The Hernici were an

Italic tribe The Italic peoples were an ethnolinguistic group identified by their use of Italic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. The Italic peoples are descended from the Indo-European speaking peoples who inhabited Italy from at leas ...

of ancient

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, whose territory was in

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...

between the Fucine Lake and the

Sacco River The Sacco is a river of central Italy, a right tributary of the Liri. It flows between the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital and the province of Frosinone in Lazio. Territory The river originates from the Prenestini Mountains, formed by the ...

(''Trerus''), bounded by the

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

on the south, and by the

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi ( grc, Αἴκουοι and Αἴκοι) were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early hist ...

and the

Marsi The Marsi were an Italic people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (which was drained for agricultural land in the late 19th century). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. D ...

on the north. For many years of the early

Roman republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

they were allied with Rome and fought alongside it against its neighbours. In 495 BC Livy records that they entered into a treaty with the

against

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

. They long maintained their independence, and in 486 BC were still strong enough to conclude an equal treaty with the Latins. In 475 BC they fought alongside the

Latins The Latins were originally an Italic tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonization spread Latin culture during the Roman Republic. Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy, and the word Latin ...

against the Aequi and Volsci, and in the same year fought alongside Rome against the Veientes and Sabines. In 468 BC they fought alongside Rome against the Volsci. In 464 BC they warned Rome of the betrayal of

Ecetra Ecetra was a town of the ancient Volsci tribe of central Italy. Its location is no longer known. It is mentioned by Livy in 495 BC in the context of the failed Volscian invasion of Rome. Livy says that after the Roman victory, the ambassadors ...

, and fought alongside Rome against the Aequi who were allied with the Ecetrans. They broke away from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 362 and in 306, when their chief town

Anagni Anagni () is an ancient town and '' comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Latium, central Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome. It is a historical and artistic center of the Latin Valley. Geography Overview Anagni still maintains the appea ...

a was taken and reduced to a ''praefectura'', but

Ferentinum Ferentino is a town and ''comune'' in Italy, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, southeast of Rome. It is situated on a hill above sea level, in the Monti Ernici area. History ''Ferentinum'' was a town of the Hernici; it was captured from th ...

, Aletrium and

Verulae Veroli ( la, Verulae) is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, central Italy, in the Latin Valley. History Veroli (''Verulae'') became a Roman municipium in 90 BC. It became the seat of a bishopric in 743 AD, and was occupi ...

were rewarded for their fidelity by being allowed to remain free '' municipia'', a position which at that date they preferred to the ''civitas''. The name of the Hernici, like that of the Volsci, is missing from the list of Italian peoples whom

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

describes as able to furnish troops in 225 BC; by that date, therefore, their territory cannot have been distinguished from Latium generally, and it seems probable that they had then received the full Roman citizenship. The oldest Latin inscriptions of the district (from Ferentinum''C.I.L.'' x. 5837-5840) are earlier than the Social War, and present no local characteristic.

Language

A couple of inscriptions show that the Hernican language was a member of the Sabellian group. Their name, with its "''co''" termination, classes them along with the "co"-tribes, like the Volsci, who would seem to have been earlier inhabitants of the west coast of Italy, rather than with the tribes whose names were formed with the "''no''"-suffix.

Gentes of Hernician origin

* Cispia (gens) *

Hirtia gens The gens Hirtia () was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The most distinguished member of the gens under the Republic was Aulus Hirtius, consul in 43 BC.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, p. 496 (" Aulus Hir ...

* Fabricia gens

References

* {{Italic languages Ancient Italic peoples Socii Osco-Umbrian languages

Language

Gentes of Hernician origin

See also

References