low Alpine passes of Brenner and the Reschen Pass over the Alps are disputed. Some scholars maintain it was a Rhaetian settlement: the Adige area was however influenced by neighbouring populations, including the (Adriatic) Veneti, the Etruscans and the Gauls (a Celtic population). According to other theories, the latter instead founded the city during the 4th century BC. Trento was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC, after several clashes with the Rhaetian tribes. Before the Romans, Trento was a Celtic village. Julius Caesar re-founded it as a Roman municipality when Rome extended citizenship to the part of Cisalpine Gaul north of the River Po. The Latin name given to the settlement was Tridentum, meaning "Three-teeth place" or "Trident-town" ( "three" + "tooth"). The reason for the name is uncertain: the new town may have been consecrated to the god Neptune, or possibly named after the three hills that surround the city (known in Italian as Doss Trento, Doss di Sant'Agata and Doss di San Rocco). The Latin name is the source of the adjective "tridentine". On the old city hall, a Latin inscription is still visible: "Montes argentum mihi dant nomenque Tridentum" ("Mountains give me silver and the name of Trento"), attributed to Fra' Bartolomeo da Trento (died in 1251). Tridentum became an important stop on the Roman road that led from Verona to Innsbruck. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the independent bishopric of Trento was conquered by Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Lombards and Franks, finally becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1027, Emperor Conrad II created the Prince-Bishops of Trento, who wielded both temporal and religious powers. In the following centuries, however, the sovereignty was divided between the Bishopric of Trent and the County of Tyrol (from 1363 part of the Habsburg monarchy). Around 1200, Trento became a mining center of some significance: silver was mined from the Monte Calisio – Khalisperg, and Prince-Bishop Federico Wanga issued the first mining code of the alpine region. In the 14th century, the region of Trento was part of Austria. The dukes of Austria (Habsburg Family) were also the counts of Tyrol and dominated the region for six centuries (1918). A dark episode in the history of Trento was the Trento blood libel. When a 3-year-old Christian boy, Simonino, later known as Simon of Trent, disappeared in 1475 on the eve of Good Friday, the city's