Monte Soratte visto da Civita Castellana

Falisci ( grc, Φαλίσκοι, ''Phaliskoi'') is the ancient Roman

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group ...

for 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 ...

who lived in what is now northern

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, on the Etruscan side of the

Tiber River The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest 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 it is joined by the Ri ...

. They spoke an Italic language, Faliscan, closely akin to

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

. Originally a sovereign state, politically and socially they supported the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roug ...

, joining the Etruscan League. This conviction and affiliation led to their ultimate near destruction and total subjugation by

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 ...

. Only one instance of their own

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

has been found to date: an inscription from Falerii Novi from the late 2nd century AD refers to the ''falesce quei in Sardinia sunt'', "the Faliscans who are in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

", where ''falesce'' is the nominative plural case. An Etruscan inscription calls them the ''feluskeś''. The Latin cannot be far different from the original name. The -sc- suffix is "distinctive of the Italic ethnonyms".

Geography

The Falisci resided in a region called by the Romans the ''Ager Faliscus'', "Faliscan Country", located on the right bank of the

between and including Grotta Porciosa in the north and Capena in the south. To the west, the corners of the roughly square area were on the slopes of the

Monti Sabatini The Monti Sabatini is a geologic region in Lazio, central Italy, a remnant of intense volcanism which started ca. 600,000 years ago, mainly with pyroclastic and maar forming eruptions which continued until 100,000 years ago. The moun ...

in the south and the Monti Cimini in the north. Pollen samples from Lake Bracciano, Lake Monterosi and

Lake Vico Lake Vico ( it, Lago di Vico) is a caldera lake in the northern Lazio region, central Italy. It is one of the highest major Italian lakes, with an altitude of 510 m. Administratively, it is part of the municipalities of Caprarola and Ronc ...

reveal that the montane forests, formed by oaks, were very dense until the 2nd century BC. The arable land was contained within an enclosure of volcanic highlands and the

. The northern border of the enclosure went along the ridge of the Monti Cimini, the southern along the ridge connecting the

and Monte Soratte, the western along the highlands connecting the two large volcanic lakes. The inner slopes are drained by streams pointing at the Tiber, which collect into converging canyons and finally into the canyon of the Treja River, which empties into the Tiber. These streams required an extensive network of bridges. Most of the through traffic went along the Via Tiburtina on the west bank of the river, which could only be crossed south of Capena or at Grotta Porciosa in the north. There the Via Flaminia, earlier the

Via Amerina The ''Via Cassia'' ("way of Cassius") was an important Roman road striking out of the '' Via Flaminia'' near the Milvian Bridge in the immediate vicinity of Rome and, passing not far from Veii, traversed Etruria. The ''Via Cassia'' passed throu ...

, led inland into the country of the

Sabines The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines di ...

via the valley of the Nar River. On the western side, the Via Cassia or its predecessor led to the coast over Sutri gap. The Falisci therefore prospered by being on a protected crossroad. Their most important centre was

Falerii Falerii (now Fabrica di Roma) was a city in southern Etruria, 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Rome, 34 km (21 mi) from Veii (a major Etruscan city-state near the River Tiber) and about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) west of the ancient Via Flaminia. It was the main ...

, which became known as ''Falerii Veteres'' after the Romans moved them to a less defensible position, ''Falerii'' ''Novi''. Both locations are near the modern

Civita Castellana Civita Castellana is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Viterbo, north of Rome. Mount Soracte lies about to the south-east. History Civita Castellana was settled during the Iron Age by the Italic people of the Falisci, who called it " ...

. They also had Fescennium. Archaeologists have discovered other major municipalities, unmentioned by the ancient sources, at

Corchiano Corchiano is a town and '' comune ''in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, central Italy. It was an ancient settlement of the Faliscans and, in the Renaissance and later, a fief of the Farnese family. The local produce is hazelnuts and wine. Annu ...

Vignanello Vignanello is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about northwest of Rome and about southeast of Viterbo. Vignanello borders the following municipalities: Corchiano, Fabrica di Roma, ...

Gallese Gallese is an Italian '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo, from Viterbo. It was taken by Duke Thrasimund II of Spoleto in 737 or 738, at which time it was essential to communications between Rome and Ravenna and had a large ...

and Grotta Porciosa.

Culture

In spite of the Etruscan domination, the Faliscans preserved many traces of their Italic origin, such as the worship of the deities

Juno Quiritis Quiritis was a Sabine (pre-Roman) goddess of motherhood. She was often associated with protection. In later years, Quiritis was identified with the goddess Juno, who was sometimes worshipped under the name Juno Quiritis (or Juno Curitis). Some sch ...

Feronia Feronia may mean: * Feronia (mythology), a goddess of fertility in Roman and Etruscan mythology * ''Feronia'' (plant), a genus of plants * Feronia Inc., a plantations company operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Feronia (Sardinia) ...

, the cult of the god Soranus by the Hirpi or fire-leaping priests on

Mount Soracte Monte Soratte (ancient: ''Soracte'') is a mountain ridge in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy. It is a narrow, isolated limestone ridge with a length of and six peaks. Located some south east of Civita Castellana and c. north o ...

, Servius, ''ad Aen.'' xi. 785, 787 above all their language.

History

The Falisci, often allied with the Etruscans, resisted

for a long time. They were allied with

Veii Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan civilization, Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the Comuni of the Province of Rome, comune ...

when it was defeated in 396 BC. In the aftermath, Falerii was occupied by the victorious Romans. When, in 358, Tarquinia rebelled, the Falisci again took arms against Rome, but were again crushed c. 351 BC. This time an alliance was signed between the contenders, and a Roman garrison was settled in Falerii. The Falisci took advantage of the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Roman Republic, Rome and Ancient Carthage, Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years ...

to declare their independence, but their revolt ended in 241 BC with the death of 15,000 Falisci and the destruction of Falerii; the survivors were moved to a less defensible city, ''Falerii Novi''.

Language

The Faliscan language, the

Italic language The Italic languages form a branch of the Indo-European language family, whose earliest known members were spoken on the Italian Peninsula in the first millennium BC. The most important of the ancient languages was Latin, the official langua ...

of the ancient Falisci, attested by the 7th century B.C. is an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...

language. Together with

, it forms the Latino-Faliscan languages group of the Italic languages. It seems probable that the language persisted, being gradually permeated with Latin, until at least 150 BC.

Notes

Sources

* *{{EB1911 , wstitle=Falisci , volume=10 , page=148 , first=Robert Seymour , last=Conway , author-link=Robert Seymour Conway Ancient Italic peoples