of the 1st century BC brought much change to the power relations of barbarian tribes in Pannonia. The defeat of the Boian confederation by the Geto-Dacian king Burebista

Burebista

Burebista was a king of the Getae and Dacians, who unified for the first time their tribes and ruled them between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led plunder and conquest raids across Central and Southeastern Europe, subjugating most of the neighbouring tribes...

 significantly curtalied Celtic control of the Carpathian basin, and some of the Celticization was reversed. Yet, more Celtic tribes appear in sources. The Hercuniates and Latobici

Latobici

Latobici were a Celtic tribe settling in modern-day Slovenia mentioned by Ptolemy. In Roman times, their cities were Praetorium Latobicorum and Municipium Latobicorum, or later Neviodunum...

 migrated from the northern regions (Germania). Altogether new tribes are encountered, bearing Latin names (such as the Arabiates), possibly representing new creations carved out of the defeated Boian confederation. To further weaken Celtic hegemony in Pannonia, the Romans moved the Pannonian-Illyrian Azali to northern Pannonia. The political dominance previously enjoyed by the Celts was overshadowed by newer barbarian confederations, such the Marcomanni

Marcomanni

The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.-Origin:Scholars believe their name derives possibly from Proto-Germanic forms of "march" and "men"....

 and Iazyges

Iazyges

The Iazyges were an ancient nomadic tribe. Known also as Jaxamatae, Ixibatai, Iazygite, Jászok, Ászi, they were a branch of the Sarmatian people who, c. 200 BC, swept westward from central Asia onto the steppes of what is now Ukraine...

. Their ethnic independence was gradually lost as they were absorbed by the surrounding Dacian, Illyrian and Germanic peoples, although Celtic names survive until the 3rd century AD.