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 BC 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 BC with the name Castra Taurinorum and afterwards Julia Augusta Taurinorum (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.
His sudden appearance among the Gauls, moreover, enabled him to detach most of the tribes from their new allegiance to the Romans before the latter could take steps to check rebellion.
After allowing his soldiers a brief rest to recover from their exertions Hannibal first secured his rear by subduing the hostile tribe of the Taurini (mod.
Turin), and moving down the Po valley forced the Romans by virtue of his superior cavalry to evacuate the plain of Lombardy.
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