Rome's Deadliest Enemies: The Gauls of Italy

Tides of History

Wondery / Patrick Wyman

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When we think of Rome's most dangerous foes, our attention usually turns to Hannibal and his ilk, but it was really the Gauls of northern Italy who troubled Romans the most, and for the longest period. Who were they, and what made them such a consistent threat to the safety of the Roman Republic?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Tides of History early and ad-free right now.
0:04.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:14.0	Drops of rain pinged off Marcus's bronze helmet and soaked his red soldier's cloak.
0:22.6	The wind howled through the autumn limbs of the beach and oak covering the slopes of the valley.
0:27.6	It cut him to the core.
0:29.6	He could barely feel his fingers gripping his slim javelin and the wooden handle of his shield.
0:34.6	The half-dozen Romans trudging along the muddy track behind Marcus were no less miserable,
0:39.3	probably more so, because he was in the lead, and at least he didn't have to walk through
0:43.3	the muck turned over by his tentmate's footsteps.
0:46.3	Fresh muck wasn't much, but it was something, he supposed.
0:50.3	Marcus held up his hand and stopped walking.
0:52.3	The track passed through a copse of trees just ahead, where it turned a corner and began to climb a gentle rise.
0:58.6	It was precisely where he would plan an ambush.
1:01.2	If he were one of the gulls, Marcus and his mates were hunting in this damp hellhole.
1:05.4	He hated the gulls.
1:06.9	All Romans did.
1:08.4	It was a patriotic duty passed down from generations past, and Marcus embraced it with enthusiasm.
1:14.1	His uncle Rubius had once told him about the pile of severed Roman heads he and his own comrades found when they stormed a Gallic village, and the terrible revenge they'd taken that day.
1:23.6	Marcus had yet to feel a twinge of regret for any of the dead gulls he'd seen on this campaign into the lands of the Senones.
1:29.3	He doubted that day would come.
1:31.3	There was definitely rustling up ahead in the trees.
1:34.3	Deer, maybe, but maybe not.
	...

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