Galatians (People)

The Dying Gaul, also called The Dying Galatian (Italian: Galata Morente) or The Dying Gladiator, is an ancient Roman marble semi-recumbent statue now in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. It is a copy of a now lost Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) thought to have been made in bronze. The original may have been commissioned at some time between 230 and 220 BC by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Galatians, the Celtic or Gaulish people of parts of Anatolia. The original sculptor is believed to have been Epigonus, a court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon.

Until the 20th century, the marble statue was usually known as The Dying Gladiator, on the assumption that it depicted a wounded gladiator in a Roman amphitheatre. However, in the mid-19th century it was re-identified as a Gaul or Galatian and the present name "Dying Gaul" gradually achieved popular acceptance. The identification as a "barbarian" was evidenced for the figure's neck torc, thick hair and moustache, weapons and shield carved on the floor, and a type of Gallic horn, a carnyx, between his legs.

Sosthenes (Greek Σωσθένης; died 277 BC) was a Macedonian general who may have been a king of the Antipatrid dynasty. During the reign of Lysimachus he was his governor in Asia Minor. Sosthenes was elected King by the Macedonian army, but he may or not have reigned as king. Appointed as strategos he may have declined the title of king as he had no royal connections. During his reign, he faced invading Galatians, Antigonus II Gonatas and other rivals. He defeated Bolgius, one of the earliest invading Galatian leaders but was soon faced with the invasion of Brennus in the summer of 279 BC. Antigonus II Gonatas tried to invade Macedonia from Asia in 278 but was beaten by Sosthenes.