Salyes

During most of their early history, the Salyes were in conflict with the neighbouring Greek inhabitants of Massalia, and later on with their ally the Roman Republic, until the consul Gaius Sextius Calvinus sacked their hill-fort Entremont ca.

[12] As for the stretch of country which begins at Antipolis and extends as far as Massilia or a little farther, the tribe of the Sallyes inhabits the Alps that lie above the seaboard and also—promiscuously with the Greeks—certain parts of the same seaboard.The Salluvian confederation, a political entity dominated by the Salyes that likely emerged in the 2nd century BC, covered a much larger area stretching from the Rhône to the Loup river (just west of the Var), and reaching the Mediterranean sea to the south, between the Arecomici, the Cavari and the later province of Alpes Maritimae.

120 and 90 BC, including sanctuaries, public squares and administrative buildings, presumably for Glanon to assert itself as the dominant settlement of the area and display its new status to its neighbours.

And it was not until the eightieth year of the war that the Romans succeeded, though only with difficulty, in opening up the road for a breadth of only twelve stadia to those travelling on public business.Conflicts between Rome and the Salyes lasted during nearly eighty years from the end of the Second Punic War (201 BC), during which the eastern part of Iberia came under Roman control and Massalia remained a faithful ally of Rome, up until the rendition of the Salluvian chief town Entremont ca.

[24] Involved in piracy and raids, the Ligurians threatened throughout the 2nd century BC the Massaliotes colonies along the Mediterranean coast, and more generally the trade route between the Iberian Peninsula and Italy.

[27] Flaccus defeated the Salyes, along with the Vocontii and some other Ligurian tribes presumably part of the Salluvian confederation on the eastern borders of the Massaliote territory, then celebrated his triumph in Rome in 123 BC.

Shortly after, another consul, Gaius Sextius Calvinus, sacked their chief town, Entremont, and established near its ruin a Roman garrison post, thereafter to be known as Aquae Sextiae (modern Aix-en-Provence).

[26][28][29] During the conflict, the leaders of the Salyes, including their king Toutomotulos (or Teutomalius), fled with the rest of their armies to their allies the Allobroges, who refused to hand them over to Rome.

[30][24] A further and larger Roman force, including war elephants, was sent under the command of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, who defeated the Allobroges at the Battle of Vindalium in 121 BC.

In August of the same year, the Roman army, strengthened by the troops of Quintus Fabius Maximus, inflicted a decisive defeat on a massive combined force of Allobroges, Arveni and the remaining Salyes at the Battle of the Isère River.

[30] Toutomotulus' followers were killed, enslaved, or driven into exile, while Crato, the Salluvian leader of the pro-Graeco-Roman faction, was granted 900 of his fellow citizens from slavery.

[15] After the foundation of a colonia romana at Arelate (Arles) in 46 BC, a large area west of Aquae Sextiae, including much of the Salluvian lands that had been handed over to Massalia ca.

As seen during the Roman conquest of the region, the local aristrocracy developed links with neighbouring Gallic tribes such as the Allobroges, although literary sources point towards a more complex reality, with significant Greek and Ligurian influences.

It may have included at its height the Anatilii, Libicii, Nearchi, Avatici, Dexivates, Segobrigii, Comani, Tricores, Tritolli, Camactulici, Suelteri, Oxybii, Ligauni, Deciates, and Reii.

[39][40][36] The ties uniting those various tribes were probably loose, and local oppida must have retained considerable autonomy, as evidenced by the short lapse of time during which the confederacy collapsed when the Romans destroyed the Salluvian chief town and subjugated their leaders in 122–121 BC.