Editing Boii (section)

{{Short description|Celtic tribe}}
{{For|extinct genus of microsaur|Boii (genus)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
[[File:Hallstatt LaTene.png|thumb|350px|Map showing the approximate location of the Boii in [[Bohemia]] and in [[Italy]]. The contemporary [[La Tène culture]] is indicated in green tones, the preceding [[Hallstatt culture]] in yellow.]]

The '''Boii''' ([[Latin language|Latin]] plural, singular ''Boius''; {{langx|grc|Βόιοι}}) were a [[Celts|Celtic]] tribe of the later [[Iron Age]], attested at various times in [[Cisalpine Gaul]] (present-day [[Northern Italy]]), [[Pannonia]] (present-day [[Austria]] and [[Hungary]]), present-day [[Bavaria]], in and around present-day [[Bohemia]] (after whom the region is named in most languages; comprising the bulk of today's [[Czech Republic]]), parts of present-day [[Slovakia]] and [[Poland]], and [[Gallia Narbonensis]] (located in modern [[Languedoc]] and [[Provence]]).

In addition, the archaeological evidence indicates that in the 2nd century BC Celts expanded from Bohemia through the [[Kłodzko Valley]] into [[Silesia]], now part of [[Poland]] and the Czech Republic.<ref>{{harvnb|Rankin|1996|p=16}}</ref>

They first appear in history in connection with the [[Campaign history of the Roman military#Celtic invasion of Italia (390–387 BC)|Gallic invasion of northern Italy]], 390 BC,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=William, LLD (Ed.) |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |date=1854 |location=Entry: "ETRU´RIA" |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:id=etruria-geo |access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref> when they made the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] city of Felsina their new capital, [[Bologna|Bononia (Bologna)]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Felsina {{!}} Italy, History, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Felsina |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=4 November 2023 |language=en |date=13 October 2023}}</ref>

After a series of wars, they were decisively beaten by the Romans in the [[Battle of Mutina (193 BC)|Battle of Mutina]] (193 BC) and their territory became part of the Roman province of [[Cisalpine Gaul]]. According to [[Strabo]], writing two centuries after the events, rather than being destroyed by the Romans like their Celtic neighbours,{{blockquote|The Boii were merely driven out of the regions they occupied; and after migrating to the regions round about the [[Danube|Ister]], lived with the [[Taurisci]], and carried on war against the [[Dacians|Daci]] until they perished, tribe and all—and thus they left their country, which was a part of [[Illyria]], to their neighbours as a pasture-ground for sheep.<ref>Strabo, 5.213.</ref>}}

Around 60 BC, a group of Boii joined the [[Helvetii]]s' ill-fated attempt to conquer land in western Gaul and were defeated by [[Julius Caesar]], along with their allies, in the [[Battle of Bibracte]].

Caesar settled the remnants of that group in [[Gorgobina]], from where they sent 2,000 warriors to [[Vercingetorix]]'s aid at the [[Battle of Alesia]] six years later. The eastern Boii on the Danube were incorporated into the [[Roman Empire]] in 8 AD.