ABSTRACT
After the Celts settled in central Carinthia in the second half of the third century BC, a strong, centralised political power grew up here. The conditions which brought about direct contacts between Rome and Noricum were created by the expansion of Roman power over northern Italy immediately beforehand. After the battle of Telamon, the great Gallic defeat at Clastidium and the storming of the Celtic oppidum of Mediolanum, the power of the northern Italian Boii and Insubres collapsed. A band of Galli Transalpini appeared in the region of the later colony of Aquileia, and, without plundering the country, began building an oppidum. The Roman embassy had a friendly reception; peace between Rome and the east Alpine lands were thus secured, and Claudius Mar-cellus was able to begin his expedition against the Istrians. The expulsion of the gold-miners scarcely resulted in any deterioration in relations between Rome and the regnum Noricum.
