Ancient era
Remains of the Roman Capitolium.
Various mythological versions of the foundation of Brescia exist: one assigns it to Hercules while another attributes its foundation as Altilia ("the other Ilium") by a fugitive from the siege of Troy. According to a further myth, the founder was the king of the Ligures, Cidnus, who had invaded the Padan Plain in the late Bronze Age; this myth has given its name to the hill where the medieval castle now stands, Colle Cidneo (Cidnus's Hill). Scholars attribute the foundation to the Etruscans.
Invaded by the Gallic Cenomani, allies of the Insubres, in the 4th century BC, it became their capital. The city became Roman in 225 BC, when the Cenomani submitted to the Romans. During the Carthaginian Wars 'Brixia' (as it was called then) was usually allied with the Romans. In 202 BC it was part of a Celtic confederation against them, but, after a secret agreement, changed sides and attacked the Insubres by surprise, destroying them. Subsequently the city and the tribe entered the Roman world peacefully as faithful allies, maintaining a certain administrative freedom. In 89 BC, Brixia was recognized as civitas ("city") and in 41 BC its inhabitants received Roman citizenship. Augustus founded a civil (not military) colony there in 27 BC, and he and Tiberius constructed an aqueduct to supply it. Roman Brixia had at least three temples, an aqueduct, a theater, a forum with another temple built under Vespasianus, and some baths.
When Constantine advanced against Maxentius in 312, an engagement took place at Brixia in which the enemy was forced to retreat as far as Verona. In 402, the city was ravaged by the Visigoths of Alaric I. During the invasion of the Huns under Attila, the city was again besieged and sacked in 452 while, some forty years later, it was one of the first conquests of the Gothic general Theoderic the Great in his war against Odoacer.
Middle Ages
The castle of
