Veneti (vĕn´ətī), Celtic people of ancient Gaul, who inhabited an area of NW France, now in Morbihan dept. Forming the most important of the Gallic maritime states, they rebelled in 57 BC against Roman rule. They were decisively defeated by Julius Caesar and Decimus Junius Brutus in a naval battle, in which, according to Caesar's account, they lost 220 vessels.

Veneti, people of ancient Italy. They occupied the shore of the Adriatic from Trieste to the mouth of the Po River and spoke an Illyrian language. Friendly toward Rome, they came under Roman rule in the 2d cent. BC