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Italian History - The Early Italic Tribes Part I

With the Iron Age Italy and her population practically enter the historical period, even if some while after the more advanced Eastern Mediterranean and Near East civilizations from where arrived particular influences. At the beginning of the first millennium BC the following native tribes could be distinguished on Italian territory: the Ligures, on the coast that bears their name, in the northern Apennine valleys, part of the pre-alpine valleys and the western Po Valley; the Sicani, in the interior of Sicily; and the Itali, in present-day Calabria (from whom comes the name `Italy', which was to be extended to all the territory of the peninsula). Besides the already mentioned Terramare tribe, on the southern edge of the Po Valley, and the Villanovans, probably from Eastern Europe and settled throughout Central Italy, there were also the Umbrians to the east of the upper basin of the Tiber. The Veneti, who occupied the territory that still bears their name, originally came from Illyria as did the Messapii and Iapyges, who settled in present-day Puglia (Apulia).

Many other populations of Central-Southern Italy were created by the mixing of local and foreing elements dating back to the previous millennium. As in the case of the Sabines and Latini who settled in Lazio together with Falisci, Aequi, Volsci, Hernici and Ausones. The interior of Abruzzo was dominated by the Vestini, Paeligni and Marsi, while the central Adriatic coast was populated by Picentes, Marrucini and Frentani. The Apennine area of Molise and Basilicata was peopled by the Samnites and Lucanians. In Calabria and Sicily there were also the Bruttii and Siculi.

The Phoenician colonisation of the coasts of the Western Mediterranean were limited in Italy to Sardinia and western Sicily and preceded that of the Greeks. It was followed by Punic settlements (Trapani, Palermo, Cagliari) linked to the ancient Phoenician colony of Carthage.

Greek and Etruscan Colonization

During the 8C BC the Greeks arrived in Italy. They came from Euboea, Argolis, Locris, Crete and the Aegean islands, settling on the southern coasts (from Campania to Apulia) and eastern and southern Sicily. They founded many prosperous colonies whose economy was generally based on agriculture and commerce. Often they allied together against common enemies but they were also divided by disagreement and rivalry. The term `Magna Grecia' describes a population and civilization rather than a political reality. Among the first to settle on the Italian coasts were the Achaeans (of Dorian origins) who founded towns like Taranto, Metaponto, Posidonia (Paestum), and Sibari. They were followed by Locrians and then Chalcidians from Euboea who founded Naxos (Taormina), Zancle (Messina) and, after the occupation of Pitecusa (Ischia), Cuma in Campania. The Corinthians founded Siracusa, still in the 8C BC, and the Megarians Megara Hyblaea on the Gulf of Augusta. Finally, the Phocaeans founded Elea (Velia) in Campania.

While in Northern Italy, during the first half of the first millennium BC, there began the increasing penetration of the Gauls (of Celtic origins) from beyond the Alps, who would gradually occupy the entire Po Valley, on the Tyrrhenian slopes of Central Italy the Etruscans began to take form (circa 8C BC). The latter had an advanced civilization whose origins are still not clear. Whether they migrated from the East (as many aspects of their civilization suggest) by land or sea, or developed on the peninsula itself as direct heirs of the Villanovans, it is clear that the Etruscans formed the most important Italic cultural and political ethnic group before the advent of Roman power.

Roman Civilization

Already during the Copper Age the area of the Alban Hills, just to the south of the mouth of the Tiber, was inhabited by an Italic agricultural and pastoral tribe called Latini. And it was due to them, in all probability, that Rome was founded towards the middle of the 8C BC on one of the numerous hills (the Palatine) in the marshy depressions surrounding the river. The town and territory occupied by the Latini expanded gradually during the royal period (753-510 BC, under the seven kings of Rome: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquin Priscus, Servius Tullius and Tarquin the Proud). In this period the juridical and social organization of the new nation evolved, revealing clear influence from the nearby Etruscan civilization.

Territorially, at the end of the 6C BC, Roman Lazio extended over some 2000 sq km. It covered the lower Aniene Valley as far as its junction with the Tiber and from there to the sea, besides including the major part of the Alban Hills and the coast from the mouth of the Tiber to the promontory of Anzio. Alongside stock rearing and agriculture the economy of the Latin monarchy was based on commerce, favoured by Rome's geographic position between Campania (Magna Grecia) and Etruria as well as by the proximity of the mouth of the Tiber, which was a harbour of growing importance also because of the presence of productive salt pans.

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