Battle of the Isère River

That year, however, the Romans were inexorably pulled into conflict in the area as their long-time trading partner and ally, the city of Massalia, was attacked by a Gallic-Ligurian people, the Salluvii.

Calvinus, after defeating the Salluvii along with Flaccus, went on to found the colony of Aquae Sextiae, named as such for its proximity to various streams of cold and warm water.

[10][11][12] It is possible, however, that an alternate motive existed for this maneuver by the Romans, judging by the fact that Ahenobarbus had a clear ambition to construct a road which would link Roman-controlled areas in Gaul and Spain to each other.

Ahenobarbus’ campaign therefore dragged on into 121 BC, whereupon he was joined by a newly elected consul for that year, Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus.

[14][15] Bituitus again lined up for battle in August of 121 BC against the united Roman forces of Fabius Maximus and Ahenobarbus with a massive army, positioning it at the confluence of the Isère and Rhône rivers near modern-day Valence, where they meet with the Cemennus Mountains.

Appian writes that Fabius, who had sustained an injury shortly before the battle, continued to lead his troops during the fighting, urging his men on while being borne on a litter, sometimes even rising and hobbling around, supported by them.

For the Gauls, while each man was thinking of his own safety, thoughtlessly allowed too great a concentration of their columns and in their haste to cross broke the chains binding the bridge.

The panic following the initial breaking of their lines as their soldiers turned, rushing to cross back over the river, can be imagined, and was perhaps the most significant factor leading to the totality of their defeat.

He was angry with Bituitus, king of the Arverni, because he had persuaded both his own people and the Allobroges, while Domitius was in the province, to appeal to the protection of Fabius his successor.

[35] With the Arvernian hegemony in southern Gaul broken, the Romans were met with no opposition in the area for the next two decades, continuing to use their military base at Aquae Sextiae with impunity.

Hall, a modern historian, notes that the Arverni being forced to give up their claim to the Rhône Valley laid the groundwork for the later foundation of a Roman Province, known simply as Provincia Romana, that is, Provence.

Vitally and most immediately to this effect began the construction of the Via Domitia, commissioned and named after Ahenobarbus, linking Italy and Hispania through the newly secured territory.

[15] It is clear from the wealth of relevant sources, ranging through the centuries of Classical Antiquity, that the crushing victory left an enduring mark upon the Roman psyche.

For example, this cultural consciousness is clear in the words of a speech given decades later by Marcus Tullius Cicero, part of which was spoken regarding the contemporaneous threat posed by the Gallic Treviri chieftain Induciomarus to the Romans.

Cicero wishes comically that in response to this threat the Romans might bring Gaius Marius back from the dead, or even Gnaeus Domitius (Ahenobarbus) and Quintius Maximus (Allobrogicus), who might "again subdue and crush the nation of the Allobroges and the other tribes by their arms".