The People of Pre-Roman Italy
Have you ever wondered who were the people of pre-Roman Italy? If so, read on.
The origin myths of Rome are a convoluted string of stories set in the days before recorded history. All we have are the oral accounts, which were handed down from generation to generation until someone eventually recorded them. How much of these myths are based on actual events is anyone’s guess.
To add to the complexity, the Italian Peninsula was inhabited by countless “nations” at the time, making it almost impossible to follow who’s who in the zoo.
With these things in mind, I will try to clarify and describe the backdrop of the pre-Roman times to your benefit as well as mine. Perhaps if I put them on “paper,” things will fall into place more smoothly.
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Table of Contents
The People of Pre-Roman Italy
Like most of the continent, Italy was home to paleo-European people. Simply put, descendants of the “first” humans to arrive in Europe were still around.
Then, the Indo-European migration began. Circa 6000 years ago, a large group of people originating in the Ural Mountains (?)—the precise point of origin is still debated—began roaming around.
Some Indo-Europeans settled in the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian plateau, while others pushed into Europe. Hence, the name Indo-Europeans. Our shared origin also explains why the Sanskrit and most Iranian and European languages have a similar structure.
By 1000 B.C., Indo-European people were already well established in the Italian Peninsula, alongside the indigenous non-Indo-Europeans. So who were these people?
The Etruscans
For one, there were the Etruscans, the earliest Iron Age culture of the peninsula. Although their origin is disputed, some things are certain. They were already there when the Indo-Europeans arrived and were more advanced than their neighbors. The Etruscans dominated the lands of Etruria, today’s Tuscany, and the adjacent lands.
The Latins and other Italic-speaking People
Then, there were the Italic-speaking people, a heterogeneous bunch of Indo-Europeans who settled in the peninsula. Chief among them were the Latins, but there were also Oscans, Umbrians (e.g., Sabines, Samnites, Sabelli), South Picenians, and Faliscans, to name the larger linguistic groups. They mostly settled in central Italy, just south of the Etruscans.
The Celts
The Celts were the primary Indo-European culture on the continent. People from this culture settled at the feet of the Alps, north of the Etruscans.
People from the Balkans
Another group of Indo-European but not Italic people were the Messapians, Peucetians, and Daunians. They crossed the Adriatic Sea into Italy’s Heel from the Balkans.
The Nuragic Culture
While not in Italy proper, I must mention Sardinia’s Nuragic culture. These guys have been around since the Stone Age, building fabulous settlements and megalithic structures when the ancestors of the Romans were still living in straw huts across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The Greeks
The Greeks had yet to settle in Sicily and Southern Italy, although the influence of Mycenaean Greece was already felt across the region.
Yeah, it is hard to follow, I know. And this was the easy part. 🙂
A Politically Fragmented Land
Although people from the same group spoke the same (or very similar) language and shared the same culture, they weren’t united into one polity. On the contrary, every larger village or group of villages claimed supremacy over its neighbors.
For instance, the city-state of Alba Longa claimed overlordship over all of Latium until its daughter city of Rome destroyed it. Before that, the Latins clashed with their kin, the Rutuli, a presumably Umbrian tribe.
Now that we have described the players let’s discuss the playing field.
Latium: The Birthplace of Rome
Most of the action in the early days of myth and legend is set in Latium, where Rome will be eventually founded.
The ancient region was located in western-central Italy, sandwiched between the mountains in the east, the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west, the Anio River in the north, and the Pontine Marshes in the south.
Latium was centered on Mount Albanus and its surrounding lake, having a circumference of 64 kilometers (40 miles). The surface of Old Latium was around 1800 square kilometers, just a tad larger than modern-day New York City.
In other words, don’t let the pompous titles and fancy names fool you when reading about the pre-Roman and early Roman times. Most kings of old were little more than glorified tribal elders, and their kingdoms a collection of huts. At the same time, the world they fought over was a tiny strip of land comprising the equivalent of a few modern boroughs.
To put this in perspective, the city of Veii, early Rome’s Etruscan archenemy, was within walking distance. A Roman army could march there, fight a short battle, and still be home for dinner.
Having said all this, the fight for survival between the different tribes and settlements was no less brutal or vicious. Village against village, tribe against tribe—they fought for centuries in the days before Rome (and centuries after its birth).
Perhaps it is no surprise that the sole survivor of this ruthless contest eventually rose to dominate the world.
