Throughout the middle and late Republican periods (fourth to first centuries BC) the Romans lived in fear and loathing of the Gauls of northern Italy, caused primarily by their collective historical memory of the destruction of the city of Rome by Gauls in 387 BC. By examining the literary evidence relating to the historical, ethnographic, and geographic writings of Greeks and Romans of the period focussing on invasion and conflict, this book attempts to answer the questions how and why the Gauls became the deadly enemy of the Romans. Dr. Williams also examines the problematic notion of the...