On 16 July 390 BC, a Gallic military beneath the leadership of tribal chieftain Brennus, met the Romans on the financial institutions of the Allia River 10 miles north of Rome. The city of Rome grew from settlements all around a ford on the river Tiber, a crossroads of targeted traffic and trade. This brought on a difficulty, in that Rome came to have a significant male populace but was bereft of women of all ages.