Ambicatus

Who is Ambicatus?

Ambicatus is mentioned in the founding legend of Mediolanum by Livy, whose source is Timagenes, as a king of the Bituriges, "kings of the world" as their name suggests, who ruled over the Celts in central Gaul, between Hispania and Germany, in the days of Tarquinius Priscus. Ambicatus sent his sister's sons, Bellovesus and Segovesus, with many followers drawn from numerous tribes, to found new colonies in the Hercynian forest and in northern Italy, in the early sixth century BC. Bellovesus founded Mediolanum. If Ambicatus was an authentic historical figure, rather than a construct to express the linked origins of Celtic tribes in northern Italy and beyond the Alps, most likely he was the leader of the most powerful tribe in a military alliance, from which the Celtic colonizers of Italy were apparently drawn.