Characterizing the Gauls

Greek science and Roman imperialism have emerged as significant themes for the understanding of the key texts on the geography of northern Italy from the period of the conquest and settlement in the second century BC contained in Polybius and Cato ‘s Origines. But what of the peoples who lived there? How were they imagined, and in what terms were they approached? Here too, differences between Roman and Greek ideas are apparent. What is common to both Cato and Polybius is that their remarks are not to be taken simply as representations of past realities, as they are often under stood to be by historians and archaeologists. If their words are to be used as evidence for how things really were, then some idea is needed of the conceptual tools with which these authors were working, and of their reasons for writing about foreign peoples in the first place.

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