A Bit of History – The Galatians Between 278 and 270 b.C . a Celtic race population crossed the Dardanelles as Nikomedes, King of Bithynia, had enlisted them to conquer Anatoly. Antiochus, Emperor of Syria, stopped their expansion as he defeated and confined them in Galatia, a region in the vicinity of Ankara. In 230 b.C. the king of Pergamon, Attalos I, defeated the Galatians who had rebelled against him. To honour his victory, he erected several marble figures in the Acropolis. These include the worldwide-acclaimed Dying Galatian statue depicting a dying man who is shown proudly fighting against his fate according to the Hellenistic tradition.