Insubres

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The Insubres or Insubri were a Celtic population who settled in Insubria, in what is now Lombardy. They were the founders of Milan (Medhelan).

Together with the Boii, Lingones, Taurini, Gesati and other Gaulish groups, they were defeated in 224 or 225 BCE by the Roman army led by consul Lucius Aemilius Papus at the Battle of Telamon. Two years later the Romans, backed by their Gaulish allies the Cenomani, defeated the Insubres again at the Battle of Clastidium. After the defeat of the Gesati, they were compelled to accept the Roman occupation of Milan in 221 and forcible alliance with Rome, while the victors annexed much of their territory.

During the invasion of Hannibal of 218-217 BCE, the Insubres rebelled in support of the Carthaginians. They supported the Carthaginians again in 200 BCE, this time under Hamilcar. After several other clashes, they definitively allied with Rome in 194, mantaining some autonomy for their capital. In 89 BCE they obtained Latin citizenship and, in 49 BCE, Roman citizenship.

Romanization of the Insubres was probably quick, as is shown by the emergence of numerous literary figures like that of Caecilius Statius a few years after the Roman conquest of Milan.