Editing Lombardy (section)

===Prehistory and antiquity===
{{Further|Cisalpine Gaul}}
[[File:Scena di duello R6 - Foppe - Nadro (Foto Luca Giarelli).jpg|thumb|A couple in duel with a "symbol" in the middle depicted in the [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica]]. The Rock Drawings in Valcamonica are the largest collections of prehistoric [[petroglyph]]s in the world.<ref name="unesco2"/>]]

From archaeological findings of ceramics, arrows, axes, and carved stones, the area of current-day Lombardy has been settled at least since the second millennium BC. Well-preserved [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|rock drawings]] left by ancient [[Camuni]] in the [[Valcamonica]] depicting animals, people, and symbols were made over 8,000 years before the [[Iron Age]],<ref name="adorno">{{cite book|last= Adorno|first= Piero|title=L'arte italiana|year= 1992|publisher= D'Anna|location= Firenze|volume=1|chapter=Mesolitico e Neolitico|page=16|language=it}} {{No ISBN}}</ref> based on about 300,000 records.<ref name=archeointro>{{cite web|url=http://www.archeocamuni.it/arte_rupestre.html|title=Introduzione all'arte rupestre della Valcamonica |website=Archeocamuni.it|access-date=11 May 2009|language=it}}</ref>

The many artefacts found in a [[necropolis]] near [[Lake Maggiore]] and the [[Ticino (river)|Ticino]] demonstrate the presence of the [[Golasecca]] [[Bronze Age]] culture that prospered in western Lombardy between the ninth and the 4th centuries BC. In the following centuries, Lombardy was inhabited by different peoples; the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]] founded the city of [[Mantua]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Fagles|first=Robert|title=The Aeneid|year=2006|publisher=Penguin Group|isbn=0-670-03803-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lucchini|first=Daniele|title=Rise and fall of a capital. The history of Mantua in the words of who wrote about it|year=2013|publisher=Finisterrae|isbn=978-1-291-78388-9}}</ref> and spread the use of writing. It was the seat of the Celtic [[Canegrate culture]] starting from the 13th century BC, and later of the Celtic [[Golasecca culture]]. From the 5th century BC, the area was invaded by more [[Celts|Celtic]] [[Gauls|Gallic]] tribes coming from north of the Alps. These people settled in several cities including Milan and extended their rule to the [[Adriatic Sea]]. Celtic development was halted by the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] expansion in the Po Valley from the 3rd century BC. After centuries of struggle, at the end of the 2nd century B.C.,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.capiate.org/SitoEN/comata.htm|title=The Gallia Comata |access-date=31 January 2024|language=it}}</ref> the entirety of modern-day Lombardy became a Roman province called [[Gallia Cisalpina]]—"[[Gaul]] on the inner side (with respect to Rome) of the [[Alps]]".

The Roman culture and language overwhelmed the former civilisation in the following years, and Lombardy became one of the most developed and richest areas of Italy with the construction of roads and the development of agriculture and trade. Important figures were born here, such as [[Pliny the Elder]] (in [[Como]]) and [[Virgil]] (in Mantua). In [[late antiquity]] the strategic role of Lombardy was emphasised by the move of the capital of the [[Western Roman Empire|Western Empire]] to [[Mediolanum]] (Milan). Here, in 313 AD, Roman Emperor [[Constantine I|Constantine]] issued the famous ''[[Edict of Milan]]'', which gave freedom of confession to all religions within the Roman Empire.