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Bellovesus (Gaulish language: 'Worthy of Power') is a legendary Gauls chief of the Bituriges Cubi, said to have lived ca. 600 BC. According to a legend recounted by Titus Livius, the king Ambigatus sent his sister's sons Bellovesus and Segovesus in search of new lands to settle because of overpopulation in their homeland. While Segovesus headed towards the Hercynian Forest, Bellovesus is said to have led the Gallic invasion of the Po Valley during the legendary reign of the fifth king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus (616–579 BC), where he allegedly conquered the Etruscans and founded the city of Mediolanum (Milan).
The Alps represented an insurmountable hurdle since no road had been built across them yet. Only after they gave support to the Greeks, who in the area of the Salyes had landed and established ca. 600 BC the colony of Massilia (Marseille), did Bellovesus and his followers succeed in crossing the mountain range through Taurine passes and the pass of the Duria. Having arrived in Italy, the Gauls defeated the Etruscans near the Ticino River, then settled in an area later called Insubria and, according to Livy, "bore the same name as an Haeduan canton". Here, Bellovesus founded the city of Mediolanum, the modern Milan. Another group made up of Cenomani and led by Etitovius followed their track and, with the approval of Bellovesus, crossed the Alps by the same pass before settling around the present-day cities of Brescia and Verona. They were followed by the coming of Libui, Salyes, Boii, and Lingones in the Po Valley, driving both the Etruscans and Umbrians away from their lands.
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