The Ilvates were a Ligurian tribe, whose name is found only in the writings of

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

. He mentions them first as taking up arms in 200 BCE, in concert with the Gaulish tribes of the

Insubres The Insubres or Insubri were an ancient Celts, Celtic population settled in Insubria, in what is now the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Lombardy. They were the founders of Mediolanum (Milan). Though completely Gaulish at the time of Roman rep ...

and

Cenomani The Gaulish name Cenomani can refer to: * Aulerci Cenomani, an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling around modern Le Mans * Cenomani (Cisalpine Gaul) The Cenomani (Greek: , Strabo, Ptol.; , Polyb.), was an ancient tribe of the Cisalpine Gauls, who ...

, to destroy the Roman colonies of Placentia (modern Piacenza) and

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

. They are again noticed three years later as being still in arms, after the submission of their Transpadane allies; but in the course of that year's campaign (197 BCE) they were reduced by the consul

Quintus Minucius Rufus Quintus Minucius Rufus was a Roman senator and military commander. Early career In 211 BC, Minucius was an officer serving under Q. Fulvius Flaccus when Roman forces took back Capua after their defeat the previous year by Hannibal. He was a pleb ...

, and their name does not again appear in history. (Liv. xxx. 10, xxxi. 29, 30.) From the circumstances here related, it is clear that they dwelt on the north slopes of the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

, towards the plains of the Padus (modern

Po River The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ligurian language (ancient), Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira (river), Mair ...

), and apparently not very far from Clastidium (modern Casteggio); but we cannot determine with certainty either the position or extent of their territory. Their name, like those of most of the Ligurian tribes mentioned by Livy, had disappeared in the Augustan age, and is not found in any of the

ancient geographers Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

Charles Athanase Walckenaer Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer (25 December 1771 – 28 April 1852) was a French civil servant and scientist. Biography Walckenaer was born in Paris and studied at the universities of University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Glasgow ...

, however, supposed the Eleates over whom the consul Marcus Fulvius Nobilior celebrated a triumph in 159 BCE '' Fasti Capitolini'' noted in

Jan Gruter Jan Gruter or Gruytère, Latinization of names, Latinized as Janus Gruterus (3 December 1560 – 20 September 1627), was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish-born philologist, scholar, and librarian. Life Jan Gruter was born in Antwerp. His fat ...

''Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis Romani'' (Heidelberg, 1603), p. 297. and who are in all probability the same people with the Veleiates of Pliny, to be identical also with the Ilvates of Livy; but this cannot be assumed without further proof.

Notes

References

* {{Ligurian peoples Ligures