Allobroges

Allobroges, Celtic tribe of ancient Gaul whose territory lay between the Rhône and Isère rivers and Lake Geneva in the vicinity of the present-day French-Swiss border. Their chief town was Vienna (now Vienne, France), on the Rhône River, and their frontier outpost against their enemies, the Helvetii, was Geneva. After they were defeated by the Romans in 121 bc, their territory was incorporated into Transalpine Gaul. In 63 bc envoys of the Allobroges were invited to take part in a conspiracy led by the Roman statesman Catiline, but, preferring to perform a service for the Roman government, they informed the statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero of the plot and procured for him proof of the conspiracy.