Boii Discussion

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The Boii were a Gallic tribe of the Iron Age known to inhabit at various times Cisalpine Gaul, Pannonia, Bavaria, Bohemia and Southern Germany. They first appear in history when they captured the Etruscan city of Felsina (Bologna) and made it their new capital. Ancient authors claim the Boii arrived in northern Italy by crossing the Alps but there is no evidence of them living in Gaul - their origins are believed to be Southern Germany or Bohemia. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, the Boii allied with other Cisalpine Gauls and Etrsucans to fight against Rome. They also joined Hannibal in killing the Roman general Lucius Postumius Albinus in 216 BC and turned his skull into a sacrifical bowl. The burial rites of the Boii shows many similarities with Bohemia and unlike Gauls they did not wear torcs. Ultimately after they were defeated by the Romans the tribe disappeared - many are thought to have ultimately settled in Slovak and Hungarian lowlands.