The Carni (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Καρνίοι) were a tribe of the

Eastern Alps The Eastern Alps are usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley, up to the Splügen Pass at the Main chain of the Alps, Alpine divide, and down the Liro (Como), Liro River to Lake Como in the south. ...

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

language and culture, settling in the mountains separating

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the north, R ...

and Venetia. They probably gave their name to Carso, Carnia,

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

, and

Carniola Carniola ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region still tend to identify with its traditional parts Upp ...

History

They are usually considered a Gaulish tribe, although some associate them with the

Venetic Venetic ( ) is an extinct Indo-European language, most commonly classified into the Italic subgroup, that was spoken by the Veneti people in ancient times in northeast Italy (Veneto and Friuli) and part of modern Slovenia, between the Po ...

peoples, a group closely related to but probably distinct from the

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

. Their area of settlement isn't known with precision.

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 "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

confines them to the mountains, while

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

assigns them two cities near the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

coast. They are likely eponymous of the regions of Carnia,

and

.Sir William Smith (ed.), ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography'', Volume 1
p. 522
/ref> The first historical date related to the arrival of the Carni in "Akileja" is 186 BC, when some 50,000 Carni, composed of armed men, women and children, descended towards the plains (in which they previously used to winter) and on a hill they founded a stable defensive settlement, ''Akileja''.

Roman expansion

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

troops forced the Carni back into the Alps, destroyed their settlement, and founded a Roman defensive settlement at the northeast boundary. The new settlement was named

Aquileia Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...

, after the former Celtic name Akileja. The triumvirs that founded that settlement were Publius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus. In order to stem the Roman expansion and to acquire the fertile and more hospitable plains, the Carni tried to form alliances with the Histrian, the

Iapydes The Iapodes (or Iapydes, Japodes; ; ) were an ancient people who dwelt north of and inland from the Liburnians, off the Adriatic coast and eastwards of the Istrian peninsula. They occupied the interior of the country between the ''Colapis'' (Kupa ...

, and the

Taurisci The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's Carinthia and northern Slovenia (Carniola) before the coming of the Romans (c. 200 BC). According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same as the people known as the Norici. Et ...

Celts. As Rome, in turn, was more and more becoming aware of the impending danger coming from the Carni and as it wanted to accelerate its own expansion, it sent to the north-east the legions of consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, who finally defeated the Carni in the battle of 15 November 115 BC. The Carni submitted to the

in the 2nd century BC, accepting its commands and its concessions. They received then the permission to populate and colonize the plain between the Julian pre-Alps and the

Livenza The Livenza (; ; ) is a river in the Italian provinces of Pordenone, Treviso and Venice. Its source is near Polcenigo and Caneva in Pordenone. It flows in a southeasterly direction past Sacile and forms the border between the provinces of Porden ...

river they had already tried to occupy previously in conflict with both the Romans and Veneti. In the meantime, Aquileia enlarged its importance. It became a

Municipium In ancient Rome, the Latin term (: ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ('duty holders'), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privileges ...

Romanum in 90 BC. It was an important commercial and hand-craft production centre. Also it was the main port on the

sea and a garrison settlement. In Late Antiquity, under the pressure of Germanic and Slavic peoples, the mountainous area populated by the Latinized Carni shrank gradually narrowing to Carnia and Friulian plains alone, and accepting migration contributions from

and from other areas of the Empire. The phenomenon probably stabilized under the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

' domination of Friuli.

References

Bibliography

* Grassi, Niccolò: ''Notizie storiche della Provincia della Carnia'', Udine, fratelli Gallici alla Fontana, 1782, VIII+224 p. * Kruta, Venceslas: ''I celti e il Mediterraneo'', Jaca Book, 2004, 78 p., , *Kruta, Venceslas: ''La grande storia dei celti. La nascita, l'affermazione e la decadenza'', Newton & Compton, 2003, 512 p., , *Kruta, Venceslas & Manfredi, Valerio M.: "I celti d'Italia", Mondadori, 2000 (Collana: Oscar storia), , *Violante, Antonio; introduzione di Venceslas Kruta: ''I Celti a sud delle Alpi'', (Silvana, Milano), 1993 (series: Popoli dell'Italia Antica), 137 p., ill., fot.; 32 cm; {{Gallic peoples Historical Celtic peoples Gauls Ancient peoples of Italy Ancient history of Slovenia Slovenia in the Roman era Tribes conquered by Rome Tribes conquered by the Roman Republic

History

Roman expansion

See also

References

Bibliography