The Morgetes ( grc, Μόργητες, la, Morgetes) were an ancient Lucanian tribe, of

Pelasgian The name Pelasgians ( grc, Πελασγοί, ''Pelasgoí'', singular: Πελασγός, ''Pelasgós'') was used by classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergenc ...

descent, who occupied the region of southern Italy from

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. Girolamo Marafioti, ''Croniche et antichità di Calabria. Conforme all'ordine de' testi greco, & latino, raccolte da' più famosi scrittori antichi, & moderni ...'', Padova, Ad instanza de gl'Uniti, 1601, p. 21. Ristampa anastatica: editore Arnaldo Forni, 1975 e 1981
Consultabile on line in Google Libri
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History

The Morgetes were part of the

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 ...

s, which occupied both the Ionian and Tyrrhenian shores of Calabria. According to some ancient historians, they were one of the branches of the

Oenotrians The Oenotrians (Οἴνωτρες, meaning "tribe led by Oenotrus" or "people from the land of vines - Οἰνωτρία") were an ancient Italic people who inhabited a territory in Southern Italy from Paestum to southern Calabria. By the sixth ...

, along with the Chones, the Itali and the

Sicels The Sicels (; la, Siculi; grc, Σικελοί ''Sikeloi'') were an Italic tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily during the Iron Age. Their neighbours to the west were the Sicani. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, b ...

. Others hold that they inhabited Italy before the Oenetrians and were driven out by them, fleeing to Sicily. Yet others identify them with the group of the Italoi who accepted the rule of the mythical king after the death of his father Italus. A final definition claimed that they were the Sicels who moved into Sicily under the leadership of King Morges. In this version, Morges was the brother of Italus and son of Siculus, who was also the founder of

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 Calabria, they were said to inhabit the inland regions according to the works of

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophe ...

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 ' ...

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

, which describe the Morgetes and King Morges. Morges was reputed to have founded the site of

San Giorgio Morgeto San Giorgio Morgeto ( Calabrian: or simply ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 20 ...

, which was fortified as a castle in the 9th and 10th century AD. In Sicily, the Morgetes were also meant to have settled in the interior, driving away the Sicans and establishing the city of Morgantina and other communities in the 10th century BC.Strabo 6.257 & 270)

References

Bibliography

* Girolamo Marafioti, ''Croniche et antichità di Calabria. Conforme all'ordine de' testi greco, & latino, raccolte da' più famosi scrittori antichi, & moderni ...'', Padova, Ad instanza de gl'Uniti, 1601. Ristampa anastatica: editore Arnaldo Forni, 1975 e 1981
Consultabile on line in Google Libri
* * Pasquale Scaglione (1808-1880), ''Storie di Locri e Gerace''. * Nicolino Amendolia, ''La notte Morgezia'' (pubblicato a Napoli nel 1842). * Domenico Valensise ''Monografia di Polistena'' (1863). * Domenico Cangemi, ''Monografia di San Giorgio Morgeto'' (1886). * Marcello Amendolea, "San Giorgio Morgeto", in ''

Calabria Letteraria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

'', luglio-agosto-settembre 1961 (anno IX n. 7-8-9), pp. 27–28. * {{Cite book, author =

Sebastiano Tusa Sebastiano Tusa (2 August 1952 – 10 March 2019) was an Italian archaeologist and politician who served as councilor for Cultural Heritage for the Sicilian Region of Italy from 11 April 2018 until his death on 10 March 2019. Tusa also served as ...

, title = La Sicilia nella preistoria , location= Palermo , publisher =

Sellerio Sellerio Editore is an Italian publisher founded in 1969 in Palermo, by Elvira Giorgianni and her husband Enzo Sellerio, encouraged by the writer Leonardo Sciascia and the anthropologist Antonino Buttitta. History After some titles published i ...

, year = 1999 , isbn = 88-389-1440-0 * Antonio Floccari, ''Storia di Cinquefrondi''. Ancient peoples of Italy Ancient peoples of Sicily