 When people think of Gaul and Rome, they usually think of Julius Caesar's invasion and conquest of Gaul between 58 and 50 BC. 300 years prior to this however, roles were reversed, as the Celts of Gaul invaded and sacked the prized city of Rome. The story starts when the Gauls launched a siege against the inhabitants of the ancient Etruscan city of Clusium just north of Rome. The Clusium residents appealed to Rome for help, who sent a delegation. Events quickly escalated when one of the Roman delegates of the powerful Genes Fabia family killed a Gaulic leader, enraging the Gauls. Gaulic ambassadors then headed for Rome, hoping that the Romans would hand over those who had killed their fellow Gauls. When the Roman senate refused however, the entire Gaulic army headed for Rome. The key battle in the Celtic invasion and occupation of Rome came on the 18th of July, either in 387 or 390 BC, depending on which historian you read, around 10 miles north of Rome. It is known to history as the Battle of Alia, as it was fought for the Alia and Tiber rivers meet in Italy. The Celtic army of the Gauls was led by Berenice, the chief of the Gaulic tribes of the Sennonese, whose territory in today's geography centres around the city of Seine in north-central France. The pace at which the Gauls marched towards Rome surprised the Romans, meaning that the Romans were not well prepared for the Battle of Alia. The Romans did manage to place a force of reserves on a hill to the right of the battlefield. Berenice however spotted this, and as he sensed that these Roman reserves were going to attack the Gauls from behind once the fighting began, Berenice decided to attack the hill first. This move panicked the Romans, many Roman soldiers simply threw down their weapons and fled. Some drowned in the Tiber River, under the weight of their prized armour as they tried to escape, the fierce, bare-chested Celtic warriors who were throwing javelin spears from the river bank. The Gauls, led by the leader Berenice, overwhelmed the Roman army, which was yet to solidify into the fighting unit we saw centuries later. From that day onwards, July the 18th was considered cursed by the Romans. A few days after victory, Berenice and his army entered Rome. The Porta Collina, or Colline Gate, at the north end of the Servian Wall, was open, and the Roman walls were unmanned, as most Roman soldiers had fled to the city of V, just north of Rome. The Gauls embarked on a campaign of rape and plunder, setting Roman buildings ablaze in the process, but this may have been more of an intimidation tactic than anything else. Though in the area of the city, still under Roman control, was the Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of ancient Rome, between the Forum and the Campus Martius, and the Gauls may have been trying to force their surrender, but Berenice and his men killed most of the standing Roman senate, though the Roman Republic was embarrassed and humiliated. Both parties were then struck by famine and disease, with malaria breaking out among the Gauls. Negotiations began, and it was agreed that Rome would pay the Gauls £1,000 of gold. Berenice was said to have used dodgy scales when weighing out the ransom, scales which the Gauls had brought with them, being challenged about the accuracy of the scales. Berenice threw a sword on the scales, and screamed victus, which translates as woe to the vanquished. In essence, Berenice was pointing out that the Romans had been destroyed, and they had no leverage in this situation. There is an addition to this story, however, although the accuracy of this is disputed. Some argue that the ransom was never paid to the Gauls, as, at the last minute, Rome was saved by a Roman general called Marcus Camillus, who had gathered men from nearby cities to fight. He apparently refused to pay the ransom, stating that, not with gold, but with iron, will the Fatherland be regained, and attack the Gauls, defeating them in battle the following day. Rome remained in Roman hands for the next 800 years, until the Visigoths sacked the famous city in 410 A.D. Thanks for watching. Please support this work through buymeacoffee.com and Patreon. All the links are in the description below. Through buymeacoffee.com, you can make small or large one-off donations that help support this work, with there also being an option to make recurring donations every month. 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