Brennus (3rd century BC)
Brennus (or Brennos) (died 279 BC at
In 280 BC a great army, comprising about 85,000 warriors,
Some writers suppose that Brennus and Acichorius are the same person, the former being only a title and the latter the real name.[4][5]
The other two divisions were led by
Brennus is said to have belonged to an otherwise unknown tribe called the Prausi.[7] These Gauls had settled in Pannonia because of population increases in Gaul, and sought further conquests.
Military campaign
The army was initially led by Cambaules, who led them as far as
Battle of Thermopylae
The Greeks, mustered at
The Gauls attacked the Greeks at Thermopylae, but were initially forced to retreat by their better armed opponents.[10] Brennus sent 40,000 infantry and 800 cavalry under Combutis and Orestorius back over the Spercheius to invade Aetolia, hoping to persuade the Aetolian contingent in the Greek army to leave Thermopylae and return to defend their homeland. The plan worked, but the returning Aetolians inflicted such losses on the Gauls that less than half of them returned to Thermopylae. Meanwhile, the locals were intimidated into showing Brennus a mountain pass that would allow him to attack the Greek rear. He led 40,000 men, hidden until the last minute by fog, over the pass, and dispersed the Phoceans who were guarding the pass. However, the Phoceans informed the Greek army at Thermopylae in time to safely retreat before encirclement. The Athenian fleet evacuated the army, and Brennus marched for Delphi, not waiting for Acichorius and the rest of the army to catch up.[11]
Attack on Delphi
Both the historians who relate the attack on Delphi, Pausanias and Justin, 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 killed himself, by drinking unwatered wine according to Pausanias (the Greeks believed that doing so was poisonous)[12] or by stabbing himself according to Justinus. Pressed by the Aetolians, they fell back to the Spercheius, where they were cut to pieces by the waiting Thessalians and Malians.[13]
Aftermath
The Gauls who escaped this defeat settled on the
Strabo reports a story told in his time of treasure – fifteen thousand talents of gold and silver – supposed to have been taken from Delphi and brought back to Tolosa (modern Toulouse, France) by the Tectosages, who were said to have been part of the invading army. Strabo does not believe this story, 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 during the Third Sacred War the previous century.[7]
In popular culture
- Brennus is a playable leader of the "Celts" faction in the 2006 video game expansion Civilization IV: Warlords.
References
- ^ Venceslas Kruta, Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire, p. 493.
- ^ The Ancient Celts, Barry Cunliffe pp. 80–81
- ^ The term is a calque of the parallel French Grande expédition, that indicates, in French scholarly usage, the 279 BC surge of military campaigns on Greece.
- ^ Schmidt, "De fontibus veterum auctorum in enarrandis expeditionibus a Gallis in Macedoniania susceptis," Berol. 1834
- ^ Smith, William (1867), "Acichorius", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, MA, p. 12, archived from the original on 2005-12-17, retrieved 2007-10-05
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Pausanias, Guide for Greece Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine (on Livius.org).
- ^ a b Strabo, Geography 4:1.13
- Junianus Justinus, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Histories 24.4-6
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.20
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.21
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.22
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.23, Junianus Justinus, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Histories 24.7-8
- ^ Polybius, Histories 4.46; Memnon, History of Heracleia 11
- ^ Jon D. Mikalson, Religion in Hellenistic Athens, University of California Press, 1998, Chapter 4