European Kingdoms

Itali / Vitali (Italics)

Indo-Europeans - Italic Tribes (Intro) Anatolian Tribes Balkans Tribes Baltic Tribes Celtic Tribes Germanic Tribes Italic Tribes Indo-Iranian/Aryan Tribes Slavic Tribes Tocharians (Intro)

What are generally known as West Indo-European tribes arrived at the eastern edge of Central Europe around 2500 BC. Their northern group later became the proto-Celts of the Urnfield culture while the southern group seemingly migrated westwards and southwards, reaching Iberia, Illyria, and northern Italy.

Already further divided into semi-isolated tribes, they became more civilised in their habits and available forms of technology due to contact with southern Greeks and Etruscans. In the period between the eleventh to eighth centuries BC some of those groups in Illyria crossed by sea into the Italian peninsula and settled along the south-eastern coast.

Those who had entered peninsular Italy via the north Italian piedmont gradually migrated southwards to occupy much of the rest of eastern and central Italy. These tribes all formed part of a general group which are known as Italics, seemingly part of the main population of West Indo-Europeans prior to the emergence of Celtic culture.

The Itali group of Italics during much of the Italian Iron Age were located in the 'toe' of Italy, in the section to the south-west of the Greek colony of Hipponium. They were neighboured by the Morgetes to the north-east and the Siculi of Sicily to the west, albeit with several Greek colonies of Magna Graecia between them.

The Itali people provided the source of the very name of the modern country, thanks to Greek writers attaching the name to the entire region around them. This was subsequently adopted by the Romans, thanks to whom its use became universal.

The origins of the Itali are uncertain, but the Oscan-Umbrian group of which they were part are largely accepted as being Indo-European (perhaps even proto-Celts) who migrated into the peninsula from the north in the eleventh to eighth centuries BC. Their early history is unknown, but they are distinguished by ancient writers as being a sub-division of the Oenotri, along with the Chones and Morgetes.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson and Anne S E Wittelsbürger, from Samnium and the Samnites, E T Salmon, from Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, Vol 3, Issue 1, James Cowles Prichard, from An Historical Geography of Europe, Norman J G Pounds (Abridged Version), from The Roman History: From Romulus and the Foundation of Rome to the Reign of the Emperor Tiberius, Velleius Paterculus, J C Yardley, & Anthony A Barrett, from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry, David K Faux, from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony, from The History of Rome, Volume 1, Titus Livius (translated by Rev Canon Roberts), from The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), from Paleo-Balkan Languages, V Neroznak, from Ancient Languages of the Balkans, R Katicic, from The Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language, M Fasmer, from Basic Romance Linguistics, E Bourcier, from Research in Popular Latin and its links with Romance languages, N Korletyanu, from Brief Historical Grammar of the Latin Language, W Lindsey, from The Corpus of Oscan Inscriptions, I Tsvetaev, from A Historical Grammar of the Latin Language, I Tronsky, and from External Links: The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe (Nature), and Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe (Nature.com), and Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples, and Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith (1854, Perseus Digital Library), and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition), and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively), and Le Alpi (Università di Trento), and Pleiades (Ancient World Mapping Center and Institute for the Study of the Ancient World).)

12th century BC?

Legendary king of the Itali or Siculi.

In his work, Politics, Aristotle names a king of Oenetria called Italus, who is the successor to Oenotrus himself. Oenetria at this time is taken to refer to the 'toe' of the Italian 'boot, an area which is known today as Calabria.

This map shows not only the greatest extent of Etruscan influence in Italy, during the seventh to fifth centuries BC, but also Gaulish intrusion to the north, which compressed Etruscan borders there (click or tap on map to view on a separate page)

Aristotle claims that the Oenotri of this region had changed their name to the Itali. It is this name that is used by later Greek settlers to refer to the entire land, but this origin story is probably sheer invention. Thucydides claims that Italus is a king of the Siculi, while after diligent research Dionysius concludes that the Itali and Siculi are one people.

King Morges of the Morgetes is claimed as the successor to Italus, and Siculus of the Siculi the successor to Morges, which seems to illustrate the belief that the Itali, Morgetes, Oenotri, and Siculi have a shared heritage.

10th century BC

According to Thucydides, the arrival of the more warlike Oenotri and Opici in northern Calabria triggers the migration of the Elymi, Itali, and Siculi into the 'toe' of Italy and onto Sicily. Antiochus of Syracuse, writing around 420 BC, confirms this.

Perhaps the heartland of Oenotri territory even at the point of their greatest expansion during the ninth century BC, Monte Arioso is verdant, productive land

7th century BC

Greek colonies along the coastal region of the 'toe' of Italy include Hipponium (modern Vibo Valentia) on the Gulf of Terina, Caulonia on the opposite coast, Locri Epizephyrii further down the same stretch of coastline, and Rhegion (modern Reggio Calabria) on the south-western tip, facing Sicily, plus half a dozen more minor colonies. As they begin to interact with the Italic peoples, they start using the name of the Itali as a reference to the entire region.

411 BC

Writing at this time, the reliable Greek historian Thucydides of Alimos (close to Athens), mentions the Siculi. He says that groups of Siculi still occupy the Italian mainland in his time. It is possible, given their close links in the past with the Itali, that this people could be Siculi in all but name.

218 - 202 BC

The Second Punic War is fought against Carthage. Rome is aided by its Etruscan, Picene, and Umbrian forces, but Italy is invaded by Hannibal Barca and a Roman army is massacred at the Battle of Cannae, killing sixty thousand.

The modern Aspromonte National Park would have formed the heart of the Itali tribal territory in the 'toe' area of the peninsula, although very little is known about them

Rome's resurgence at the successful conclusion of this war seals the fate of the Calabrian tribes which include the Brutii, Chones, Itali, Morgetes, and Oenotri. All of them fall permanently under Roman domination and the Itali largely disappear from history.

91 - 89 BC

The Marsi fight the Social War against Rome in which Rome's allies strive for, and are eventually granted, citizenship. The Frentani, Latins and Umbri are also granted citizenship, although they play a smaller role in the war, with the Umbri joining the rebels late and agreeing terms with Rome early on.

Thereafter, the Itali, who are not mentioned in the war, are gradually absorbed within Roman Italy and eventually lose their individual identity.