The Umbri were an
Italic people
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.
A region called
Umbria
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still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the
ancient Umbria.
Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on easily defensible hilltops.
Umbria
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was bordered by the
Tiber
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...
and Nar rivers and included the Apennine slopes on the Adriatic. The ancient
Umbrian language
Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbrian lan ...
is a branch of a group called
Oscan-Umbrian, which is related to the
Latino-Faliscan languages.
Origins
They are also called ''Ombrii'' in some
Roman sources. Ancient Roman writers thought the Umbri to be of
Gaulish origin; wrote that they were descended from an ancient Gaulish tribe.
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
wrote that the name might be a different way of writing the name of the Celto-Germanic , which loosely means "King of the .
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
suggested that the , another Gaulish tribe, might be connected; their Celtic name ''Isombres'' could possibly mean "Lower Umbrians," or inhabitants of the country below Umbria. Similarly Roman
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write his ...
, in his masterpiece
Origines
(, "Origins") is the title of a lost work on Roman and Italian history by Cato the Elder, composed in the early-2nd centuryBC.
Contents
According to Cato's biographer Cornelius Nepos, the ''Origins'' consisted of seven books. Book I was the hi ...
, defines the Gauls as "the progenitors of the Umbri". The Ambrones are also mentioned, with the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
and the
Suebi, among the tribes of Northern Europe in the poem
Widsith
"Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th c ...
.
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
wrote concerning the folk-etymology of the name:
Ancient Greek historians considered the Umbri as the ancestors of the Sabellian people, namely the
Sabines and the
Samnites, and the tribes which sprung from them, as the
Marsi,
Marrucini,
Peligni,
Picentes
The name Picentes or Picentini refers to the population of Picenum, on the northern Adriatic coastal plain of ancient Italy. Their endonym, if any, is not known for certain. There is linguistic evidence that the Picentini comprised two different ...
,
Hirpini, and others. Their expansion was in a southward direction, according to the rite of
Ver Sacrum.
Culture
Lepontic inscriptions have also been found in
Umbria
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, in the area which saw the emergence of the Terni culture, which had strong similarities with the Celtic-speaking cultures of
Hallstatt and
La Tène. The Umbrian necropolis of
Terni, which dates back to the 10th century BC, was virtually identical in every aspect to the Celtic necropolis of the
Golasecca culture
The Golasecca culture (9th - 4th century BC) was a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age culture in northern Italy, whose type-site was excavated at Golasecca in the province of Varese, Lombardy, where, in the area of Monsorino at the beginning of the ...
.
Religion
During the 6th–4th centuries BC, Umbrian communities constructed rural sanctuaries in which they sacrificed to the gods. Bronze
votives
A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...
shaped as animals or deities were also offered. Umbrian deities include
Feronia, Valentia, Minerva Matusia and
Clitumnus. The
Iguvine Tablets were discovered in 1444 at
Scheggia, near
Gubbio, Italy. Composed during the 2nd or 3rd centuries BC, they describe religious rituals involving animal sacrifice.
The modern Festival of Ceri, celebrated every year in Gubbio on May 15 in honor of Bishop
Ubald or Ubaldo of Gubbio (1084-1160), shares certain features with the rites described in the 3rd c. BC Iguvine tables mentioned above, and so may be a survival of that ancient pre-Christian custom. It is also celebrated in Jessup, PA, a town with a large number of immigrants from the Gubbio area, as
Saint Ubaldo Day.
[Poultney, J.W. "Bronze Tables of Iguvium" 1959 p. 1 https://archive.org/details/bronzetablesofig00poul/page/n19/mode/2up]
Political structure
While we have little direct information about ancient Umbrian political structure, it is fairly clear that two men held the supreme magistracy of ''uhtur'' and were responsible for supervising rituals. Other civic offices included the ''marone'', which had a lower status than ''uhtur'' (closely related to Latin ''auctor'' whence English "author"), and a religious position named ''kvestur'' (cognate to or a borrowing of Latin
Quaestor). The Umbrian social structure was divided into distinct groups probably based upon military rank. During the reign of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
, four Umbrian aristocrats became senators. Emperor
Nerva’s family was from Umbria.
According to Guy Jolyon Bradley, " The religious sites of the region have been thought to reveal a society dominated by agricultural and pastoral concerns, to which town life came late in comparison to Etruria."
Roman influence
Throughout the 9th-4th centuries BC, imported goods from
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
and
Etruria were common, as well as the production of local pottery.
The Romans first made contact with Umbria in 310 BC and settled Latin colonies there in 299 BC, 268 BC and 241 BC. They had completed their conquest of Umbria by approximately 260 BC. Incorporation into the Roman state occurred during the 3rd century BC when some Umbri were given full citizenship or citizenship without the right to vote. Also during the 3rd century BC about 40,000 Romans settled in the region. The
Via Flaminia linking areas of Umbria was complete by 220 BC. Cities in Umbria also contributed troops to Rome for its many wars. Umbrians fought under
Scipio Africanus in 205 BC during the
Second Punic War. The
Praetorian Guard recruited from Etruria and Umbria. The Umbri played a minor role in the
Social War and as a result were granted citizenship in 90 BC. Roman veterans were settled in Umbria during the reign of Augustus.
Archaeological sites
The Umbrians descend from the
culture of Terni
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor ...
, protohistoric facies of southern Umbria.
The towns of
Chianciano and
Clusium (Umbrian: ''Camars'') near modern
Arezzo contain traces of Umbrian habitation dating to the 7th or 8th centuries BC.
Terni (in Latin: ''Interamna Nahars'') was the first important Umbrian center. Its population was called with the name of ''Umbri Naharti''. They were the largest, organized and belligerent tribe of the Umbrians and populated compactly across the basin of Nera River. This people are quoted for 8 times in the Iguvine Tablets. Their importance is confirmed not only by the Iguvine Tablets and Latin historians, and by the important and privileged role played by this city in Roman times, but also by the discovery, at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, of one of the larger mixed burial necropoleis (Urnfield culture and burial fields) in Europe, about 3000 tombs (Necropoli delle Acciaierie di Terni).
Assisi, called ''Asisium'' by the Romans, was an ancient Umbrian site on a spur of
Mount Subasio. Myth relates that the city was founded by
Dardanus in 847 BC.
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...
and
Orvieto are not considered of Umbrian but Etruscan origin. According to the geographical distribution of the Umbrian territory, they are located on the left side of the Tiber River, which is part of the ancient Etruria. Umbri were on the opposite side of the river. According to the map of ''
Regio Umbria and Ager Galliucus'' by Emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
, the major Umbrian city-states were:
Terni,
Todi
Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction.
I ...
,
Amelia and
Spoleto (the current part of southern Umbria).
Prominent Umbri
Gentes of Umbrian origin
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Accia gens
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Annaea gens
Annaea or Annaia ( grc, Ἄνναια) or Anaea or Anaia (Ἀναία), was a town of ancient Ionia. Stephanus of Byzantium placed it in Caria, opposite Samos. Pausanias also puts it on the mainland across from Samos and says it was fortified by ...
*
Belliena gens
*
Cocceia gens
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Fuficia gens
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Luciena gens
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Peducaea gens
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Propertia gens
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Rustia gens
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Scoedia gens
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Sibidiena gens
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Titulena gens
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Ulpia gens
The gens Ulpia was a Roman family that rose to prominence during the first century AD. The gens is best known from the emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, who reigned from AD 98 to 117. The Thirtieth Legion took its name, ''Ulpia'', in his honor. ...
*
Umbrena gens
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Umbria gens
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Umbricia gens
Romans of Umbrian ancestry
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Nerva, Roman emperor
*
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
, Roman emperor
*
Seneca the Elder, rhetorician and writer
*
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
Seneca was born in ...
, Stoic philosopher, statesman and dramatist
Genetics
A 2020 analysis of maternal haplogroups from ancient and modern samples indicated a substantial genetic similarity among the modern inhabitants of
Umbria
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and the area's ancient pre-Roman inhabitants, and evidence of substantial genetic continuity in the region from pre-Roman times to the present with regard to
mitochondrial DNA. Both modern and ancient Umbrians were found to have high rates of mtDNA haplogroups U4 and U5a, and an overrepresentation of J (at roughly 30%). The study also found that, "local genetic continuities are further attested to by six terminal branches (H1e1, J1c3, J2b1, U2e2a, U8b1b1 and K1a4a)" also shared by ancient and modern Umbrians.
See also
*
Umbrian language
Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbrian lan ...
*
List of ancient peoples of Italy
*
Gens of Sabine origin
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Gens of Volscian origin
References
Sources
* {{cite book, vauthors = Domenico RP , title=Regions of Italy: A Reference Guide to History and Culture, year=2001, url=https://archive.org/details/regionsitalyrefe00dome, url-access=limited, publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, page
367��371, isbn=9780313307331
Socii
History of le Marche
History of Umbria
Umbri