Noricum
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Noricum () is the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
name for the kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern
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and part of
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. In the first century AD, it became a province of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
. Its borders were the
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to the north, Raetia and Vindelici to the west, Pannonia to the east and south-east, and Italia ( Venetia et Histria) to the south. The kingdom was founded around 400 BC, and had its capital at the royal residence at Virunum on the Magdalensberg.


Area and population

Around 800 BC, the region was inhabited mostly by the people of the Hallstatt culture. Around 450 BC, they merged with the people of other areas in the south-western regions of Germany and eastern France. The country is mountainous and rich in iron and salt. It supplied material for the manufacturing of arms in Pannonia, Moesia, and northern Italy. The famous Noric steel was largely used in the making of Roman weapons (e.g.
Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...
, ''Odes'', i.16.9-10: ''Noricus ensis'', "a Noric sword"). Gold and salt were found in considerable quantities. The plant called saliunca (the wild nard, a relative of the lavender) grew in abundance and was used as a perfume according to Pliny the Elder. The inhabitants developed a culture rich in art, salt mining, cattle breeding, and agriculture. When part of the area became a
Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...
, the Romans introduced water management and the already important trade relations between the people north and south of the Alps increased. Archaeological research, particularly in the cemeteries of Hallstatt, has shown that a vigorous civilization was in the area centuries before recorded history. The graves contained weapons and ornaments from the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
, through the period of transition, up to the Hallstatt culture, i.e., the fully developed older period of the
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
.


Language

The Noric language is attested in only fragmentary inscriptions, one from
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and two from Grafenstein, neither of which provide enough information for any conclusions about the nature of the language.


History


Steel for Roman weaponry

The kingdom of Noricum was a major provider of weaponry for the
Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...
from the mid-Republic onwards. Roman swords were made of the best-quality steel then available from this region, the '' chalybs Noricus''. The strength of steel is determined by its composition and heat treatment. The wrought iron produced in the
Greco-Roman world The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...
was too soft for tools and weapons. Ore from Noricum, by contrast, could yield a superior product. The ore needed to be rich in
manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...
(an element which remains essential in modern steelmaking processes), and contain little or no
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...
, which weakens steel.Buchwald (2005) 124 The ore mined in Carinthia (S. Noricum) fulfilled both criteria particularly well. The Noricum discovered their ore made superior steel around 500 BC and built a major steel industry. At Magdalensberg, a major production and trading centre, specialised blacksmiths crafted metal products and weapons. The finished arms were exported to Aquileia, a Roman colony founded in 180 BC. From 200 BC, the Noricum tribes gradually united into a kingdom, known as the Regnum Noricum, with its capital at a place called Noreia. Noricum became a key ally of the Roman Republic, providing high-quality weapons and tools in exchange for military protection. This was demonstrated in 113 BC, when Teutones invaded Noricum. In response, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo led an army over the Alps to attack the tribes at the Noreia.


Roman rule

Noricum was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 16 BC. For a long time previously, the Noricans had enjoyed independence under
prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
s of their own and carried on commerce with the Romans. In 48 BC they took the side of
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
in the civil war against
Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...
. In 16 BC, having joined with the Pannonians in invading Histria, they were defeated by Publius Silius Nerva, proconsul of Illyricum. Thereafter, Noricum became a Roman province. It was not until the reign of Antoninus Pius that the Second Legion, ''Pia'' (later renamed ''Italica'') was stationed in Noricum, and the commander of the legion became the governor of the province. Under
Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...
(245–313), Noricum was divided into ''Noricum ripense'' ("Noricum along the river", the northern part southward from the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
), and ''Noricum mediterraneum'' ("landlocked Noricum", the southern, more mountainous district). The dividing line ran along the central part of the eastern Alps. Each division was under a praeses, and both belonged to the diocese of Illyricum in the Praetorian prefecture of Italy. It was in this time (304 AD) that a Christian serving as a military officer in the province suffered martyrdom for the sake of his faith, later canonised as Saint Florian. The Roman colonies and chief towns were '' Virunum'' (near Maria Saal to the north of Klagenfurt), '' Teurnia'' (near Spittal an der Drau), '' Flavia Solva'' (near Leibnitz), ''Celeia'' ( Celje) in today's Slovenia, ''Juvavum'' (
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), ''Ovilava'' ( Wels), ''Lauriacum'' ( Lorch at the mouth of the Enns, the ancient '' Anisus''). Knowledge of Roman Noricum has been decisively expanded by the work of Richard Knabl, an Austrian epigrapher of the 19th century. The transition from Roman to barbarian rule in Noricum is well documented in Eugippius' ''Life of Saint Severinus'', providing material for analogies for this process in other regions where primary sources from the period are lacking.


In modern politics

In 1919, Heinrich Lammasch, the last prime minister of Imperial Austria, proposed to give the young republic the name of ''Norische Republik'' or ''Noric Republic'', because the ancient borders were similar to those of the new state, which—at the time—did not wish to be considered the heir of the Habsburg monarchy, but an independent, neutral and peaceful state.


Episcopal sees

Episcopal sees of Noricum that are now listed in the ''
Annuario Pontificio The ''Annuario Pontificio'' ( Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides nam ...
'' as
titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...
s include:''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819–1013 *
Aguntum The ruins of Aguntum are an ancient Roman site in East Tirol, Austria, located approximately 4 km east of Lienz in the Drau valley. The city appears to have been built to exploit the local sources of iron, copper, zinc and gold. During the ear ...
* Virunum


See also

* List of Roman governors of Noricum * Varisci


Citations


General and cited references

* Géza Alföldy
''Noricum''
Routledge & K. Paul, 1974 *Healy, John F.

Thames and Hudson, 1978. *Strobel, Kartl (2012): "Das Regnum Noricum, die sogenannte Norische Münzprägung und Rom: Frühe Kontakte als Vorspiel von Annexion und Romanisierung – Fiktion oder Realität? Mit einem Appendix zur Noreia-Frage" in "Archaeologia Austriaca" Vol. 96. pp. 11–34 *


External links



(in German)

{{Authority control Ancient history of Austria Ancient history of Slovenia Austria in the Roman era Historical Celtic peoples Illyricum (Roman province) Provinces of the Roman Empire Slovenia in the Roman era