Acerrae ( grc, Ἀχέρραι) was a city of
Cisalpine Gaul, in the territory of the
Insubres
The Insubres or Insubri were an ancient Celtic population settled in Insubria, in what is now the Italian region of Lombardy. They were the founders of Mediolanum (Milan). Though completely Gaulish at the time of Roman conquest, they were the r ...
.
Polybius describes it merely as situated between the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
and the
Po; and his words are copied by
Stephanus of Byzantium: but
Strabo tells us that it was near
Cremona: and the
Tabula places it on the road from that city to
Laus Pompeia (''Lodi Vecchio''), at a distance of 22 Roman miles from the latter place, and 13 from Cremona. These distances coincide with the position of ''Gherra'' or ''
Gera
Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...
'', a village, or rather suburb of ''Pizzighettone'', on the right bank of the river ''
Adda''. It appears to have been a place of considerable strength and importance (probably as commanding the passage of the Adda) even before the Roman conquest: and in B.C. 222, held out for a considerable time against the consuls
Marcellus and
Scipio, but was compelled to surrender after the
battle of Clastidium.’
According to
Polybius,
[Polybius, ''Histories'', 2:34] in 222BC the Romans invaded the territory of the Insubres and laid siege to Acerrae during the consulships of Consuls whom Polybius names Marcus Claudius and Gnaeus Cornelius (''ie''.
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus (died 211 BC) was a Roman general and statesman during the third century BC. He played a major part in the Second Punic War establishing Roman Rule in the east of the Iberian Peninsula and tying up several Carthagini ...
and
Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Marcus Claudius Marcellus (; 270 – 208 BC), five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War. Marcellus gained the most prestigious award a Roma ...
).
References
{{coord missing, Italy
Populated places in pre-Roman Gaul
Roman towns and cities in Italy
Cities and towns in Lombardy