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- Died:
- 279 bc
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Brennus
Gallic leader [died 279 BCE]
Brennus (died 279 bc) was a Gallic chieftain who led an unsuccessful invasion of Greece in the autumn of 279. He advanced through Macedonia to Greece shortly after another group of Gauls had overrun Macedonia and killed its king. At the narrow pass of Thermopylae, on the east coast of central Greece, Brennus suffered heavy losses while trying to break through the Greek defense. Eventually he found a way around the pass—in much the same manner as the Persian invaders had done in 480 bc—but the Greeks escaped by sea. Brennus pushed on to Delphi, where he was wounded in battle; in the subsequent retreat northward few Gauls escaped. Brennus avoided capture by committing suicide.
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