Taurini

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The Taurini were an ancient Celt-Ligurian people, who occupied the upper valley of the river Po, in the centre of the modern Piedmont.

In 218 BCE they were attacked by Hannibal, with whose friends the Insubres they had a long-standing feud, and their chief town (Taurasia) was captured after a three days siege (source: Polybius iii. 60, 8). As a people they are rarely mentioned in history. It is believed that a Roman colony was established in 27 BCE with the name Castra Taurinorum and afterwards Julia Augusta Taurinorum (modern Turin).
Both Livy (v. 34) and Strabo (iv. p. 209) speak of the country of the Taurini as including one of the passes of the Alps, which points to a wider use of the name in earlier times.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.