Battle of the Allia

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Battle of the Allia
Part of the Roman–Gallic wars
The Servian Wall according to Titus Livius 6.32 the censors ordered its rebuilding after the sack
Date 18 July 387 BC (probable), 390 BC (traditional)[1][2] Location Allia River, near Rome 42°1′3″N 12°31′12″E / 42.01750°N 12.52000°E / 42.01750; 12.52000 Result Gallic victory
Belligerents
Roman Republic	Gauls • Senones • Boii • Insubres
Commanders and leaders
Quintus Sulpicius Longus	Brennus
Strength
The estimates are: 15,000,[3] 24,000,[4][5] 35,000,[6] and 40,000[7]	The estimates are: 12,000,[5] more than 40,000,[8] and 30–70,000[3]
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Light
class=notpageimage| Location within Italy Show map of Italy Battle of the Allia (Lazio) Show map of Lazio Battle of the Allia (Mediterranean) Show map of Mediterranean

The Battle of the Allia was fought c. 387 BC^[1][2] between the Senones – a Gallic tribe led by Brennus, who had invaded Northern Italy – and the Roman Republic.

The battle was fought at the confluence of the Tiber River and Allia brook, 11 Roman miles (16 km, 10 mi) north of Rome. The Romans were routed and subsequently Rome was sacked by the Senones.^[9] According to scholar Piero Treves, "the absence of any archaeological evidence for a destruction-level of this date suggests that [this] sack of Rome was superficial only."^[10]

The date of the battle has been traditionally given as 390 BC in the Varronian chronology, based on an account of the battle by the Roman historian Livy. Plutarch noted that the battle took place "just after the summer solstice when the moon was near the full [...] a little more than three hundred and sixty years from the founding [of Rome]," or shortly after 393 BC.^[11][12] The Greek historian Polybius used a Greek dating system to derive the battle as having taken place in 387 BC, which is the most probable.^[1][2] Tacitus listed the date as 18 July.^[13][2]