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The Senones or Senonii (Gaulish language: "the ancient ones") were an ancient Gauls tribe dwelling in the Seine basin, around present-day Sens, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Part of the Senones settled in the Italian peninsula, where they ousted the between Rimini (modern-day Rimini) and Ancona. According to later Roman accounts, they were the leaders of the Gallic war-band that captured Rome during the Battle of the Allia in 390 BC. They remained a constant threat until Rome eventually subjugated them in 283 BC, after which they disappeared from history.
The Gaulish ethnonym Senones is generally interpreted as meaning 'the ancient ones', by deriving the name from the Proto-Celtic root *sen- ('old'; cf. Old Irish sen; Middle Welsh hen 'old') extended by the suffix - on-es. Pierre-Yves Lambert has also proposed an etymology from the root * sen(H)-, meaning 'to gain, vanquish'. In ancient times, Servius compared the name to the Greek ξενός ('guest-friend, host, stranger')., s.v. Σένονες.
The city of Sens, attested in the 4th century AD as Senonas oppidum ('oppidum of the Senones'), is named after the Gallic tribe.
Their territory, whose exact boundaries have been much discussed, broadly corresponded to the ancient regions of Sénonais, Gâtinais, Melunois, Stampois, southern Brie, and Provinois. It encompassed the lower course of the Yonne River and a large segment of the Seine between modern-day Nogent-sur-Marne and Melun. Over time, parts of this territory separated to form new cities, notably that of the Tricasses, in the area of modern Troyes.
In 400 BC, they crossed the Alps and invaded Italy as far as Rome which they plundered. They retreated and, driving out the Umbrians, settled on the east coast of Italy. Their territory spanned from Forlì to Ancona and Terni, in Picenum or what was later the Ager Gallicus. They founded the town at Senigallia, which became their capital and occupied northern Picenum. In 391 BC, under the chieftain Brennus, they invaded Etruria and besieged Clusium. The Clusines appealed to Rome for aid. The Romans provided support, which constituted a violation of the law of nations. The ensuing war resulted in the defeat of the Romans at the Battle of the Allia (390 BC) and the sacking of Rome.
For more than 100 years the Senones were engaged in Roman-Gallic wars, until in 284 BC the Gauls besieged Arretium, the Etruscan town that had agreed a truce for 40 years with the Romans in 294 BC. The Romans went to the assistance of the town and were beaten in a battle under its walls. Rome sent ambassadors to the Gauls but they killed them. The praetor Caecilius was sent with an army to avenge their murder but he was killed by the Etruscans and Gauls, together with 7 military and many nobles.Polybius, Histories 2: 19: 7-10).Paulus Orosius, History against the Pagans’, 3: 22 Finally P. Cornelius Dolabella drove them out of their territory in 283 BC.Polybius, Gallic Wars, 2.13 Nothing more was heard of them in Italy.
It is possible that they joined with Gallic tribes who spread themselves throughout the lands of the Danube, Macedonia, and Asia Minor. Sena Gallica (currently Senigallia) was made a Roman colony, named to distinguish it from Sena Julia (Siena) in Etruria.
In Gallia Transalpina
A branch of the Senones (or a different tribe of the same name) settling the district which now includes the departments of Seine-et-Marne, Loiret and Yonne from 53–51 BC were engaged in hostilities with Julius Caesar brought about by their expulsion of Cavarinus, whom he had appointed their king. In 51 BC, a Senonian named Drappes threatened the Provincia, but was captured and starved himself to death. From this time the Gallic Senones disappear from history. In later times, they were included in Gallia Lugdunensis. Their chief towns were Agedincum (later Senones, whence Sens), (Melun; according to A. Holder, Meudon), and Vellaunodunum (site uncertain).
Bibliography
(1995). 9782735126002, Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme. ISBN 9782735126002
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